Lady Dawgs finish postseason run in the ‘Sweet 16’

By THOMAS P. WEAVER

Horizon Editor

COPPER HILL-Despite only returning two mainstays from last year’s State Tournament team, the 2024-25 Clay County Lady Bulldogs finished their season one win away from advancing to their fourth Elite Eight in five years.

Led by senior Laci Wix and junior fellow returning starter Ella Eads, the Lady Dawgs exceeded outside expectations and advanced to the TSSAA’s version of the Sweet 16.

“In a lot of interviews early in the season, they would always talk about how people kinda wrote us off this year, especially with the way we started,” head coach Matt Walker said.  “We battled through some adversity, that front-loaded schedule got us prepared by the time the district tournament rolled around, we got a little momentum going, and we played well in the tournaments.

“A lot of teams would have loved to have been where we were, (and) that was this team’s expectation—that we are going to compete for district and region championships, and we are going to compete to have a chance to go to the State Tournament,” he continued.  “It shows our young girls that we are going to be right there at the end and I’m just happy for the girls to get to play in games like that.

“Those are experiences they are going to carry with them, memories they will always have, and I’m proud of them.”

Walker credited Wix’s leadership and wide array of talents for much of the team’s success.

“The growth of her game has been impressive, she just stuffed the stat sheet every night, and her leadership was awesome,” he said of his lone senior.  “You knew she was going to bring it every night, be that calming influence, and the girls looked up to her.

“We are going to miss her.  She did so much, and it may take two or three people to replace one girl’s production.”

Besides Wix, the team was bolstered by Eads’ consistency and the emergence of fellow juniors Baylor Walden and Claire Kendall, along with a wealth of young talent stepping up throughout the season—highlighted by the play of sophomores Haylen Garrison and Natalie Smith.

“We only returned like 14 points per game or so from last year, and you looked down the roster and wondered who was going to step up and score, and really night in and night out you never knew,” Walker said.  “Haylen had nights where she got hot, Laci would chip in whatever it took, Natalie had a good year, Claire had some games where she would score for us, Baylor had some good games, and then off the bench we had some freshman contribute.

“You just never knew from night in and night out, but the one consistent scorer was Ella Eads—she really upped that part of her game and kinda even exceeded my expectations.”

Clay County finished as the region runner-up and made the over 150-mile trip here to Region 3-A Champion Copper Basin High School for Saturday night’s Class A State Sectional contest, where the Lady Dawgs’ season came to an end with a 57-49 loss to the upstart Lady Cougars–who will make their first-ever State Tournament appearance Wednesday.

A come-from-behind victory over District 8-A Champion East Robertson (26-4) in the region semifinals clinched Clay County’s sectional berth, before they were beaten by Clarkrange (22-12) in the region title game and fell at Copper Basin (18-8) over the weekend to finish with a 16-15 overall record.

4-A Semis

The Lady Dawgs avoided elimination and earned their trip to the Sweet 16 by rallying from behind to knock off the Lady Indians 46-42 at Livingston Academy to start last week.

Eads led Clay County with 22 points, while Garrison scored all 11 of her point total in the Lady Dawgs’ second-half surge.

After trailing by as many as 12 points in the second quarter and by eight at the break, Eads and Garrison both buried three-pointers in the third period to help their team outscore East Robertson 16-8 in the frame and knot the score at 29 heading into the fourth quarter.

Garrison then drained back-to-back threes midway through the final frame to give her team a 38-36 advantage, and the Lady Indians never led again.

East Robertson did tie it at 40 down the stretch, but Eads made one of her own from distance with about a minute to play, before she iced the four-point victory from the free-throw line in the waning seconds.

4-A Finals

The win over the Lady Indians advanced Clay County into the Region 4-A title game versus Clarkrange—who the Lady Dawgs had already beaten three times this season.

But the fourth time was a charm for the Lady Buffaloes, as they locked down Clay County with a surprise triangle-and-two defense, which resulted in Eads and Garrison producing a total of three points combined.

Riding a wave of momentum created by their monumental 60-57 upset of defending Class A State Champion Pickett County (26-4) in the other region semifinal just two days prior, Clarkrange led the Lady Dawgs from the start and easily claimed the Region 4-A Championship with a 57-32 win.

