Ladies’ post-season hopes end in first round

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Trimble’s Lady Raiders closed out their 2010-11 basketball season on Feb. 22, falling to host South Oldham, 68-23, in the first round of the 29th District Tournament.

Dave Taylor

The Lady Raiders ended the season at the 29th District tournament last week.

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Despite the lopsided loss to the Eighth Region’s top-ranked team, Trimble completes the campaign on the positive edge of a 14-13 season record. The Lady Raiders won five of their final seven games, including hard-fought victories over North Central Kentucky Conference foes Carroll, Gallatin and Henry counties. Trimble was 8-10 against Eighth Region foes during the season.
Junior forward Sarakate Long led Trimble’s offensive effort against South Oldham with five points while classmate McKenzie Dunlap added four.
“I hope none of the girls will feel like that final game of the year defined the whole season,” Head Coach Kerrie Stewart said. “This was our first winning season in four years. The winning record and the trip to Disney—those are the things I want them to take away from this year.”
The Lady Raiders enjoyed a visit to Walt Disney World while competing in the KSA Classic in Orlando, Fla., in late December.
“This team improved a lot from last year to this,” Stewart said. “I had several coaches from other teams comment during the season about how much improvement this team showed over the previous year. This team worked really hard. These girls had great chemistry.”
With the defeat at South Oldham, seniors Danyal Adams, Raegan Black and Jana Dunlap concluded their high school careers wearing the blue and gold.
While Adams and Black played all four of their high school years, Dunlap joined the program for her final year.
“That’s always difficult to come in as a senior and try to catch up but Jana did well,” Stewart said. “She really has a good touch on the ball. She did a lot to help the other girls improve in practice.”
Adams had not played basketball until she joined the Lady Raiders during her freshman year.
“It is amazing to see how far she has come over four years,” Stewart said. “In her freshman year she would ask my daughter Megan to take her to one end of the floor during practice—just the two of them—and teach her how to shoot layups. Danyal was a good practice player and that’s usually a thankless role for anyone but it’s a very important role.”
Black, whose parents and grandparents also were Trimble County High School athletes, was a four-year member of the varsity.
“She didn’t get very many minutes that first year but I told her then that she was going to go from playing very little to resting very little,” Stewart said. “Late in November of her sophomore year she came to me and said, ‘Coach, you weren’t kidding, were you?’ Raegan is a very competitive player.
“I’m very proud of all three of them,” Stewart said. “I really have enjoyed having them as part of the Lady Raider program.”