Jekyll-Hyde Wildcats Fail to Finish Against Henderson County

A tale of two halves was the main act at Wildcat Gym on Tuesday as Henderson County defeated Trigg County 77-48 for their 12th straight win in the series.

Trigg County put together one of its better halves of the season and trailed the Colonels by three points at halftime and had a chance to tie the game one minute into the third quarter.

That’s when the Colonels went on a game-deciding 20-3 run to build a 53-35 lead and the Wildcats never got closer.

The Wildcats missed eight of their nine shots in the third quarter and turned the basketball over four times. Landon Stewart scored on a left-handed layup with 4:55 left to get the Wildcats to within 36-34. But three consecutive turnovers fueled a 9-0 Henderson run, which pushed its lead back out to double figures at 45-34.

Henderson County hit 13 of 21 shots from the field in the fourth quarter and outscored the Wildcats 30-13 over the final eight minutes.

Trigg County’s primary focus on defense was Henderson guard Cooper Davenport, who came into the game as the Colonels’ leading scorer (15 ppg.). The Wildcats held the junior to just eight points, but it was the early long-range accuracy from Nicholis Belle that fueled the Colonels to a 20-4 lead.

Belle, who came into the game averaging four points a contest, hit a trio of 3-pointers and had 13 points in the opening period.

Trigg County was able to get back to within eight points after one quarter and cut the deficit to 33-30 by halftime. It was in the second half that Henderson County decided to shadow Trigg County’s leading score Jhaden Vaughn.  After scoring nine points in the first half, Vaughn managed just two shots in the second half and two points. He finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Henderson County scored 33 points off 21 Trigg turnovers and had 22 second-chance points thanks to 18 offensive rebounds. Belle finished with 16 points and Alec Satterfield added 11 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds.

Davaree Gude led the Wildcats with 13 points and Caleb Fogle came off the bench to knock down four 3-pointers and finished with 12 points.

After hitting five 3-pointers in the first half and scoring just 14 points in the paint, Henderson County hit five more shots from long range in the second half but combined that with 28 points in the paint.

Henderson County leads the all-time series with Trigg 16-4. Trigg County’s last win in the series came in 1976.

Henderson County improved to 14-0 this year when scoring 60 or more points while the Wildcats fell to 2-14 when they allowed 60 or more.

Henderson County has won 10 of its last 12 games and improved to 23-5.

Trigg County has lost 7 straight games and drops to 10-18, including a 1-9 record this month. The February swoon is nothing new for Trigg County who has a 17-34 regular season record over the last eight Februarys.

Trigg County will close out its regular season Friday night at home against Todd County Central.

People-Tag: Alec Satterfield, Amarie Stewart, Caleb Fogle, Cole Branson, Cooper Davenport, Dwaine Moss, Elijah Suggs, Jack Ryan Reusch, Jerimyah Shearer, Jhaden Vaughn, Lacon McKinney, Lance Breckel, Landon Stewart, Luke Terrell, Max Thompson, Timmy Williams, Xavion Johnson, Yusef Sanogo Kendrick