Patrick Henry basketball teams have strong seasons

            Estill – Both the girls and boys basketball teams for Patrick Henry Academy had very successful seasons.

           The PHA girls reached the semifinals of the SCISA AA state playoffs, while the boys made it to the quarterfinals.

          The Lady Patriots went 12-8 overall but finished first in SCISA Region 2-AA with a 7-3 record. They received a first-round bye before beating St. John’s Christian 48-45 in the quarterfinal. They lost to eventual state champion Cathedral Academy 45-22 in the semifinals.

         Junior Lillian Lucas was named the Region Player of the Year. She averaged 18.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.9 steals per game.

        Junior Laney Futch was also an All-Region selection. She averaged a team high 9.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots to go with 5.9 points and 2.3 steals.

        “I feel as a whole the season went well,” said head coach Anthony Creech, who was chosen as the Region Coach of the Year in his first season taking over for veteran head coach Belinda McCoy. “We finished first in the region, but there still were a lot of things we could have done better. We struggled with turnovers and finding a strong second player to score double figures to help Lucas out.”

       Other key contributors were sophomore Saquoia Sexton with 6.5 points and 6.4 rebounds and sophomore Emilee Stanley with 5.8 points and 2.5 steals.

       “We lost Emilee Stanley for some games due to a shoulder injury,” Creech said. “Had she played all year I really feel like she would have been that other scorer that we needed and she rebounds well.”

Creech also sang the praises of senior Holly Mikell for her defensive prowess.

:          Holly Mikell sets the tone for us,” Creech said. “She just doesn’t stop and I’m definitely going to miss her next year.”

         The Patrick Henry boys, who went 17-6, had three players named to the All-Region team in senior twins Hugh Fairey and Forest Fairey and junior Rowen Croft.

         Forest led the Patriots in scoring at 16.1 to go with 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 3.0 steals. Hugh averaged 15.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and a team high 3.1 steals. Croft averaged 12.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, a team high 4.2 assists and 2.7 steals.

        Senior Andy Searles led PHA in rebounding at 6.9 while averaging 6.6 points. Sophomore Dai Dai Glover averaged 9.9 points and senior Al Tariq Johnson averaged 6.1 points and 6.3 rebounds.

        “I think we played a little above our expectation for the season as a whole,” said PHA boys head coach Claude Terry. “We only had one player listed over 6-(foot-)1(-inch) and we lost 6-3 All-Star from last year’s team. Andy Searles was a strong rebounder but only averaged six points per game, while Noah averaged almost a double- double in rebounds and scoring.

        “We also lost junior Mikell Tucker Mathis to injury this season. Mikell will help out on the boas. He’s athletic and has a high IQ of the game. We had very quick guards who could also shoot the ball well, and we felt like we could play with anyone in the league, but sometimes shots are not falling from the outside and we start forcing things and turning the ball over.”