WORTON — “I’m excited to see what we can do with this group,” Tyray Johnson says.
And it should be obvious to anyone who has watched a high school girls basketball game here that Johnson, enthusiastic and energetic as he constantly paces the sideline in front of the Trojans’ bench, means what he says.
KCHS is 0-5 after Tuesday’s 41-31 loss to North Caroline, but Johnson, entering his fourth year as head coach, is not disappointed or discouraged.
If anything, he’s even more upbeat than he was a week ago.
“Even though we didn’t get the win, we played hard,” Johnson said in an interview courtside after the game.
“We’re playing better, coming together,” he said. “I’m seeing improvement every day.”
Improvement on Tuesday was even more immediate — from the first half to the second half.
North Caroline (2-3) stretched its 12-point lead after the opening quarter to 20 at intermission, 27-7, limiting Kent County to two field goals and three free throws.
Jayla Sisco scored on the Trojans’ first possession of the second half, kicking off a 14-8 run that shrunk the deficit to 35-21 at the end of the third quarter. Sisco and sophomore point guard Talicia Wright collectively scored all 14 of the Trojans’ third-quarter points.
Wright scored eight points in a row for the Trojans in the quarter, beginning with a traditional three-point play with 4 minutes, 41 seconds remaining.
Kent County closed out the third quarter with back-to-back buckets from Wright and Sisco and opened the final frame with eight unanswered points to battle back into the game at 35-29 when Wright made the back end of a two-shot foul with 3:25 to play.
The Trojans would get no closer.
Emma Keating’s free throw with 2:01 remaining halted the Trojans’ extended run.
North Caroline scored six of the final eight points to short-circuit Kent County’s upset bid, and sealed the win with 3-of-4 shooting from the free-throw line over the final 29.4 seconds.
Senior guard Jasiyah Henry’s backdoor layup with 1:20 to play was the Bulldogs’ only field goal over the final eight minutes and her only points of the game.
North Caroline senior forward Ashley Kercheval led all scorers with 19 points. Yariah Dowell added 10 and Keating contributed seven.
Kent County also boasted two players in double figures — Wright with a team-leading 11, all in the second half, and Sisco with 10. Also contributing to the scoring were Love Jackson with seven points, Kate Cannon with two (team-high eight rebounds) and Jane Cleary with one.
This was the Trojans’ second game in as many days.
On Monday, they lost to their guests from North East, 39-37.
Free throws decided this game.
KCHS was 7-of-23 from the stripe, which included 6-of-10 from Wright, while North East was 10-of-22.
In the fourth quarter, the visiting Indians made five of their 10 free throws, including three of four after a technical foul on top of a personal foul that gave them the lead with less than a minute to play.
Two Trojans ultimately fouled out of the game.
Jackson and Wright tallied 14 points apiece to lead all scorers. Cleary added six points, and Cannon and Ariyana Green made up the balance.
NOTE: Kent County closes out a very busy week with a trip to St. Michaels on Thursday, Dec. 19 for a varsity-only twin bill. The girls will tip off at 4 p.m., followed by the boys at 5:30 p.m.
****
Tyray Johnson returns for a fourth year as head coach at alma mater Kent County.
Also back are assistants Chanelle Copper and Antoine Reid.
Returnees from last year’s 5-15 campaign are seniors Kate Cannon (center) and Kaliyah Smith (small forward) and sophomores Talicia Wright (point guard), Jane Cleary (forward), Ariyana Green (forward) and Saniyah Jones (center).
Junior forwards Love Jackson and Jayla Sisco are back after taking a year off.
The true newcomers are junior Tameeia Savage (forward) and international students Juliette Camilli (shooting guard), Abigael Lachance (forward) and Emerence “Emmie” Boutaud (forward), who are attending KCHS for the 2024-25 academic year.