WORTON — The magic number is one for Kent County High School’s girls basketball team, which needs only a win Thursday at Perryville to capture a region championship.
The Trojans took a giant step toward that goal Monday when they ousted the visitors from Colonel Richardson, 57-43, in the semifinal round of the Class 1A East Region I tournament.
This was the rubber match for the two teams, which split their regular-season series — each winning at home, and coincidentally by nine points.
Also, KCHS avenged last year’s 10-point loss in the tournament’s semifinal round at Colonel Richardson.
On Monday, Kent County (8-12) won a playoff game for the first time since the 2019-20 team that finished 12-10.
Junior Jayla Sisco scored 18 of her game-high 28 points in the middle two frames that provided the Trojans with a cushion.
Kent County, the region’s No. 2 seed, was only up 14-12 at the end of the opening quarter.
A Sisco trey keyed a run of seven unanswered points to open the second quarter. She knocked down three 3-pointers in the quarter (and five in the game), including a strings-only shot from the right side with 6.5 seconds remaining, to boost the lead to 27-18 at halftime.
Senior Kate Cannon (12 points) asserted herself coming out of the break. She found Sisco in transition with 1 minute, 19 seconds elapsed in the second half and, 26 seconds later, put back a teammate’s miss to give the Trojans their first double-digit lead, 31-20.
Cannon’s “and one” started a 5-0 run that stretched the lead to 15 points, 36-21, after Love Jackson (eight points) drained a pair of free throws with five and a half minutes remaining in the third quarter.
But pesky Colonel Richardson (7-14) took advantage of KCHS’ foul troubles and sloppy play to climb back into the game, closing to 39-34 on Jaz Jackson’s fast-break layup with 1:36 remaining in the third.
Then Sisco stepped up, scoring five of her nine third-quarter points in the span of 40 seconds, to restore the Trojans’ double-digit lead at 44-34 with 25.3 seconds to go.
The spread was 44-36 heading into the final frame.
KCHS led by at least seven points the rest of the way.
Sophomore point guard Talicia Wright scored six of her nine points over the final five minutes and change as Kent closed out the game on a 10-3 run.
Sisco’s underhand layup with 3:21 to go had restored the double-digit lead for good, 51-40.
Holding a 55-43 lead, Kent County’s coaching staff called a time-out to map out the strategy for the final 61 seconds.
“You know how to play Hot Potato?” head coach Tyray Johnson asked.
“Pass the ball around quickly,” he explained, “and work the clock.”
Jackson, whose second-half minutes were limited due to foul trouble, made the back end of a two-shot foul 12 seconds later.
On the Trojans’ final possession, Wright drained a pair of free throws — as Colonel’s Jackson fouled out — to seal the win.
In addition to their double-digit scoring, Sisco (one steal, one block) and Cannon (three steals) each had nine rebounds.
Sophomore Jane Cleary (one block) grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds.
WHAT’S NEXT: Kent County travels to No. 1 seed and defending region champ Perryville (16-3) for the championship.
The game was set for Wednesday, March 5, but was postponed due to weather-related school closings. It has been rescheduled for Thursday, with tip-off at 6 p.m.
Perryville cruised past No. 4 seed Bohemia Manor (1-20) in Monday’s other semifinal, 74-23.