WORTON — Coach Tyray Johnson believes that the Trojans have what it takes, the talent, the work ethic and the team chemistry, to return to the region final in high school girls basketball — even after what he acknowledged as “a big loss” last week in their home opener.
“I like what I saw,” Johnson said in an interview immediately after the 58-22 loss to defending Bayside Conference champion Queen Anne’s on Thursday, Dec. 11.
“We broke their press, we played well in our man defense, we got the ball in the middle,” he said.
Johnson said the Trojans (1-1) played better in this game than two days earlier when they pulled back the curtain on the 2025-26 season with an overtime victory at Cambridge-South Dorchester.
“We were all over the place … sloppy,” he said of the game that KCHS won, 35-30.
Johnson said the Trojans “played more as a team” against Queen Anne’s.
Kariana Hickson knocked down two of her five 3-pointers and put up 10 of her game-high 19 points in the opening quarter as Queen Anne’s raced out to a 27-6 lead that was never threatened.
The Lions scored 15 unanswered points to start the second quarter, fueled by a pair of 3-pointers from Hickson and one from Keilah Reed, to put the game out of reach.
Once Queen Anne’s advantage reached 35 points — at 46-10 just 13 seconds into the second half — the game was played with a running clock.
Johnson’s optimism was not without reason, however, as the Trojans totaled as many points in the third quarter as they did in the entire first half. Jayla Sisco buried a pair of threes and combined with Aaliyah Waits to score 10 points.
Sisco finished with 15 points. Asia Wilson and Waits contributed four and three points, respectively.
Hickson, Reed (13 points) and Taylor Jordan (10 points) scored in double figures for the Lions, who received scoring from nine players.
As mentioned above, Kent County opened the season Tuesday, Dec. 9 with an extra-time victory at Cambridge. Waits (14 rebounds) scored six of her team-leading 14 points in overtime.
The teams played to a 27-27 deadlock through regulation.
The Trojans’ margin of victory would have been more significant if they had been more successful at the stripe in overtime, when they were 0-of-10 in free throws.
Also worth noting, the Trojans were without their play-making veteran guard Talicia Wright, who is finishing up her driver’s education commitment, and Sisco (seven points) played sparingly after picking up four fouls in the first quarter.
Kent County travels tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 16) to North Caroline before returning home Thursday, Dec. 18 against St. Michaels in the opener of a varsity-only girls and boys twin bill that starts at 4 p.m.
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Tyray Johnson returns for a fifth year as head coach at alma mater KCHS.
Also back are assistants Chanelle Copper and Antoine Reed.
Returnees from the 8-13 campaign of 2024-25 are senior Jayla Sisco (shooting guard) and juniors Talicia Wright (point guard), Jane Cleary (power forward), Ariyana Green (forward) and Saniyah Jones (center).
The first-year high school players are senior Asia Wilson (center); juniors Taraji Hart (forward) and Aaryona Wesley (forward); and freshmen Abby Parr (guard), Devynn Wiggins (guard), Aaliyah Waits (forward) and E’Niyah Wilson (center).
Waits, Wiggins and E’Niyah Wilson were teammates at Kent County Middle School, where Copper is the coach.
The projected starters are Wright, Sisco, Wesley, Cleary and Jones. Asia Wilson likely will be the first off the bench.
The plan, coach Johnson said, is to get back to the region final. [Last year, Kent lost at Perryville, 56-53, on a 3-pointer in the waning seconds.]
“We’re further ahead than where we started in previous years,” Johnson said.
Kent has a proven ball handler in Wright, and is expected to hold its own under the glass with Wesley, Cleary and Asia Wilson.