Polk County girls hang tough, but fall to Mountain Heritage

HENDERSONVILLE – Save for a cold stretch here and there, Polk County more than held its own Thursday with Mountain Heritage.

But the Cougars had Destiny on their side, and that proved just enough.

Destiny Elkins scored 19 points to lead top-seeded Mountain Heritage to a 51-38 win over the fourth-seeded Wolverines in the semifinals of the Western Highlands Conference tournament at Hendersonville High School.

Scrappy on defense throughout the game, Polk County (13-10) trailed by just three, 31-28, with 1:18 left in the third period following a Hayley Kropp steal and layup.

But the Cougars (19-2) got a basket from Elkins, regained possession and took an eight-point lead when Nyssa Freeman buried a 3-pointer from the corner. That stretch seemed to turn momentum in Heritage’s favor, as Polk got no closer the rest of the game.

“We had the momentum, and then we turned the ball over a couple of times and they scored (five) points in 30 seconds,” said Polk County head coach Craig Culbreth. “If we had stopped that run there. . .”

As has often been the case this season, the Wolverines had a period in which a lid seemed to rest atop their basket. Polk County scored just one field goal in the first 10 minutes of the game, that a Kropp 3-pointer in the first minute, yet trailed by only seven early in the second quarter thanks to its defensive effort.

“We had that one bad quarter again,” Culbreth said. “We picked a bad night to be cold. I thought we played good defense in the first half.”

Polk County pulled within two, 14-12, midway through the second quarter before Elkins took over. The junior center scored nine straight points over the next three minutes to give Mountain Heritage a 23-12 lead.

But Ashley Love hit a 3-pointer to spark a seven-point Polk County flurry that cut the Cougars’ lead to 23-19 at the half.

“We made some runs against them. We didn’t quit,” Culbreth said. “We would get down seven or eight and then we would get it back to two or four. We didn’t quit.”

Kropp scored 14 points to lead Polk County, which should earn an at-large bid to the state 2A playoffs that begin on Monday. Pairings will be announced on Saturday.

“I feel good going into the playoffs,” Culbreth said. “We can’t play any tougher team than we played tonight.”

Polk County Scoring
Hayley Kropp 14, Lyric Flood 8, Ashley Love 5, Sarah Phipps 4, Savannah Ross 4, India Godlock 3