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HARRODSBURG – Anyone who has followed the Lincoln County girls basketball team this season knows that lopsided wins are not uncommon for the state-ranked Lady Patriots.

Friday night was no different.

Lincoln, ranked No. 3 in Cantrall’s Rating the State and No. 10 in the Associated Press poll, cruised to its 12th straight win with a 63-37 romp over host Mercer County.

The Lady Patriots (17-4) opened up a 14-6 first-quarter lead and used an 11-2 scoring surge in the second to extend their lead to 15 points at the break. Lincoln then blew the game wide open in the first four minutes of the third quarter, going on a 15-2 tear to post a 47-18 lead and set the Lady Pats up for the rout.

“I was very happy with how we kept our energy up tonight,” said Lincoln coach Don Story. “I felt like we played pretty strong for 32 minutes. That was a big goal. For us to have 14, 18, 21 (points for) the first three quarters, we’ll take that every time.”

Story said he was especially pleased with Lincoln’s high-energy effort because of the caliber of team Mercer puts on the floor.

“Mercer County is a very good team,” he said. “I think they’re right there in the region (contention). Maybe we didn’t get their best game tonight, but I respect them.”

Looking to create more shots for center Kendra Brown, Story tried to pick up the pace of his offense Friday. The change didn’t work for Brown, who finished with just eight points, but it did work for other Lady Patriots.

“We tried to push it because we felt like we might could get Kendra a few easy shots. That didn’t pan out, but it got everybody else going,” Story said. “Maybe that’s telling me something. Maybe we should try to push it a little bit more.”

Shelby Smith was one of those Lady Patriots benefiting from the quickened offense. Smith, who finished with 11 points, nailed two 3-pointers and sank a field goal in the first quarter as Lincoln opened up an eight-point lead.

“Shelby got us rolling. She really did,” Story said. “She really stepped up tonight and played a very good first half; an extremely good first quarter. I’m very proud of her effort tonight.”

“No matter how you play, you’re looking for points,” he added. “If we move the ball, we’ve got enough weapons so that we’re kind of hard to defend.”

Jessica Upchurch, who led all scorers with 19 points, opened Lincoln’s scoring with a bank shot. Nikki Bustle, who had 13 points, rang up her own 3-point goal in the first and Korey Coleman closed the scoring with a bucket off an Upchurch assist to put the Lady Pats up 14-6.

Mercer’s 6-3 center Abra Sickles kept the Lady Titans in the mix the first period by scoring all their points. Sickles scored the game-opening shot in the paint then added a free throw toss for Mercer’s only lead of the game.

“We didn’t want to foul her, but she’s just hard to handle,” Story said of Sickles. “She’s a big presence in there and has really developed her game and can score real effective.”

Lincoln’s defense couldn’t stop Sickles in the first quarter but did hold the senior center to 10 points for the game. She also had 12 rebounds.

Bustle and Brown both hit from 3-point land as Lincoln widened the gap in the second quarter. Brown also added a putback in the 11-2 Lady Pat run, Smith sank two free throws and Upchurch converted on a three-point play to make it 25-10 with 3:03 left in the half.

Mercer’s Cawood Dedman hit two treys late in the half to cut the Lady Pat lead to 27-16 only to have Upchurch answer for Lincoln with three free throws and a buzzer-beating layup for a 32-16 margin at the break.

Dedman and Mercer’s other shooters got a different defensive look from Lincoln in Friday’s 12th Region matchup.

“We tried something a little bit different this week in our defense, trying to get them in a run-and-jump, so to speak,” said Story. “I felt like the girls played hard and did a good job in the half-court defense. Overall, I felt like our defense was pretty solid.”

“We’ve got some athletes,” he added. “Jessica and Nikki are playing good defense and Ken plays good defense inside and alters a lot of shots as everybody knows.”

Brown led Lincoln in a 37-35 win on the glass by grabbing 10 rebounds. She also had five blocked shots.

Mercer (15-8) shot 13-for-46 from the field for 28 percent while Lincoln was 21-for-50 for 42 percent. Lincoln connected for eight 3-pointers compared to three for Mercer.

Lincoln outscored Mercer 21-9 in the third for a 53-25 lead before moving on for the win.

Korey Coleman had seven boards for the Lady Pats.

Lincoln had eight turnovers. Mercer had 20.

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