The Henderson County Lady Colonels historic season came to an end in the quarterfinals of the Sweet 16, falling to Danville Christian, 60-55. HCHS held a double-digit lead at halftime but 32 points from Danville Christian’s 6’5” Grace Mbugua, a University of Louisville commit, proved to be too much to overcome.
A’tylia Green, who was named to the State All-Tournament team, led Henderson County in scoring with 18 points. Anna Kemp had 17 points, shooting 3-for-5 from three, with four rebounds. Brooklyn Gibson added 11 points and five rebounds.
“It was heartbreaking when they came back and took the lead,” said Kemp. “We played really hard as a team and did a lot of things we wanted to do. The outcome just didn’t go our way.”
The Lady Cols beat Marshall County 45-30 in the opening round of the state tournament. Gibson scored 18 points and grabbed four rebounds. Green contributed 11 points. Allyson Rideout posted nine points and three rebounds.
Overall, Henderson County finished the season 28-6, winning both the 6th district and 2nd region championships. It was their seventh consecutive region title. The team also set a single-season record with 473 steals, breaking a 20-year mark. Green recorded 130 steals, tying her own single season record from last season.
“I was a little sad, but I was kind of relieved to know that I got to play with my teammates one last time,” said senior Rashia Cansler. “We had some big accomplishments. We just didn’t meet our end goal.”
The Lady Cols will bid farewell to three important seniors in Cansler, Kemp and Rideout.
“We didn’t have any seniors returning, so they had big shoes to fill. They took on a big-time leadership role for us, not only on the court but off the court, too,” Coach Stephen Haile said of his departing seniors. “We’re going to miss them dearly, especially in that respect…just leading our younger kids by example more than anything.”
Cansler plans to attend Tennessee State University where she will major in dental hygiene.
Kemp has committed to play softball at the University of Southern Indiana.
Rideout will continue her basketball career at Oakland City University.
“I’m super grateful for this season,” Rideout said. “We had a lot of big moments. We were still able to make history in the second region winning it seven times in a row, so overall it was a great season.”