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Thursday night was a special one for the Lady Pirates of Hannibal.
The Hannibal High School Lady Pirates basketball team hosted Senior Night on Wednesday, Feb. 2 to honor its three senior athletes: Krystal Ferguson, Cassidy Trenhaile and Ashley Stevenson.
The Lady Pirates came up short against a Moberly team that won 62-58 over No. 5 in Missouri Kirksville on Jan. 30.
Hannibal fell by a score of 46-27.
Head Coach Ron Greenwell said it was nice to put on a night like this for his veteran athletes.
“It’s a tribute to the girls that all three of them have been with the program for four years and the fans come out here to support them and cheer them on,” Greenwell said. “Those girls have had a tough time in their years of playing basketball, and for them to stick it out and stick with it even though we haven’t had a lot of winning seasons, I’m proud of them.”
Four years have included two winless seasons, and last season which saw the group assemble three wins — this year the Lady Pirates have topped that mark with four.
Trenhaile said it was a nice night to be a part of.
“It’s always a fun night, being able to get recognized for all the hard work you put in for four years,” Trenhaile said. “It’s nice to be recognized for that and have people come out and support you.”
The senior said she hopes that her encouragement gets passed down, “It’s important to build each other up instead of tear each other down,” she said.
She also wanted to make sure the athletes that stayed with Hannibal in her wake worked hard.
Trenhaile said she will miss Hannibal, but sees bright things for the program in the future.
“It’s definitely sad to leave,” the senior said. “I’m ready for the future but I am also sad to be leaving all the girls to whom I have become really close.”
She added, “I think they will be strong for the next few years, they have a good eighth grade class coming up next year. If they keep working hard and listening to coaches, they should be fine and be able to go places.”
Greenwell said that his seniors have been starters for three seasons.
He said he hopes the three instill in the younger players’ minds that hard work does pay off.
Thursday night was a special one for the Lady Pirates of Hannibal.
The Hannibal High School Lady Pirates basketball team hosted Senior Night on Wednesday, Feb. 2 to honor its three senior athletes: Krystal Ferguson, Cassidy Trenhaile and Ashley Stevenson.
The Lady Pirates came up short against a Moberly team that won 62-58 over No. 5 in Missouri Kirksville on Jan. 30.
Hannibal fell by a score of 46-27.
Head Coach Ron Greenwell said it was nice to put on a night like this for his veteran athletes.
“It’s a tribute to the girls that all three of them have been with the program for four years and the fans come out here to support them and cheer them on,” Greenwell said. “Those girls have had a tough time in their years of playing basketball, and for them to stick it out and stick with it even though we haven’t had a lot of winning seasons, I’m proud of them.”
Four years have included two winless seasons, and last season which saw the group assemble three wins — this year the Lady Pirates have topped that mark with four.
Trenhaile said it was a nice night to be a part of.
“It’s always a fun night, being able to get recognized for all the hard work you put in for four years,” Trenhaile said. “It’s nice to be recognized for that and have people come out and support you.”
The senior said she hopes that her encouragement gets passed down, “It’s important to build each other up instead of tear each other down,” she said.
She also wanted to make sure the athletes that stayed with Hannibal in her wake worked hard.
Trenhaile said she will miss Hannibal, but sees bright things for the program in the future.
“It’s definitely sad to leave,” the senior said. “I’m ready for the future but I am also sad to be leaving all the girls to whom I have become really close.”
She added, “I think they will be strong for the next few years, they have a good eighth grade class coming up next year. If they keep working hard and listening to coaches, they should be fine and be able to go places.”
Greenwell said that his seniors have been starters for three seasons.
He said he hopes the three instill in the younger players’ minds that hard work does pay off.
“I hope that some of the younger players can realize that our three seniors have started games since they were sophomores,” Greenwell said. “Hopefully they show the younger kids that with a little work ethic and time in the gym that those younger girls can start at a younger age if they work.”
During the game itself Hannibal got into trouble. Kylee Anderson hit three consecutive three-pointers for Hannibal in the first quarter, but those nine points would be the only points the group would score in the first half, going down by a score of 32-9.
Hannibal came out in the second half and was able to put some points on the board. Hannibal out-scored Moberly 18-14 in the frame, including a 10-4 fourth quarter.
Greenwell said the Lady Pirates wanted to show they were better than the first half indicated.
“I think that a couple of things happened there,” Greenwell said. “The girls wanted to show Moberly that they were a little better than what they showed in the first half. Krystal Ferguson started to take the ball to the basket and it opened things up for us. When you run into a strong team like that you hope you play your best and we haven’t played to the best of our potential yet.”
Scoring points for Hannibal on the game were Anderson who had 11, Ferguson and Trenhaile both contributed six and Melanie Blase had four.
The junior varsity team also played, triumphing over the Moberly JV team 46-41, overcoming an eight-point second half defecit.
Kaitlyn Booth led the team in scoring with 12 points, Melanie Blase contributed 10 points, Jodeci Washington, Kylee Anderson and Paige utterback all had five points, Lauren Holliday had four points, Olivia Strickland contributed four points and Gabby York had two points.
The next contest for Hannibal is at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4, at Korf Gymnasium against a Marshall team that beat them earlier in the season 55-38.
“We did not play our best game at all (last time),” the coach said. “We like our chances, if we hit a couple of shots here and there and rebounds we are a decent team. Hopefully on Saturday the girls can get a little more confidence back.”
