By CHARLIE HUST
The Webster County girls’ basketball team struggled through a tough, three games in three days last week including losses to McCracken County on Thursday and arch-rival Union County Friday night.
The Lady Trojans rebounded with a convincing win over Crittenden County on Saturday.
WCHS will host Madisonville-North Hopkins Jan. 21 at Trojan gym.
Webster County 57
McCracken County 60
After jumping out to a 14-11 first quarter lead, the Lady Trojans couldn’t recover from a 21-13 scoring deficit in the second period against a strong McCracken County squad last Tuesday night on the road during the McCracken County Festival of Hoops.
Kristen Keeney scored five of her team-high 17 points in the opening eight minutes to propel the WCHS squad to the 14-11 lead.
The second period was a shoot-out as the Lady Mustangs drilled four 3-pointers while Webster received a pair of long-range bombs from freshman guard Kaylee Duncan.
Holding a 32-27 lead at intermission, McCracken opened the third quarter with a quick 5-0 burst and went on to out-score Webster in the frame 18-15.
WCHS fought back in the final eight minutes behind seven points from Keeney and four points each from Christian Papineau and Darrian McNary.
But the Lady Mustangs hit 7-of-11 free throws in the final 4:22 of the game to seal the victory. They were lead in scoring by Jeanne Roof’s 24 points.
McNary finished with 11 points while Hannah Pritchett added seven points and six points apiece from Papineau and Kaylee Duncan. Bailey Townsend and Hallie Gibson had four points each and Maddie Duncan nailed one 3-pointer.
Webster County 40
Union County 45
J-E photos by Charlie Hust.
It was a typical district-rival grudge match Friday night before a packed house in Trojan gym.
Both Webster and Union had their moments of great basketball ... and also periods when they couldn’t ‘buy’ a basket. A 17-6 scoring advantage from the Bravettes proved to be the difference in the game.
Webster’s 6-foot-2 center Kristen Keeney got off to another quick start, scoring six of her team-high 15 points in the first period as the Lady Trojans grabbed a 13-5 lead at the first quarter break.
The momentum quickly changed as back-to-back buckets from Morgan Wright and Ayla Henderickson plus a 3-pointer from McKayla Thompson jump-started Union County in the second quarter.
Hallie Gibson halted the run with a rebound-putback basket along with two free throws. Webster’s only other basket in the quarter came from Darrian McNary as the Lady Trojans fell behind 22-19 at intermission.
The WCHS scoring woes continued in the third quarter, managing just seven points, five coming from Keeney. Union owned a 33-26 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Webster continued to fight in the battle and 3-pointers from Gibson and Kaylee Duncan aided in the comeback attempt.
But the Bravettes hit just enough free throws (7-of-15) in the final 2:32 to pull out the victory. Union was 15-for-26 at the charity stripe in the game while Webster struggled at the line, connecting on just 4-of-11 attempts.
Gibson finished with a career-high 12 points in the loss while Papineau and McNary added four points each. Kaylee Duncan added one 3-pointer, followed by two points from Pritchett.
Webster County 51
Crittenden County 31
The Lady Trojans returned to winning form on Saturday night in Marion, totally dominating the Lady Rockets.
Maddie Duncan canned a trio of 3-pointers to lead a balanced scoring attack with 12 points. Darrian McNary was also in double figures with 10 points. Hannah Pritchett added nine points while Hallie Gibson scored five points. Christian Papineau and eighth grader Jessica Winders added four points each, Bailey Townsend scored three points while Kristen Keeney and Kaylee Duncan completed the scoring with two points apiece.
Webster raced out to a 11-5 first-quarter lead behind four points from Pritchett and a 3-pointer from Maddie Duncan. Crittenden trimmed the margin to 20-15 at halftime but that would be as close as the Lady Rockets could get.
A 9-0 run to open the third quarter put the game out of reach. A 3-pointer from Pritchett along with a driving layup from McNary and buckets in the paint from Gibson and Kaylee Duncan fueled the surge.
Webster out-scored CCHS 12-6 in the quarter and then used a 19-9 scoring advantage in the final eight minutes to put the game away.