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District play waits for the Lady Pirates.
The Hannibal High School Lady Pirates fell to Fulton 55-50 on Thursday to fall to 4-17 with a 1-11 record in conference.
Fulton improved to 11-11 overall.
Head Coach Ron Greenwell said the Lady Pirates hung in there and went blow for blow with Fulton.
“We played right with a good Fulton squad. It never got more than five points either way, we battled back and forth and there were several lead changes,” Greenwell said. “The girls played better tonight, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough in the end. I am very proud of the way we battled, especially when our starting point guard and four-year starter Krystal Ferguson went down in the second quarter with a sprained ankle. The other girls rallied around her and she only played a couple minutes in the second half and unfortunately we came out on the short end of it.”
Greenwell said his group rallying around Ferguson showed the character of the team.
“We have several girls who didn’t get much playing time because Krystal was on the floor,” Greenwell said. Freshman Paige Utterback, who gets spot playing time at most, played seven or eight minutes tonight. She executed in her role when Krystal was down and the other girls did too. We did the best we could and a basket here and another basket there it could be a different story. I’m very proud of the girls and their heads aren’t down. With a four-win season a lot of teams would have their heads down, but they haven’t yet and I don’t think they’re going to.”
Kylee Anderson led Hannibal with 19 points, Cassidy Trenhaile scored 11 points, Melanie Blase had nine points, Krystal Ferguson contributed seven points and Ashley Stevenson scored four points.
The junior varsity team also played on the night, winning its last game of the season 46-10 to finish 10-4.
Paige Utterback led the JV team with 12 points, Kaitlyn Booth, Lauren Holliday and Olivia Strickland all had eight points, Jodeci Washington had three points, while Jennifer Fohey, Anderson and Blase all put up two points.
Greenwell said that even though the group played Fulton close, the team was not satisfied with the end result and hopes to do more once districts hit.
"We’re never happy with a loss and that is our regular season, we finished 1-11 in conference,” Greenwell said. “Our girls spirits are still up and we have a Marshall team coming up that beat us twice, got us the other night by one. They are looking forward to it, they want a rematch, they want to keep playing and hopefully if we can get healthy and besides Krystal we have Theresa Sheffer out with an ankle injury. We’re beat up at the moment, but we have nine days off to get healthy and give Marshall a run for their money.”
District play waits for the Lady Pirates.
The Hannibal High School Lady Pirates fell to Fulton 55-50 on Thursday to fall to 4-17 with a 1-11 record in conference.
Fulton improved to 11-11 overall.
Head Coach Ron Greenwell said the Lady Pirates hung in there and went blow for blow with Fulton.
“We played right with a good Fulton squad. It never got more than five points either way, we battled back and forth and there were several lead changes,” Greenwell said. “The girls played better tonight, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough in the end. I am very proud of the way we battled, especially when our starting point guard and four-year starter Krystal Ferguson went down in the second quarter with a sprained ankle. The other girls rallied around her and she only played a couple minutes in the second half and unfortunately we came out on the short end of it.”
Greenwell said his group rallying around Ferguson showed the character of the team.
“We have several girls who didn’t get much playing time because Krystal was on the floor,” Greenwell said. Freshman Paige Utterback, who gets spot playing time at most, played seven or eight minutes tonight. She executed in her role when Krystal was down and the other girls did too. We did the best we could and a basket here and another basket there it could be a different story. I’m very proud of the girls and their heads aren’t down. With a four-win season a lot of teams would have their heads down, but they haven’t yet and I don’t think they’re going to.”
Kylee Anderson led Hannibal with 19 points, Cassidy Trenhaile scored 11 points, Melanie Blase had nine points, Krystal Ferguson contributed seven points and Ashley Stevenson scored four points.
The junior varsity team also played on the night, winning its last game of the season 46-10 to finish 10-4.
Paige Utterback led the JV team with 12 points, Kaitlyn Booth, Lauren Holliday and Olivia Strickland all had eight points, Jodeci Washington had three points, while Jennifer Fohey, Anderson and Blase all put up two points.
Greenwell said that even though the group played Fulton close, the team was not satisfied with the end result and hopes to do more once districts hit.
"We’re never happy with a loss and that is our regular season, we finished 1-11 in conference,” Greenwell said. “Our girls spirits are still up and we have a Marshall team coming up that beat us twice, got us the other night by one. They are looking forward to it, they want a rematch, they want to keep playing and hopefully if we can get healthy and besides Krystal we have Theresa Sheffer out with an ankle injury. We’re beat up at the moment, but we have nine days off to get healthy and give Marshall a run for their money.”
The coach said Hannibal playing Marshall so close gives the group confidence. A victory over Marshall would give Hannibal something the Lady Pirates really want:
Another shot at Kirksville.
“When we played Marshall in our last home game we were up by 12 points in the third quarter and we slowly saw that lead go away,” Greenwell said. “They are a team that when we play them one day, they can beat us and we play them the next day we can beat them. Even though we lost to them twice the girls know it is a winnable game. We want a shot at Kirksville. Those girls pounded us good both times and hopefully if we can slip by Marshall we can show Kirksville that we are a better team than we are the last two times we’ve faced them.”
The game between Hannibal and Marshall is set for Monday, Feb. 20, at a time and place to be determined and is the first round of district play for the Lady Pirates.