The Lady Buffaloes held Clay County to only eight first-half points and led by 18 at the break.

The Lady Dawgs did finally get going in the third quarter behind a quick seven-point spark from freshman Kaleah Crawford and Walden scoring all six of her points in the same period.

But Clarkrange matched Clay County blow for blow and maintained their halftime margin heading into the fourth period, before they extended it to 25 points at game’s end and secured the region title.

Like they did the week prior in the District 7-A Tournament, the Lady Dawgs finished as the Region 4-A Runners-up, while Wix, Eads, and Garrison were named to the region all-tournament team.

Sectionals

With the win, the Lady Buffaloes got to host Van Buren County (26-6) for their sectional, while Clay County was forced to make the long voyage to Copper Basin.

But location didn’t make a difference for either Region 4-A team.

Like the Lady Dawgs, Clarkrange also fell short of advancing to the State Tournament, as the Eaglettes eliminated the Lady Buffaloes 56-51 on their home court to complete the sectional sweep for Region 3-A.

While Van Buren County won on the road, the sister-region champion Lady Cougars defended their home court with a 57-49 victory over Clay County.

Eads led the Lady Dawgs with 16 points in the loss, while Wix kept Clay County in it down the stretch with a 12-point outing.

The Lady Dawgs battled shooting woes (29.2%) and foul trouble throughout the contest, as both Eads and Wix fouled out and Clay County finished the game making just three of 24 (12.5%) from behind the arc.

Even though the Lady Dawgs didn’t knock down the shots they normally make and they had to play stretches without their two most-experienced players, the game was tight throughout.

For the first three quarters, four points was the largest lead by either team.

Copper Basin led by that margin midway through the first quarter, before the Lady Dawgs pulled ahead 17-16 at the end of the opening period and went up by four late in the second quarter on an Eads’ layup.

A pair of Lady Cougar free throws then cut the Clay County lead to 27-25 at halftime, and they outscored Clay County 15-11 in the third quarter to head into the final frame ahead 40-38.

After picking up her fourth foul, Wix sat the majority of the third quarter and the first part of the fourth, as Copper Basin added to their lead.

When she returned to the floor, Wix scored back-to-back buckets to pull Clay County within six points (48-42) of Copper Basin with five minutes to play.

Eads then answered a Lady Cougar basket to keep it a six-point game, before she expired with her fifth foul and her team fell behind 53-44.

Wix then made it a seven-point contest with the final points of her career, before suffering the same fate as Eads just seconds later.

The Lady Cougars immediately made it a nine-point game again, but Kendall kept hope alive for her team with a three-pointer.

The make from distance narrowed the score to 56-49 in Copper Basin favor with 41.3 seconds remaining, but it was the last attempt to find its mark for Clay County and the Lady Cougars went on to claim the eight-point victory.

Stat leaders

Eads finished the season as the Lady Dawgs’ leading scorer (12.5 ppg.), Garrison wasn’t far behind (9.4 ppg.), and Smith (6.9), Wix (6.7), and Walden (6.3) all averaged over six points per game.

Wix led Clay County in rebounding (7.5 rpg.), blocks (1 bpg.), steals (2.9 spg.), and deflections (2.3 dpg.), while Smith was the assist leader (2.2 apg.).

Garrison also made 78 three-pointers this year, which ties her for second all-time for a single season.

BOX SCORES

March 3rd

4-A Semis

Lady Bulldogs:

7, 6, 16, 17—46

East Robertson:

12, 9, 8, 13—42

LADY DAWGS (46)-Ella Eads 22, Haylen Garrison 11, Baylor Walden 4, Claire Kendall 4, Laci Wix 3, Jenna Thompson 2.

March 5th

4-A Finals

Lady Bulldogs:

5, 3, 18, 6—32

Clarkrange:

9, 17, 18, 13—57

LADY DAWGS (32)-Kaleah Crawford 7, Baylor Walden 6, Natalie Smith 6, Laci Wix 5, Claire Kendall 5, Ella Eads 3.

March 8th

Sectionals

Lady Bulldogs:

17, 10, 11, 11—49

Copper Basin:

16, 9, 15, 17—57

LADY DAWGS (49)-Ella Eads 16, Laci Wix 12, Baylor Walden 7, Haylen Garrison 5, Claire Kendall 5, Natalie Smith 4.