Death, taxes, and the Henderson County Lady Colonels playing for the 2nd Region championship. Henderson County’s outside shooting sparked a 13-0 run to open the second quarter as the Lady Colonels broke open a tight game and went on to take a 60-37 win over the Hopkins County Central Lady Storm in the first semifinal game Friday night in the Girls 2nd Region Tournament at Lyle Dunbar Gym.
The start of the game turned out to be a battle of the outside shooting of Henderson County against the inside play of Hopkins County Central. The Lady Colonels knocked down three from behind the arc, two of them from Brooklyn Gibson, and held an 11-10 lead with 3:02 to go in the first quarter.
The quarter went back and forth from the beginning. There were four ties and five lead changes over the first eight minutes. The last lead change put Hopkins County Central in front at the end of the quarter at 14-13.
Free throws were big for Central in the quarter as the Lady Storm went 6 of 6 at the line.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn Gibson had a huge opening for the Lady Colonels with 8 points in the quarter.
Henderson County continued the hot shooting from long distance as the second quarter started. The Lady Colonels buried two threes as part of a 9-0 run to open the second in the first 1:58 to turn their one-point deficit into an 8-point lead and resulting in Coach Phillip Cotton calling a timeout for his Lady Storm.
The run would reach 13-0 before Bri Dulin finally ended it for Hopkins County Central with 4:50 to go in the second, making it 26-16.
Henderson County went on a quick 6-2 run, pushing the score out to 32-18 and leading to a second timeout from Central coach Phillip Cotton with 2:30 left in the half.
In addition to Henderson shooting the ball well, the Lady Storm also began to have some ball security issues in the second quarter, causing them to miss some scoring opportunities and leading to breakaway opportunities for the Lady Colonels.
The game would go to the break with Henderson County holding a 32-20 lead. The Lady Colonels got 12 first half points from Brooklyn Gibson and 6 from Allyson Rideout.
Calajia Mason had 6 at the break for Hopkins County Central, but none in the second quarter. Tyah White, Braylee Marsh, and Addie Menser had 4 points each.
Henderson County gave the Lady Storm a chance to cut into the lead in the opening moments of the second half as the Lady Colonels missed shots on their first three possessions. The problem was the Lady Storm had three straight turnovers at the other end and did not get a shot up to try and cut into that lead.
Kenzleigh Harrison knocked down a three to end the short dry spell and to make it 32-23, but Brooklyn Gibson returned the favor at the other end. After Gibson’s trey, Henderson used a mini-run of 5-1 to extend the lead out to 40-24, the Lady Colonels’ biggest lead of the game to that point.
Hopkins County Central had a chance late in the third to get the margin back down to 10 points, but Braylee Marsh’s three was off the mark. Henderson County took the rebound and pushed it up the floor and got a three from Allyson Rideout that instead made it 44-28 with just over a minute left in the third.
The quarter ended with the Lady Colonels in possession of a 14-point lead at 44-30.
Henderson County opened the final quarter with a quick 6-0 spurt that effectively settled everything but the final score. The Lady Storm got no closer than 15 points for the rest of the game.
Brooklyn Gibson led the Lady Colonels for the night with 21 points. Allyson Rideout was the only other Henderson player in double digits with 12. ATylia Green just missed a double figures game with 9. Rashia Cansler added 7 points.
Mason was the only Lady Storm player to hit double figures with 10 points. Tyah White ended her night with 8 points. Addie Menser and Kenzleigh Harrison added 6 points each.
Henderson County improves to 26-5 with the win and heads into Saturday night’s regional championship game for the seventh year in a row, where they will have the chance to play for the 7th consecutive regional crown. The last time Henderson County did not make the final was in the 2017-2018 season when Webster County beat Christian County for the championship.
Hopkins County Central, who won the 7th District championship, saw their season come to an end at 20-14.
