After losing their first game of the new year to Apollo earlier in the week, the Henderson County Lady Colonels rebounded to get back on the winning track Saturday. The northern Lady Colonels made the journey down the parkway and then returned home with a 70-38 win over Christian County.
The high-powered Henderson County offense did not take long to get rolling Saturday. Behind the shooting of Graci Risley, the northern Lady Colonels rang up 25 points in the opening quarter. The Henderson lead was at 3-2 when they ripped off the next nine points of the game to go up 12-2.
Henderson County lit it up from deep early in the game, as they connected on five shots from behind the three-point line, three of them from Risley, as they took a 25-7 lead.
While Christian County did have some issues with the Henderson County pressure defense, the biggest problem was shooting, as when Christian County got looks at the basket, the ball would not go in.
After their blistering hot start, the Henderson County Lady Colonels cooled down a bit at the beginning of the second quarter. Christian County scored the first six of the quarter to trim the lead to 25-13. Sarah Harris and Caitlin Steele stepped up to help Christian County make the run. They may have been able to cut the lead even more, as Henderson County struggled to get going again, but the southern Lady Colonels had their own struggles at the line. For the opening half, Christian County would hit only 7 of 14 at the charity stripe.
After not finding the basket for the first four minutes of the quarter, Henderson County would put up 11 points over the rest of the half as they pushed the lead back out to 36-17 at the half. 8th grader Adalyn Gish and junior Savannah Lacer provided the spark for Henderson late in the half.
Henderson opened the second half, much like it began the game, with the defense causing Christian County miscues, and the offense finding its stride inside, outside, and in transition. Henderson’s defense held the Christian County offense to just one made field goal for the first 5:50 of the third quarter as they drove the final nail in the game with an 18-2 run to expand their lead out to 54-19, bringing the running clock into play for the rest of the game. The lead would be 56-21 as the quarter came to an end.
Henderson County starters would finish out the game on the bench for the final eight minutes as reserves saw extended minutes in the final quarter of the contest.
Mikayah Killebrew led Christian County with 11 points. Anaysia Bagwell added 10 points, 8 of them coming in the second half of play.
Graci Risley topped the scoring column for Henderson County, finishing with 18 points, including five made three-pointers. Adalyn Gish and Savannah Lacer also hit double figures for Henderson County with ten points each.
The loss drops Christian County to 5-9 on the year. The Lady Colonels are set to get back to action Tuesday evening when they host Daviess County.
Henderson County improves to 8-4. They will travel to Madisonville Monday night for a big 2nd Region girls’ showdown.
HCHS — 25 11 20 14 – 70
CCHS — 7 10 4 17 – 38
Henderson County (8-4) – Risley 18, Gish 10, Lacer 10, Thomas 7, Sprinkles 6, Tombs 5, Veal 5, K. Kemp 4, Gibson 3, A. Kemp 2
Christian County (5-9) – Killebrew 11, Bagwell 10, Harris 6, Steele 4, Catlett-Watkins 4, Day 3
