MAYFIELD Lady Comet Malle McGee swished in one last three as the buzzer sounded to end the All-Classic State Semifinals last night. Carlisle County fans cheered but it wasnt enough.

Despite Carlisles threes, the Murray High Lady Tigers defeated Carlisle County 47-33 and will be advancing to the finals on Saturday.

I knew they were capable of knocking down some threes, Lady Tiger head coach Tom Foust said. With that being said, I still wanted that to be their offense. I told our girls, If we can limit their offensive rebounds, thats whats going to put a good dent in their offense.

Fousts prediction was correct. Less than 20 seconds into the game, Lady Comet Kierra Whitaker shot a beautiful three. Fortunately, that was something Murray High had been prepared for.

The game plan was to let them shoot some threes, Foust said. They were going to hit some, and we were just going to have to live with it.

Two minutes later, junior Angela Gierhart shot a three of her own to bring the game to a tie at 3-3 with 5:55 left in the first quarter. Once senior Calli Carver shot for two, Murray High took the lead 5-3 and never looked back. By the end of the first half, the Lady Tigers were up 18-12, and they were able to stretch the game out to 47-30 before McGee shot her game-ending basket to make the game 47-33.

Not only did Murray High execute top-notch defense and control the Lady Comets offensive rebounds, but they also had Carver show up and show out. Before the game was over, Carver totaled 26 points.

Calli did what shes been doing, Foust said. She knows that when were struggling to shoot from outside a little bit that shes going to be the go-to inside, and shes really aggressive. She knows when we need her. She doesnt really take bad shots. Shes a really smart kid, and shell do whatever we need her to do either with rebounding or on a night like tonight where she carried us in scoring.

Carver is well known by Murray High opponents, which means she is often heavily guarded, but that doesnt stop this athlete from putting points on the board.

Most nights Callis going to be a primary target, Foust said. Even when people are face guarding her like they (the Lady Comets) were a little bit there at the end, shes a smart kid and knows how to work around that. Then she knows that she needs to be more of a screener, get other people involved. Everybody on the team fights for each other. That makes my job a lot easier.

Foust is overall pleased with the effort he saw from his girls last night but said they need to clean up some simple things before they compete on Saturday.

We had a couple of silly walks and a couple of illegal screens, he pointed out.

Next up, Murray High will take on Mayfield on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Lady Tigers have already competed against the Lady Cardinals once this season and came away victorious 45-36.

Weve played them already this year, Foust said. I dont think theyll be the same team that we saw last time. They were early in the year. They have some talented kids and good coaches. I have some film, so I have to go home and get back to work tonight. I expect quite a few changes.

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Carver shoots out of this world against Lady Comets - Murray Ledger and Times