WORTON — It wasn’t the Senior Game that Kate Cannon would have scripted for herself, but the Kent County High School triple-threat athlete knows the game is not about her.
On Thursday, Cannon, the Trojans’ starting post player and most consistent performer over the last four years, led from the bench with her right ankle wrapped in ice as KCHS soundly defeated Washington, 60-39, in varsity girls basketball.
The Trojans improved to 6-11, a milestone for both Cannon and head coach Tyray Johnson.
The six wins are the most for KCHS in a single season since 2021-22, Cannon’s freshman year and Johnson’s first as head coach at his alma mater.
“It feels amazing,” Cannon said in an interview immediately after the game.
“This year we’ve been able to come together as a team,” she said. “We have a good group of girls. We want to be here.”
During halftime, Cannon, escorted by her parents and two brothers, hobbled out to center court to be honored with two other seniors — JaCiah Cooper, a late-season addition to the team, and international student Abigael Lachance, who is attending KCHS for the 2024-25 academic year.
Cannon will letter all four years in basketball.
She was one of only four players who persevered through the two-win campaign of 2021-22 that abruptly folded — with four games remaining — because of a shrinking roster.
The most players that Kent County had at any point in that season was eight, and they were all freshmen and sophomores.
“One of my goals has been to improve each year,” Johnson told The Evening Enterprise in an interview Thursday, noting that the Trojans have eclipsed their 5-16 and 5-15 seasons of 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively.
“We got our sixth win and it feels good,” he said, “considering that our program folded three years ago.”
While the final score would suggest otherwise, the Trojans were slow out of the gate Feb. 13 against their guests from Washington High School.
Just 1 minute, 14 seconds in, while battling for an offensive rebound, Cannon landed awkwardly on an ankle that she had injured a couple of weeks ago and had to be helped off the court. She did not return.
Washington’s L’ndyn Corbin swished a 3-pointer to open the scoring 45 seconds later as the visiting Jaguars started the game on a 5-0 run.
Kent County responded with the next seven points, knotting the score at 5-all with 2:24 remaining in the first frame and taking the lead for good one minute later at 7-5 on a Lachance fast-break bucket.
The Trojans stretched their slim 9-6 first-quarter lead to 19-10 at halftime, thanks in large part to junior Love Jackson’s eight second-quarter points.
Jackson’s 3-pointer from the left side gave KCHS its first double-digit lead at 18-8 with 3:50 to play before intermission.
Washington scored the first five points of the second half to close to 19-15 with 42 seconds elapsed, but would get no closer.
KCHS netted the next five points, starting with a Jackson trey and then junior Jayla Sisco putting back her own miss to make it 24-15 with 5:38 remaining in the third quarter.
Jackson scored 16 of her game-high 24 points in the third quarter as the Trojans started to assert themselves.
On the final shot of the quarter, sophomore Saniyah Jones perfectly executed an inbound play under Kent County’s basket for a 41-23 lead.
Sisco salted away the win with 12 points over the final eight minutes. She finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and three steals.
The Trojans received scoring from six players, including point guard Talicia Wright (six points), Lachance (four points) and Cooper (two points), and six rebounds from sophomore Jane Cleary.
Ra’Naye White and Corbin led the Jaguars with 16 and 14 points, respectively.
Weather permitting, Kent County closes out its regular season with two games this week, both at home — Tuesday, Feb. 18 against Easton and Thursday against North Dorchester. Tip-off for both games is at 4 p.m.