Sweet 16: Henderson County sets up western Kentucky showdown for title-game spot
A western Kentucky team earned a chance to play for a state title.
Henderson County knocked out Russell, 64-53, in the quarterfinals of the Mingua Beef Jerky/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16 on Thursday night to set up a showdown with Marshall County in Saturday’s semifinals. That game’s winner was to meet the victor of the earlier semifinal, either Anderson County or Sacred Heart, in the championship tilt on Saturday night.
BOX SCORE: Henderson County 64, Russell 53
The Colonels reached the penultimate round for the fifth time and their first since 2009. Jeff Haile, in his 35th season leading the Colonels, has coached all 17 Sweet 16 qualifiers in school history and is the state’s active leader in wins with 769.
A victory Saturday afternoon would be his first in the state semifinals.
“This is what we’ve been fighting for all year long,” Haile said. “ ... We want it real, real bad. We’ve had four Final Fours since I’ve been coaching and have never reached that title game. We want to get to that title game bad and give ourselves a chance to win a state championship.”
Sadie Wurth, a 5-foot-4 senior who’s in the running for this year’s Miss Basketball award, had 27 points, six assists and two steals to lead the Colonels (21-4). She struggled from the field, ending 4-for-13 overall and 1-for-7 from beyond the arc, but delivered from the free-throw line, where she was 18-of-21.
“It is very hard to stay focused but I knew I had to do it for my team, and for myself,” Wurth said. “I wanted this moment bad, and even if my shots aren’t falling I can do other stuff for us to win the game.”
Henderson County took 35 free throws and made 26 compared to 24 and 16 for Russell. The Colonels never trailed thanks to an early scoring deluge. Henderson County knows how crucial of a difference-maker those free shots can be: The Colonels played Marshall County earlier this season and lost on a free throw with no time left, 46-45, after holding a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore Jarie Thomas scored Henderson County’s first six points, all but one of them matched by Russell senior Kaeli Ross in the early going. After Ross hit a pair of free throws to get the Red Devils within a point, Wurth uncorked a trey from the top of the key that kicked off a personal 7-0 scoring run and an overall 16-2 finish for the Colonels to end the quarter. Henderson County shot 72.7 percent in the frame while holding Russell to 25 percent to assume a 22-7 lead.
After going down 16 on a Wurth free throw to open the second quarter, and losing starting point guard Shaelyn Steele to a third foul 31 seconds into the period, Russell used an 8-0 run to get within single digits . A pair of Wurth free throws halted the run but Ross responded with two makes within 40 seconds of one another — a triple and a long two — to keep it tight. An and-one opportunity on another long make with 10 seconds left was wide right, and Henderson secured the board with enough time to get a corner look from Savannah Lacer; it fell to give the Colonels a 33-27 edge at half.
Russell’s first-quarter woes from the field returned in the third quarter, where it finished 2-for-10 despite getting several clean looks right at the rim. The Colonels couldn’t match their own first quarter, going 4-for-12 to extend their lead to 43-33. Henderson opened the fourth on an 8-3 run to swell its lead to 15, and Russell never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
“Not a lot of things, unfortunately, went our way, including easy baskets and free throws,” Russell Coach Mandy Layne said. “We also weren’t able to get some stops when we needed ‘em. I think, too, digging that early deficit really hurt us.”
Russell won the 16th Region for a second year in a row and was in the quarterfinals for the first time since 1976.
‘She steps up when she needs to.’ Marshall senior takes over in final two minutes.
2021 Girls’ Sweet 16 Day 3 wrap-up from Rupp Arena
