North Laurel’s dominance against 49th District opponents, and Clay County continued Friday during its 65-33 rout of the Lady Tigers.
The Lady Jaguars ran its record to 9-3 overall, and 2-0 against district opponents by dominating Clay County from the tip-off.
North Laurel has now won 33 district games in a row while extending its win streak against Clay County to 11 games.
“The more things change the more they stay the same, I guess,” North Laurel coach Eddie Mahan said. “We came away with a win, but the pace of the game was still slower than we are used to.
“We had some good individual performances, and played decent defense but never felt like we could fully get comfortable,” he added. “I do feel like we are better prepared to win in games like that though than we have been in previous years.”
North Laurel built a 20-8 lead in the first quarter behind Brooke Nichelson’s 11 points and never looked back.
Nichelson finished with a game-high 27 points, scoring seven more points in the second quarter while adding eight points in the third quarter.
The Lady Jaguars led 37-17 at halftime, and 55-21 entering the fourth quarter.
“Brooke Nichelson’s athleticism is always impressive, but tonight it was on full display,” Mahan said. “She was able to attack in transition, but also was attacking in the half court. As impressive as Brooke was individually, she was recipient of many of the nine assists Emily Sizemore had. Only one starter played over 18 minutes, so our subs was able to get some good minutes for us.
“Mariella Claybrook scored six points, but also had 13 rebounds and multiple blocked shots,” he added. “She is going to be important for us, not just in future seasons but also by tournament time.”
Emily Sizemore also scored in double figures, finishing with 11 points while Chloe McKnight, and Mariella Claybrook each added six points apiece.
10 players scored in the game for North Laurel.
Clay County (6-8, 4-4) was led in scoring by Sidney Jones’, and Mackenzie Sizemore’s nine-point scoring efforts. Julia Collins added seven points.
The Lady Jaguars will be back in action Monday on the road against South Laurel. The two teams met back on Dec. 1 with North Laurel coming away with an 85-59 victory. The Lady Tigers will travel to play Bell County on Monday.
