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Marion County 61 - Lincoln County 40
#34
BOWLING GREEN — The good news for Lincoln County is that the Patriots can just reload for another run at the Girls Sweet Sixteen.

Lincoln does not lose a player off this year’s state semifinal team, and will again be the team to beat in the 12th Region next season.

But after the Patriots’ strong state tournament run, which ended Saturday with their 61-40 loss to Marion County in the semifinals, they know the target on their backs has become bigger.

“They definitely have set the bar high,” Lincoln coach Cassandra McWhorter said. “We had the target on our back this year, (and) the advantage is we’ll have seniors with a little more maturity and a little more experience for next year. We know the target is still going to be on our back — a lot bigger — and that means we’re going to have to be even more of family and do the little things in the offseason to prepare.”

Chansler Gilbert — who will be one of five seniors for the Patriots along with Emily Fox, Kourtney Belcher, Sydney Harris and Ciara Saylor — she said the Patriots expect to accomplish more next season.

“Right now we’re upset (because) we came down (here) and we wanted to win it all,” Gilbert said. “But I think whenever we start back were going to start back conditioning and we’re going to set the bar up high for next year and expect to get back and do the same thing and win it all. We’re just going to go and practice every day trying to get better and just take it day by day.

Several younger players played significant minutes for Lincoln, including freshman Tiandra Hocker, who said there is a great deal of improvement those younger players can make to boost the Patriots’ bench next year.

“I need to work on my post moves,” said Hocker, who also believes Lincoln has another run it them next year. “Yeah, it’s just going to take effort.”

Before the state tournament began, Fox said the Patriots wouldn’t rest on what they have done this season, when they won their second regional title and became the second local team to reach the semifinals at the Sweet Sixteen.

“It’s not going to stop there,” she said. “We’re going to try to make something happen next year.”
While the program’s present was on the bench Saturday at E.A. Diddle Arena, McWhorter also pointed out the future was also on hand.

“Something we’ve been trying to do since I was a player here was trying to build up the program,” McWhorter said. “We had a lot of younger players in the stands, and for them to be here and make this ride with the girls can only help feed the program and make us better and stronger.”

All-tournament: Fox and Harris were named to the all-tournament team from Lincoln.

Homecoming: Lincoln will host a celebration for the team at 2 p.m. today at the school. It is open to the public.http://www.centralkynews.com/amnews/spor...7948.photo

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