By CHARLIE HUST
The WCHS Lady Trojans’ dreams of upsetting second-ranked Henderson County and earning a trip to the KHSAA Sweet 16 feel a bit short Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the Second Region Tournament held in Rocket Arena at Crittenden County High School.
The final two rounds of the tourney were postponed to Saturday and Sunday due to a major snowfall on Wednesday and Thursday that blanketed the entire Second Region area with 16-20 inches of snow.
Once the tourney resumed on Saturday afternoon, the WCHS girls went back to work and slipped past Hopkins County Central 64-63 in semi-final action.
Sophomore guard Kaylee Duncan hit the second of two free throws with 1.6 second left in the game to lift the Lady Trojans to the thrilling victory.
After jumping out to a 14-9 first quarter lead, Webster watched as Central (20-12) caught fire in the second stanza and out-scored the Lady Trojans 24-15.
WCHS, which had beaten Hopkins Central three times this season, committed nine of their 32 turnovers in the period to fuel the rally.
Trailing 33-29 at intermission, the Lady Trojans responded with a strong third quarter to seemingly take control of the game. Baskets from Hallie Gibson and Kristin Keeney sparked 10-1 rally while Kelsey Payne delivered four free throws to give Webster a 19-11 scoring advantage and regain a 48-44 lead heading into the final eight minutes of the contest.
Webster stretched the lead to 60-49 on consecutive rebounds and putbacks from Kristen Keeney plus a pair of free throws from Duncan with 2:53 left in the game.
Central fought back and scored back-to-back layups on two WCHS turnovers along with one Talana Hardy free throw to cut the lead to 60-54 with 2:00 to go.
Webster got a hoop from Duncan and held a six point lead with just under a minute left in the game. But Central got another steal and Keyasia Comb drilled a 3-pointer to slice the lead to 62-59 with 0:43 remaining in the contest.
The shaky WCHS ball-handling continued as Asia White came away with another steal on the ensuing possession and she was fouled on the play. She calmly knocked down both free throws to trim the lead to one, 62-61.
Central fouled freshman guard Kelsey Payne on WC’s next possesion and she hit 1-of-2 at the charity stripe for the 63-61 lead.
White was fouled at the other end on her driving shot and she converted 1-of-2 free throws as well making it 63-62. Central once again fouled Payne on WC’s next possesion but she missed both free throws. White grabbed the second miss and sprinted down the floor and was fouled on her shot attempt. She again hit 1-of-2 to tie the game at 63-all with 0:14 left in the game.
Coach McCalister called his final timeout and designed a play for his 6-foot-2 center Kristen Keeney to take the last shot. But Central’s defense was strong in the paint which eliminated that option. So Duncan drove the lane and was fouled, setting up her dramatic free throws to win the game.
Gibson and Payne both finished with 14 points as eight of Payne’s points came from the free throw line. Keeney added 13 points while Duncan finished with 10. Gibson and Keeney both turned in a double-double for the night with Gibson hauling in a game-high 11 rebounds and Keeney following with 10. Duncan added seven boards and Payne five.
Hannah Pritchett finished with five points while Christian Papineau added four points and five rebounds. Jala Woolfolk and Georgia Keeney completed the scoring with two points each.
Webster struggled at the free throw line hitting just 16-of-29 attempts but held a strong 41-25 rebounding edge. WC made just 2-of-12 from behind the 3-point arc while the Lady Storm were 4-for-6 from long range and 17-for-25 from the free throw line.
Webster County 41
Henderson County 61
It look as if the Lady Trojans could pull off one of the major upsets in the state during first-half action of the Second Region Championship game Sunday afternoon in Marion. It was the first Regional final for the Lady Trojans since 2009.
Henderson earned a berth in the finals with a 59-33 thumping of Madisonville-North Hopkins in Saturday’s other semi-final matchup.
WCHS matched the powerful Lady Colonels, the second-ranked team in the state ... basket-for-basket in first two quarters and looked to knock off the defending Regional champs.
But much like the other three times the district-rivals have battled this season, the Lady Colonels used their superior depth and strong post play to survive the WCHS upset bid and advance to the KHSAA Sweet 16 for the sixth straight season.
“It’s been a great year considering we were picked to finish eighth in the Second Region in the annual pre-season poll,” noted WCHS head coach Parker McCalister. “For the first half of the Regional Championship, we were right there with the #2 team in the state.”
Henderson owned a 13-7 lead at the first break, scoring six straight points to close out the period.
Webster successfully slowed the pace of the game in the second stanza and trimmed the margin to just seven points, 22-15.
But the Lady Colonels, which defeated Webster 63-45 in the Sixth District title game, took command of the game to open the third quarter with a quick 7-1 run and went on to out-score Webster 18-11 in the period.
WCHS again struggled with its shooting, hitting just 2-of-10 shots from 3-pointer territory and managing just 9-of-19 from behind the 3-point arc. WC finished the game just 15-of-48 (31 percent) from the field while Henderson was 23-for-39 (46 percent) including 4-for-8 from behind the 3-point arc and 11-of-17 from the free throw line.
Junior forward Hallie Gibson led the Lady Trojans with 10 points and six rebounds while Kristin Keeney added nine points and nine boards. Kaylee Duncan also finished with nine points and six rebounds, followed by four points apiece from Christian Papineau and Hannah Pritchett. Karlie Keeney had one 3-pointer while Kelsey Payne finished with two points.
The Lady Trojans, which finished the season with an impressive 20-11 record, earned much praise from their head coach.
“I’m very, very proud of these young ladies, especially the seniors. They really stepped up and led this group the entire season including during the tournaments. I feel like we really accomplished a lot this season, ” emphasized McCalister. “The future is very bright here at WCHS and I look forward to working with our returning players as the off-season is my favorite time to coach and teach.”