An historic season for the Christian Fellowship girls’ basketball team came to an end in Monday’s opening round of the CFSB Region 1 Tournament. The Lady Eagles lost 83-32 to McCracken County, a top ranked team in the state all season and favorite to win the tournament.
Christian Fellowship’s five seniors – Lilly Burnett, Jayden Jackson, Alyssa Warren, Rhema Howard and Renee Shields – along with junior Gracie Howard, led the Lady Eagles to the school’s first district tournament win, district tournament runner-up, first appearance in the regional tournament and a 20 plus win season finishing with a record of 22-11. All that from a program that was nearly non-existent six years ago.
“Rhema had never played basketball in sixth grade, Lilly had never played basketball in the sixth grade”, Head Coach Trevor Jackson said of two of his five seniors. “Think about that. Lilly a 1,000-point scorer and a 1,000-point rebounder hadn’t even played the game of basketball until seven years ago.”
At the CFSB Center in the opening game of the regional tournament, CFS struck first on a basket by Burnett but the Lady Mustangs followed it up with two 3-pointers from Caroline Sivills and Destiny Thomas and they were off and running. Burnett and Jackson each dropped in 3-pointers to round out the first quarter scoring but McCracken County’s lead was 28-8.
The Lady Eagles opened the second quarter on a nice pass from Warren to Burnett under the goal for a basket but the Lady Mustangs held them to six points and led 52-14 at halftime. CFS scored 18 second half points, highlighted by a couple of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter from Burnett and Shields.
“They’re a tremendous basketball team”, Jackson said. “We knew that coming in. I wish them the best. Coach Sivills does a great job.”
Burnett led CFS scorers with 13 points. Sivills led McCracken County with 22 points. The Lady Mustangs are now 30-2 and advance to Friday’s 6:00 semifinal against Mayfield who beat Carlisle County 51-48.
“It hurts now but you’ll look back on it and realize wow, we really did something”, Jackson said he told his players. “That’s got to be very satisfying and gratifying for them down the road.”
Jackson also added that he told the girls they have given him every emotion known to humankind, “I’ve been mad at you…angry…but also you’ve given me the most joy and happiness I’ve ever had in my life as a coach.”
Gracie Howard will be the lone returner from this year’s starting squad and Jackson said the bar is now raised for the younger players.
“We have a lot to replace and it may take a few years to get back to where we want to get but the road map has been laid out by these girls. Not playing afraid, coming to work every day and trying to get better every day in practice. That’s the challenge for these younger girls.”
Christian Fellowship 8 6 9 9 – 32
McCracken County 28 24 29 12 – 83
Christian Fellowship: Lillian Burnett 13, Renee Shields 7, Jayden Jackson 7, Alyssa Warren 3, Gracie Howard 2
McCracken County: Caroline Sivills 22, Claire Johnson 17, Mikee Buchanan 11, Destiny Thomas 11, Briley Benton 6, Reagan Hill 6, Kendall Redd 4, Belle York 2, Abby Casebier 2, Jordan Bufford 2
Christian Fellowship vs. McCracken County, 1st Region Tournament
