After knocking off Henderson County early in the season, the Christian County Lady Colonels apparently had the full attention of the northern Lady Colonels coming into Friday night’s region semifinal contest at Trigg County High School. Henderson County blitzed Christian County early and never let the southern Lady Colonels get started on the way to a 58-40 win in Wildcat Gym.
The win moves Henderson County into Saturday night’s championship game and puts the Lady Colonels in position to win their 6th consecutive 2nd Region championship.
Christian County entered the game needing to create offense with their defense by forcing Henderson County into turnovers, much as the southern Lady Colonels did in the early season matchup. But Friday night, that just did not happen.
Add in shooting troubles for Christian County from the opening tip, and it was just an impossible combination for Coach Kiki Radford’s Lady Colonels.
Henderson County scored the first six points of the game and never trailed for the night. Christian County’s Lazarie Daniel scored four early points to close the gap to 8-4 but the train then came off the tracks for the Lady Colonels.
Henderson County, getting a balanced effort from Brooklyn Gibson, Allyson Rideout, ATyla Green, and Adalyn Gish, closed out the first quarter on a 13-2 run and the Christian County Lady Colonels found themselves trailing 21-6 after one. And it would have been even worse for Christian County had it not been for Lazarie Daniel, who scored all of the first-quarter points.
As for Christian County’s shooting woes, it was not that Henderson County was forcing the Lady Colonels to take outside shots that weren’t going, Christian County couldn’t get shots to go in from right under the basket. Second, third, and even fourth chances just would not go down. And sometimes there are just those kinds of nights.
Henderson County shut down Daniel and the second quarter and kept the clamps on NeVaeh Day and Anaysia Bagwell. Bagwell knocked down a three with 4:27 to go in the half to register the first points of the night from someone other than Lazarie Daniel.
Henderson County continued to flow with their offense in the second quarter, not having issues with the Christian County pressure, as they extended the lead to as many as 24 points in the quarter. Henderson would end the first 16 minutes of the game with just one turnover, far fewer than the first meeting of the year between the two teams.
The Henderson lead was at 38-15 as the half ended. It would have been even tougher for Christian County if not for a nice quarter from DEbony Anderson, who scored six points in the second.
Coming out of the half, Henderson County started having some ball safety issues. Christian County was able to convert, somewhat, but continued shooting woes and turnover issues of their own hindered any chances for a big third-quarter rally.
Led by the big three of Bagwell, Day, and Daniel, Christian County outscored Henderson in the third 12-6, but that only trimmed the lead to 44-27 heading into the final quarter.
Despite a continued increase in turnovers for Henderson County, the northern Lady Colonels opened the fourth quarter on a 9-1 spurt to slam the door on the hopes of a big-time comeback for Christian County.
ATyla Green led three Henderson County Lady Colonels in double figures with 15 points. Allyson Rideout finished with 13 points. Adalyn Gish had 11 points and 7 rebounds.
For Christian County, Anaysia Bagwell ended the night with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Lazarie Daniel also reached double figures with 12. NeVaeh Day had six points and added 13 rebounds.
Christian County forced Henderson County into 11 turnovers for the game, but 10 of those came in the second half after the game was decided. The southern Lady Colonels had their share of miscues with 16.
Christian County ends the season at 18-10.
Henderson County improves to 24-7 and moves on to Saturday night’s championship game at Trigg County High School.
HCHS — 21 17 6 14 – 58
CCHS — 6 9 12 13 – 40
Henderson County – Green 15, Rideout 13, Gish 11, Gibson 9, Kemp 7, Gish 3
Christian County – Bagwell 15, Daniel 12, Day 6, Anderson 6, McGee 1
