March equals madness.
In the quarterfinal round of the girls 8th Region tournament at Anderson County, the reigning region champion Simon Kenton fell to Spencer County, 46-45 in what shaped up to be a thrilling ending.
Simon Kenton seemed to have closed the door late, up 45-44 with 15 seconds left
and the ball, but the Lady Pioneers turned the ball over off an inbound pass and
landed in the hands of Spencer County’s Ella Brown.
Brown made the heads up play to find her teammate Hawley Johnson underneath
who laid it up and in for the score and the Lady Bears first lead of the game, 46-45.
“When Ella got it, I just went to the block and stayed there.” Johnson said, “I then put
it up when I got it, and I was like ‘oh my gosh’ I just shot it. I honestly didn’t know if it
went in or not, I was just praying it did.”
The Lady Bears couldn’t have been in that situation if it wasn’t for Ella Brown, who
finished with 17 points.
“There was just so much going on at the end.” Brown said, “But I knew I wanted this
one so bad. I knew that if we were all in the right spots, we would get something
eventually.”
Simon Kenton had a chance to win the game, but couldn’t get off a shot as time
expired. The Lady Pioneers struggles grew as the game went on, being outscored 9-5 in the fourth quarter and scoring one point over the final four minutes.
“We just didn’t execute,” Simon Kenton head coach Brenden Stowers said, “Some of
it was on me not calling the players that needed to be called. We didn’t have any
timeouts down the stretch, there were a couple loose balls we didn’t get, kids
slipping on the floor, but we’re still young. We’re still learning.”
Simon Kenton struggled on the glass, outrebounded 30-18. Their leading rebounder Haylie Webb played limited minutes due to foul trouble and she would eventually foul out in the fourth finishing with nine points.
Simon Kenton started off as the aggressor up 15-7 at the end of the first quarter and carried a 25-20 lead into the locker room. The Pioneers led 40-32 before the momentum slowly started to swing late in the third.
Spencer County scored five quick points, including a significant buzzer-beating three-pointer by Kayla Basham to make it 40-37 at the end of the frame.
“We made some shots and I mean big shots,” Spencer County head coach John Howie said. “Kayla made the three that kept us in it, and we just kept fighting.”
The Lady Bears ended the game with a 6-0 run including Johnson’s game winner.
Simon Kenton’s season comes to a close, at 21-11. They were led by freshman Brynli
Pernell with 15 points. Anna Kelch added nine. Though the Lady Pioneers are a young team and return a lot of production, they lose three seniors as Rylie Flynn, Ava Slusser and Natalie Hernandez are set to graduate .
“My thoughts are with the three seniors; they’ve been through a lot here.” Stowers
said, “I love these girls to death. A lot of them have been up here since they were in
middle school, so I’ve gotten to know them and their families. That’s the toughest
part. You build these relationships and you’re just really, really going to miss being
around those kids every day.”
Despite the three departures, they do return four of their starting five from Monday night.
Spencer County is moving on to the semifinals where they will take on North Oldham.
LADY BEARS 46, LADY PIONEERS 45
SIMON KENTON — 15-10-15-5 — 45
SPENCER COUNTY — 7-13-17-9 — 46
Scoring
Simon Kenton (45) — Pernell 15, Kelch 9, Webb 9, Flynn 4, Gadzala
4, Blevins 2, Ober 2
Spencer County (46) — Brown 17, Johnson 9, Mills 9, Basham 6,
Scott 3, Raque 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: Simon Kenton 16/38, Spencer County 17/37
3-Pointers: Simon Kenton 3/7, Spencer County 6/14
Free Throws: Simon Kenton 10/15, Spencer County 6/8
Rebounds: Simon Kenton 18, Spencer County 30
Assists: Simon Kenton 6, Spencer County 8
Turnovers: Simon Kenton 11, Spencer County 18
Steals: Simon Kenton 7, Spencer County 4
Blocks: Simon Kenton 1, Spencer County 2
Fouls: Simon Kenton 13, Spencer County 15
Records: Simon Kenton 21-11, Spencer County 22-11
