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Controversy surrounds Lady Pioneer loss to White County
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Choosing between which loss in the District 6-AAA tournament felt worse would be a chore for the Warren County High School girls basketball team, but figuring out which was more bizarre is easy.A late technical foul on Warren County coach Erick Baird and a buzzer-beating shot by Allyson Quillen gave White County a 43-42 victory in the District 6-AAA tournament semifinals.Warren County had victory snatched from its hands Saturday night just as the Lady Pioneers looked assured of a berth in the District 6-AAA championship game.After Lauren Wilkinson hit a runner in the lane with 2.1 seconds to go to put the Lady Pioneers up 42-40, both coaches immediately signaled for a time-out as the clock ticked under two seconds.The referees acknowledged a time-out, then proceeded to reset the clock back to 2.1 seconds as the teams went to the bench.Lady Pioneer coach Erick Baird thought he had another time-out when his team took the court to defend a desperation try by White County.When the Warriorettes showed their alignment, coach Baird burned what he thought was his last time-out to switch up his defense.Instead, it turned out to be a technical foul because the referees determined the first time-out was charged to Warren County. The subsequent time-out was the team’s sixth, which was over the limit and sent White County to the free-throw line with a chance to tie the game. Coach Baird explained after the game his decision to take the time-out.“The officials in every game let you know as the game comes closer to the end how many time-outs you have,” said Baird.