While Blair Green and Kaylea Gross deservedly received much of the credit for Harlan County’s impressive run of success over the last four years, which included trips to the last three regional championship games, senior guards Phebe McHargue and K.K. Johnson have been constants during that time as leaders in a full-court press that has caused headaches for many opponents.

Harlan saw just how effective that press could be earlier in the year as 35 turnovers sparked the Lady Bears in a 71-29 win at Harlan.

The Lady Dragons did their best to deal with that pressure in the rematch and showed some progress but not enough to pull off the upset as Harlan turned the ball over 21 times in a 66-50 loss Friday at Harlan County.

“Give credit where it’s due. Those guards are super quick, and those two really make their press go,” Harlan coach Tiffany Hamm said. “We did a lot better job against it after the first quarter, but it still gave us some problems.”

“Those two have to come to play for us every night,” Harlan County coach Debbie Green said. “We have to have that type of effort from everyone. It’s not like we are a team of superstars. We have to play hard to be effective, especially on the defensive end, and that has always been a big part of our success.”

Harlan County (17-4 overall, 6-0 district) clinched its third straight unbeaten regular season against district competition, but it wasn’t easy. The Lady Bears built a 13-point lead in the first quarter, extended it to 19 early in the second before Harlan fought back to get as close as six going into the fourth period, a much different story than the previous matchup.

“Our record isn’t that great, but this team is much better than the team we had when we played them in December,” Hamm said. “Our girls played hard and carried out the game plan. This has to give us a confidence boost if we have to play them again in the district tournament.”

Junior forward Natalee King led the comeback as she finished with 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting.

“I thought she was a matchup problem for them,” Hamm said. “Natalee played very well.”

Senior guard Payeton Charles added 15 points as the Lady Dragons fell to 6-17 overall and 0-4 in district action.

Johnson and Reanna Middleton scored 17 each to lead Harlan County. Morgan Blakley and Breann Turner added 13 points each.

“I thought we looked tired overall as a team tonight,” Green said. “We played pretty well early, then we struggled after that. I give Harlan credit because their defense gave us some problems.”

Harlan had four turnovers in the opening three minutes as Harlan County grabbed a 6-0 lead on layups by Johnson, McHargue and Blakley. HCHS also played well out of its halfcourt offense in the period, hitting 10 of 13 shots, led by four baskets from Blakley and two each from Turner and McHargue to build a 25-12 lead after one quarter.

Harlan County’s lead grew to 19 on 3-pointers by Middleton and Blalkey before the Lady Bears’ offense went to sleep for the remainder of the half. Two baskets by King and a 3-pointer from Charles helped Harlan cut the deficit to 31-19 at the break.

Harlan battled back behind King, who scored 14 points in the third quarter to help the Lady Dragons cut the deficit to 48-42. Harlan closed the quarter with an 11-4 run.

Middleton opened the fourth period with a 3-pointer as HCHS regained control. Johnson scored five straight points midway through the period to spark a 7-0 run that pushed the lead back to 15.

Harlan plays host to Jackson City on Saturday with junior varsity action starting at 1 p.m. Harlan County will travel to Letcher Central on Monday.

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Harlan County 68, Harlan 50

HARLAN (6-17)

Payeton Charles 5-16 2-2 15, Ella Karst 1-3 0-0 3, Savanna Smith 2-4 1-2 6, Natalee King 10-17 2-3 22, Alli Thompson 0-1 0-0 0, Angel Wynn 1-2 0-0 3, Kaylee Leslie 0-0 0-0 0, Reagan Jones 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-43 5-7 50.

HARLAN COUNTY (17-4)

Phebe McHargue 2-6 0-2 4, K.K. Johnson 4-8 9-12 17, Reanna Middleton 5-11 4-4 17, Morgan Blakley 5-12 2-2 13, Breann Turner 6-12 1-2 13, Hannah Wood 1-3 0-0 2, Kassy Owens 0-0 0-0 0, Jacey Lewis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-52 16-22 66.

Harlan 12 7 23 8 — 50

Harlan County 25 6 17 18 — 66

3-point goals: Harlan 7-17 (Charles 3-8, Smith 2-4, Wynn 1-1, Karst 1-3, Thompson 0-1), Harlan County 29 (Blakley 7, Turner 7, Middleton 5, Wood 5, Johnson 3, McHargue 1, Owens 1). Turnovers: Harlan 21, Harlan County 12. Fouled out: Harlan (King).