By CHARLIE HUST
After posting their second win of the season early last week, the Lady Trojans ‘took-it-on-the-chin’ on Friday and Saturday. WCHS fell to a tough Paducah Tilghman squad Friday night and then lost to another strong Region 1 team in Graves County on Saturday.
The tough stretch of play continued for the Lady Trojans Monday night as arch-rival Henderson County handed Webster a 27-point loss at Colonel gym.
Webster (2-3) will travel to Lexington this weekend to participate in the prestigious Republic Bank Classic hosted by Lexington Catholic High School Dec. 20-23.
Lady Trojans 64
Hopkins Central 42
Junior guard Hannah Pritchett scored a career-high 19 points and a game-high five steals to lead the WCHS girls to its second win of the season last Tuesday night in Dixon.
Pritchett was 4-of-7 from the field and led all players with a strong 11-for-15 showing at the free throw line. Senior Darrian McNary added 13 points along with a game-high eight assists and four rebounds. Hallie Gibson was also in double figures with 10 points and three rebounds.
“We had much fewer turnovers and shot the ball a bit better this game compared to our season-opener (against Hopkinsville),” noted first-year head coach Tonya Wells.
Webster, which had nearly 30 turnovers in its opening win against the Lady Tigers, finished with just 13 against the visiting Lady Storm.
WCHS led from start to finish in the contest, forcing 24 Hopkins County Central turnovers while out-rebounding HCCHS 25-18. The Lady Trojans shot 44 percent (20-for-45) from the field and 18-for27 (67 percent) from the free throw line.
Maddie Duncan had both of Webster’s 3-pointers as she finished with six points, hitting both 3-point attempts. Kristen Kenney scored four points along with four rebounds while Christian Papineau added eight points and two rebounds.
Lady Trojans 49
Paducah Tilghman 60
A very strong and athletic Tilghman squad handed Webster its first loss of the season Friday night in the Messenger Tip-Off Classic hosted by WCHS.
PT’s Karlee Humphrey scored a game-high 24 points along with 12 rebounds to lead the way.
Tilghman held a solid lead for most of the first half as WC’s leading scorer Darrian McNary was saddled with two fouls in the first quarter and sat the bench most of the first half.
“With her in foul trouble tonight, that really hurt us,” WCHS coach Tonya Wells said of her prized senior guard. “We have to have Darrian out there making plays for us.”
Webster stayed close in the first half behind the scoring of Maddie and Kaylee Duncan, combining for 13 points in the opening half.
Maddie Duncan came off the bench in the second quarter and sparked the WCHS offense with a pair of 3-pointers. She finished with 14 points in the game, nailing 4-of-8 from behind the 3-point arc along with four rebounds.
Kaylee Duncan added a driving jumper in the lane and hauled in six rebounds. After trailing by as many as 12 points, the Lady Trojans closed the gap to 33-25 at intermission.
Maddie Duncan opened the third quarter with another 3-pointer to trim the lead to 35-28 but the WC girls went ice cold for the next six minutes and Tilghman went on an 9-0 run.
Behind 11 points from McNary, the Lady Trojans rallied in the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to 45-36 on a driving hoop from the senior guard. She finished with a team-high 17 points. Webster then turn to it’s outside shooting to slash the lead to seven points as McNary connected on a pair of 3-pointers and Maddie Duncan added her fourth ‘trey’.
But that would be as close as the Lady Trojans could get as Humphrey and the Blue Tornado answered every Webster run to seal the victory.
Kaylee Duncan finished with five points and six rebounds while Hallie Gibson added four points and three boards. Hannah Pritchett scored five points while Christian Papineau added two points and a team-leading 10 rebounds. Kristen Keeney finished with two points and seven rebounds.
Webster finished with a dismal 10-of-39 (25%) shooting from the field including just 6-for-18 from behind the 3-point arc. WC’s free throw shooting woes continued as well, converting on just 11-of-22 attempts.
Lady Trojans 68
Graves County 81
After racing out to a 20-16 first-quarter lead, the WCHS girls couldn’t handle another very strong Region 1 opponent Saturday night in Mayfield.
Graves County used a 20-11 scoring edge in the second stanza to earn a 36-31 lead at intermission and never trailed from that point on.
Christian Papineau sparked the Lady Trojans in the first period, scoring nine of her season-high 16 points in the frame. Darrian McNary added six points in the frame and finished with a team-high 17 points.
Hannah Pritchett led the 21-point charge in the third quarter with eight of her 16 points but the Lady Eagles finished the period with a 6-0 run to take a 59-52 lead heading into the final eight minutes of the game. Graves nailed 12-of-15 free throws in the final quarter to ice the victory.
Kaylee Duncan added seven points for the Lady Trojans while Hallie Gibson and Bailey Townsend finished with four points each. Kristen and Georgia Keeney completed the scoring with two points apiece.
Lady Trojans 28
Henderson County 55
Webster County had no answer for Henderson’s inside game Monday night in the first meeting of the district-rivals.
The trio of Alisha Owens, DeAsia Outlaw and MiKayla Gibert powered the Lady Colonels to their third straight win while handing WCHS it’s third consecutive loss. Gilbert came off the bench for a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Owens scored a team-high 13 points while Outlaw added 12.
It looked to be another classic grudge match between arch-rivals in the opening minutes of the game with the scored tied 7-7 at the end of the first quarter.
But Henderson opened the second period with a 9-0 run and then closed the frame with a 12-0 spurt to out-score Webster 21-5 for a commanding 28-12 lead at intermission. WC did hold a 25-15 rebounding edge in the first half but just couldn’t convert that into baskets. Kaylee Duncan led the Lady Trojans in rebounding with seven while Christian Papineau added six.
Webster struggled throughout the contest and made just 10 field goals the entire game and only three in the first half.
The Lady Trojans did show a bit of fight to open the third quarter, closing the gap to 30-20 on buckets from Darrian McNary and Hannah Pritchett. But that would be as close as they could get the rest of the way. Henderson answered with 14-0 run to put the game out of reach.
McNary led Webster in scoring with seven points, followed by five points from Pritchett. Kristen Keeney, Bailey Townsend and Kaylee Duncan added four points apiece. Christian Papineau closed out the scoring with two points.