Strong leadership, team approach keys to success for this year’s squad
For the seventh consecutive season, the Henderson County Lady Colonels are headed back to Rupp Arena for the 2025 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls’ Basketball Sweet 16. In fact, Rupp Arena has not hosted a girls state tournament without the presence of the Lady Colonels since the historic venue began hosting the event in the 2019 season.
HCHS has reached the state tournament 12 of the last 13 years. Last season, the Lady Cols won their first game before bowing out in the quarterfinals to Cooper. Most recently, they reached the semifinal round in 2023 and 2021. The Lady Cols have not played in the championship game since the Girls’ Sweet 16 was reinstated in 1975.
Henderson County continued its dominance of the 2nd Region by defeating the Crittenden County Lady Rockets 66-31 on Saturday night at Christian County High School to win its seventh straight region championship.
HCHS was led by three juniors scoring in double figures. A’Tylia Green netted 18 points with three rebounds, Brooklyn Gibson added 17 points and three boards, and Addy Gish chipped in 11 points and six rebounds.
The Lady Colonels were hardly challenged throughout the tournament, winning the three games by an average margin of nearly 32 points.
In the first game, they beat Lyon County, 77-40. Senior Allyson Rideout led the way with team highs of 17 points and nine rebounds.
In the semifinal round, Henderson County was victorious over Hopkins County Central 60-37. Gibson had 21 points, while Rideout finished with a double-double, collecting 12 points and 13 rebounds.
“We’re glad we brought back three seniors and three juniors off last year’s team…so we talked about that at the region tournament,” said head coach Stephen Haile, who attributed his team’s success to its strong leadership and team approach, including the assistant coaches and scout team. Henderson County was fortunate enough not to lose any rising seniors from last year’s team. “It’s a full team game, a full team win. It’s not just the kids on the floor that get the spotlight, but there’s a lot of things that go into it.”
Four HCHS players were named to the 2nd Region All-Tournament Team. Seniors Anna Kemp and Rideout were joined by juniors Green and Gibson.
The Lady Colonels head into the Sweet 16 with a record of 27-5. They were undefeated in both region (13-0) and district (5-0) play, while also winning the 6th District Championship along the way. Henderson County was ranked 9th in the state in the final Kentucky High School Girls Basketball Media Poll.
According to Rideout, defense and transition have been keys for the Lady Colonels.
“It’s our defense for sure and our press,” Rideout said. “We like to score the ball and pop into our press and turn them over to get easy transition baskets for us.”
HCHS will face the Marshall County Lady Marshals in the first round of the Sweet 16. The Lady Marshals were crowned the champions of the 1st Region by defeating Calloway County, 40-27, Saturday night. The Lady Marshals are 25-6 on the season.
Coached by Aaron Beth, the Lady Marshals boast two of the best three-point shooters in Kentucky. Their leading scorer is senior Skylar Waller who averages 15.3 ppg and is shooting 47% from behind the three-point arc. She’s made 82 threes during the season.
Sophomore Kenzlee Terry is also a concern as she has hit 83 threes at a rate of 41% and is the second leading scorer with 13.5 ppg.
“Waller. She’s the best player and a senior guard,” Haile said. “She shoots really well from three. Another guard (Terry) shoots it over 40% from three so both of them like to shoot the three and average in double figures. They got some size and some other good players too.”
According to the KHSAA website, since 2006 this will be the fifth matchup between Henderson County and Marshall County in the girls Sweet 16. The Lady Colonels won the first two contests in 2006 and 2009, but Marshall County won the most recent meeting in 2021. These common foes were scheduled to meet in the 2020 tournament as well before it was cancelled due to COVID-19.
“Coach Beth does a really good job coaching them. Kind of me and him a little bit are cut from the same cloth. His dad coached Marshall County for like 30 years, so very similar and style-wise too.”
Both teams face a tall task if they wish to hoist the championship trophy, as the unanimous No. 1 team in the state, Louisville Sacred Heart, should be favored to win its fifth straight state title.
After winning their district and region championship easily, Kemp knows that her team needs to be prepared as they get ready to face the best competition in the state. She feels that the Lady Cols will benefit from playing a tough schedule early in the season.
“We had a really challenging schedule this year,” Kemp said. “We’ve had tendencies in the past to beat the region teams by quite a few so we really challenged ourselves earlier in the schedule and I think that’s really prepared us for this tournament this year…(Some teams were) very similar to Sacred Heart, so it’s good to get that experience and play those teams to push yourself and know that’s what you’re going to see at the end of the year.”
An injury kept Gibson out of the lineup in last year’s state tournament run. She should improve their chances as the team’s leading scorer at 13.0 ppg.
“It kind of hurt knowing that I couldn’t get out there and play and experience things with them, so it’s definitely special to me this year since I can experience this moment with them,” said Gibson.
Lady Colonels’ senior, Rashia Cansler, understands the importance of the team’s success to Henderson’s youth and the community as a whole.
“It gives them hope to know that girls can do as much as boys because we’ve been winning,” said Cansler. She added this message to all Hendersonians: “We just love the support and thank you guys for everything you did for us.”
The team will travel to Lexington Wednesday.
Tipoff for the Lady Colonels’ first round Sweet 16 matchup is set for 5 p.m. CST, Thursday.
Tickets will be available for purchase on khsaatickets.org.
Subscribers to the NFHS Network will be able to watch the action live on khsaa.tv. A monthly pass to the site is $11.99. Additionally, audio feed will be available for free on khsaa.net.
