A stunned Webster County crowd watched as their Lady Trojans suffered a heart-breaking 53-45 defeat at the hands of Madisonville-North Hopkins in semi-final action of the Second Region Tournament held at Trojan gym in Dixon.
It was the first matchup of the season against the two squads and rematch of last year’s regional semi-final game. Webster prevailed in that contest but it was a much-improved Madisonville squad that punched their ticket to the regional final this year.
The athletic Lady Maroons took the fight to Webster on Friday, applying pressure defense in the paint against Lynette Harris and also on the perimeter shooting of Ellie Steiner.
The strategy worked as Webster could never get its offense on track and the confidence of the Lady Maroons continued to build throughout the contest in front of a packed house.
Webster (21-8) built a 12-8 first quarter lead but from that point on, Madisonville controlled the action. They outscored the WC girls 18-6 in the second quarter behind the play of 6-foot forward Tayla Foster. She finished with a game-high 25 points.
“They’re very athletic and they wanted,” said WCHS head coach Christina Whitsell. “Offensive rebounds, and they were relentless taking it to the basket.”
Madisonville, which led 26-18 at halftime, continued its strong defensive presence in the third quarter and limited WCHS to just five points, building as much as a 17 point lead in the period.
The Lady Trojans finally came to life in the fourth quarter and put together a furious comeback behind the spark of Kerstin Hayes. The senior guard scored 12 of her team-high 15 points in the period, including a driving basket with 2:21 remaining to cut the deficit to 10 points.
Steiner then nailed a jumper under the two minute mark to trim the lead to eight points, 47-39. Good defense from Hayes forced a turnover by Foster at the other end as the Webster comeback bid continued. But two missed jumpers from Webster virtually stopped the run.
“I felt like the last three minutes we executed and played hard,” Whitsell stated. “Obviously, it was a little too late. The first three quarters we were hesitant and didn’t execute our game plan.”
Webster outscored Madisonville 22-15 in the final eight minutes but it wasn’t enough as the high school careers of seven outstanding seniors ... Kerstin Hayes, Lynette Harris, Stephanie Householder, Caylee Duncan, Ellie Steiner, Morgan Major and Ellie Green ... came to a disappointing end.
Steiner added 11 points in the loss, including one 3-pointer. Harris finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Keri Wright scored five points and Householder three. Hayes drained a trio of 3-pointers for her 15 points.
Both teams committed 14 turnovers while the Lady Maroons out-rebounded Webster 29-24, eight coming at the offensive end.
Henderson County easily defeated the Lady Maroons in the championship game on Saturday to claim their fourth-straight Second Region title and a trip to this week’s State Tournament at Diddle Arena in Bowling Green.
