The Connersville Lady Spartan basketball team claimed a Class 3A Regional Championship following a 55-30 win over the Maconaquah Lady Braves in Lapel on Saturday.
“I am so proud of these girls,” Connersville Head Coach Shana Williams said. “Winning sectional was huge. I feel like they had some pressure lifted off their shoulders. Last week was a little chaotic. We wanted to keep it as normal as possible. We talked about, ‘remember what got us here,’ and that’s our defense. We came out, locked down defensively, and came out the regional win.”
The Lady Spartans had 10 steals in total while holding the Lady Braves to 24 points below their season average on defense. Three Lady Spartans were in double figures in Connersville girls’ first Regional Title since 2001, and fifth in program history. Senior Serenity Pennington had 16 points with 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Pennington had 9 points off 3 3-pointers during a 17-8 run for Connersville in the first quarter.
“The Energizer Bunny,” Williams said. “[Serenity] literally never stops, to a fault sometimes. We kept saying, ‘don’t gamble.’ She got beat a couple of times, but that’s because she wants it so bad. She’ll do something the next play that makes up for it. She’s always making big plays, getting big stops, [and] making big shots. She’s a heart of the team, and I’m so proud of her for that.”
Sophomore Kendyl Bottomley had 16 points with 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal.
“I’ve always said that [Kendyl] is the glue to our team” Williams said. “Her basketball IQ is so high. She tells the girls, ‘They’re going to look to trap,’ and she knows where to go and where to look. It the beginning of [regional], she played a little hesitant. She’s got to lean to do everything with a purpose. She’s a sophomore. She’s learning, and what a way to learn in these types of games.”
Senior Ahniyah Bennett contributed 14 points with 4 assists, 2 steals, and led Connersville with 9 rebounds.
“Ahniyah wanted this so bad, and you could tell,” Williams said. “Her rotations on defense, her rebounding, [and] they way she attacked the basket, basketball is her passion. She doesn’t want it to end, and she does everything for us. She’s the motor. She’s keeping everybody’s spirits up.”
Connersville took a 25-16 lead into the halftime break and led 43-28 heading into the fourth quarter. The Lady Spartans closed out the regional championship with a 12-2 run in the fourth.
Junior Kinze Van Meter had 7 points with 5 rebounds and 1 assist. for the Lady Spartans.
“Kinze had a tough role on defense [on Saturday],” Willaims said. “[Maconaquah] play five guards instead of any posts. She had to guard the perimeter. I though she did good [and] she came up with big rebounds. We were able to attack the basket. When they collapsed on the guards, she’s open. We can feed it down to her for the shot, [and] I thought she finished well. She’s our communicator. She’s huge, especially in our zone.”
Senior point guard Addison Jones had 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.
“I can’t say enough how important Addie is to us,” Williams said. “We call her the General for a reason. I love for her to be making shots, but when she’s not, she’s got to stay strong. Defensively, she’s out there making stops. She’s getting deflections and getting, throw outs for layups. Then she’s also taking care of the ball and getting us set into our offense. She means so much to this team and keeps us all together.”
Senior Maddie Harrison had 1 steal in important minutes off the bench for the Lady Spartans. Harrison had 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in Connersville’s 50-30 first-round sectional win over Hamilton Heights on Tuesday, February 3.
“Defensively, she’s locked in.” Williams said. “She’s getting rebounds [and] setting screens from the shooters to get open. Stuff that maybe some people don’t notice, but we notice as a coaching staff. Her knowing her role is huge. For her to come in off the bench and give us that spark is very special.”
The Connersville reserves got on the court in the fourth quarter. Freshman Isabella Dilk rounded out the Connersville scoring with 2 points. Sophomore Hope Hornsby and 3 rebounds and 1 assist with junior Myleigh Perry 1 rebound.
Junior Ireland Kile had 12 points to lead the Lady Braves in scoring. Juniors Aubry Stoll and Delandy Betzner contributing 9 and 8 points, respectively. Junior Aubrey Kaiser had 1 point for Maconaquah.
The Lady Spartans sit at 20-7 on the season and will continue their quest for a State Championship in Semi-State in Logansport on Saturday, February 21. Connersville will play the 22-6 Faifield Lady Falcons in the Game 2 (12:00 p.m.) matchup.
“[There’s] still work to do,” Willaims said. “As a coach, you’re never satisfied, [but] we move on for only the fifth time in school history.”
The Lady Spartans average 54 points per game on the season while holding opposing offenses to 38 points. Fairfield scores 52 points on average while surrendering 32 points on average. Four Lady Spartans average double figures on the season with Pennington, Bottomley, and Bennett all averaging around 12 ppg. Jones averages 10 ppg for Connersville.
The Game 2 winner will play the winner of the Game 1 matchup between the 22-3 Belmont Lady Braves and the 22-5 Culver Lady Eagles. Game 1 tips at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday with the Semi-State championship set to tip at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday.
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