Lady Braves finish season with loss to Lady Pioneers

After losing their final regular season game to Owen County Feb. 18, Lady Braves coach Darrell Guffey said his girls need to play four quarters of basketball to get better.

Matt Birkholtz

Billie Hearn tries to shoot over a Lady Pioneer defender.

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The same instance occurred in the 32nd District Tournament first round as Grant County fell to Simon Kenton 50-31 Feb. 21.

“We played really well for three quarters,” Guffey said. “If you take away the second quarter we outscored Simon Kenton 39-36.”

In the second quarter the Lady Braves could not get any offense going and found themselves entering the locker room at halftime down 27-8.

On a few possessions the Lady Braves turned the ball over on steals by Simon Kenton causing the score to run up and making the home-based crowd erupt in cheers.

Guffey said this is what happens when you are unproven.

“Our inexperience shined tonight,” he said. “However, we have matured so much over the course of the season that I am very proud of my girls.”

The end of the season marks the end of Brittany Hearn, Logan Kidwell and Seneca Sullivan’s high school basketball careers.

“I am very happy for my team not giving up after the second quarter,” Hearn said. “We could have just walked home after halftime, but we fought hard till the end of the game.”

Even with the loss of the three seniors, Guffey still sees a bright future for the Lady Braves with another year under their belt.

“We have a lot coming back next year,” he said. “When we looked at this team coming into the preseason, we knew we didn’t have a lot of experience.”

He said the two players that really had regular playing time from last season’s team was junior Morgan McClure and sophomore Billie Hearn, while bringing up two eighth graders Macy Wright and Hannah Kitchens that had no varsity experience going into the season.

“Simon Kenton has a senior that has been all-region the past two seasons,” Guffey said. “They may have played 160 varsity games in their career, while Wright and Kitchens have logged around 20 games.”

With the season over, Guffey said the team will take a break till the state tournament starts and then will get back together to start piecing together next season.

“It is an exciting time to be at Grant County High School,” he said. “It’s an exciting time to be a coach for Lady Braves’ basketball.”