It had been a long time since North Hardin had been in a 17th District Championship game. At one time considered one of the toughest (if not the best in the state) with a revolving door of great girls’ teams and names, the Lady Trojans were usually the other team representing the district in the final. In fact, from 2007 to 2015, it was North Hardin and Elizabethtown who were regulars in the Region Tourney, then suddenly John Hardin pushed them out in 2016 and then a little later it was Central Hardin reclaiming their place as the other team besides Elizabethtown. During those seven long seasons, the Lady Trojans struggled through a cyclical period and after a strong showing in 2020, when they fought tooth and nail against an up-and-coming Lady Bruin team went through a rough patch when they graduated their top scorers, losing one of their best young players in a season ending injury before the 2021 season and went 4-14. After a strong comeback season the following year with a 15-14 record, the Lady Trojans would be replacing their coach as Whitney Hooper stepped down and Vonce Isom stepped in. With a group of experienced veterans and some up and coming talent, the Lady Trojans jumped out to an 8-4 start to end 2022 and finished the regular season, 16-12 while nabbing the top seed in the District Tournament. Something they hadn’t done since 2009.
They did it with offense in senior scorers Dez Bryant, a year removed from her season ending injury and Ella Scherer, who is one of the top three-point shooters in the area. Junior Paityn Isom, who leads the team in scoring and the development of inside post Destiny Scott, along with Navaeh Raphael, who has been consistent all season long. Alanah Dubose, who played plenty of minutes and Destiny Barnes along with Jerica Johnson, who helped complete a rotation.
North Hardin lost only one district game all season long and were able to sweep both games from John Hardin, Central Hardin and Fort Knox and got their first regular season win over powerful Elizabethtown (their first since 2009).
It was far from easy, though.
North Hardin struggled all season long to stay healthy. Destiny Barnes and Jerica Johnson missed nearly two months starting from December to late January and Isom missed games late in the season. During that time, Isom used different lineups and the team developed a little depth until both Barnes and Johnson returned for good in February.
The District Tournament would most definitely be interesting because after John Hardin knocked off Fort Knox in the first round Monday, the Final Four was hardly a cake walk for either of the remaining teams. With North Hardin and John Hardin the first contest on Wednesday, a crowded gym saw one of the best games of the two as both teams took turns taking punch and counterpunch as the home team which had lost twice to the Lady Trojans would not go down easy. North Hardin finally pulled it out and would await the winner of Central Hardin vs. Elizabethtown. Despite falling behind early, coach Donnie Swiney’s Lady Panthers finally escaped with a win to advance to their seventeenth District Final appearance.
Although the two teams split during their regular season meetings, Coach Isom was not taking anything for granted and neither were his team as no one on this season’s version of the North Hardin Lady Trojans had ever been this far in the tournament, let alone win it.
Getting out to a fast start was important and to that end the Lady Trojans went VROOOM out of the gate.
A couple of three’s by Isom and some tight defense put North Hardin up 19-7 after one quarter. Still, there was plenty of game left and the memory of last year’s Elizabethtown comeback after North built a 23-5 early lead was still burned in their mind. Elizabethtown got back into it with some long range bombing of their own and only trailed 23-17 at the half. Swiney’s team may have struggled during the season, but against District foes tended to play more comfortable late in games. Most likely, whoever got out fast in the third quarter would dictate the outcome.
North Hardin came out and went on a 15-9 run in the third quarter. After the Lady Panthers chopped into the lead with a basket, Bryant took off on a breakaway and Isom hit her third three of the game to extend the lead out to 38-26 and then Raphael added a basket to make it 40-26 with 1:56 remaining in the quarter.
Then to start the fourth quarter, Bryant, who would finish with 20-points added two more layups to extend the lead to 46-34. Elizabethtown continued to struggle from the field while North Hardin began to feel it coming and even when Destiny Scott (who played great defense) picked up her fifth foul, the lead was at 50-39 with 2:58. After that it was a free throw line set up with Bryant and Scherer taking turns along with Johnson at one point to finally make the final score, 61-43.
Both Bryant and Scherer, who were six year varsity players and lived through the rough times (and there were many) finally got to celebrate a once in a lifetime moment for them. Bryant, who lived through the turbulent 2021 season, watching the season from the sidelines while the team struggled through a 4-win year and Scherer, who had seen success and Region titles in golf (her other sport), but had never tasted post game success until now, seemed almost relieved during the net cutting ceremony. For Elizabethtown, which has been there and done that and is expected to do it every season they are used to that type of playoff pressure. For North, it was a totally different situation.
Coach Isom said afterwards “Elizabethtown is not what their record is. Janiesse, Sarah Clark and the two Cann sister along with Gregory are tough to stop and if you do not play tough defense they will BEAT you.” Limiting possessions and forcing them to take many shots to score was important and the Lady Trojans were able to get the job done.
Watching Isom, Bryant, Scherer and Johnson during the team trophy photo made me realize just how far they had come as individuals. I can remember Scherer as a freshman coming off the bench for Addison Sutton, Isom in her first varsity start in 2021 or Bryant, who had a big game replacing Jadeta Gregory after her injury in the 2020 District Semi-finals against Central Hardin and Johnson a middle-school player in 2019-2020 getting plenty of playing time.
When North Hardin beat John Hardin in the semi-finals, the memory of Bryant and Scherer hugging each other was a special moment as they and the team will get to extend their season for the first time since 2015 with a trip to the Region Tournament at Taylor County high school against Green County this Tuesday. It was a special moment as the image of Bryant, Scherer and Jerica Johnson as middle-school varsity players is still an unforgettable image. “Six-Years in the Making” said Bryant and now two of them will be leaving after this season and one will be left to carry on the tradition, but not before they take the town of Radcliff on a special ride this week, which hopefully will be extended one more week.
Both Bryant and Scherer harped on the fact that coach Isom pushed the team in practice remining them despite their record that in his words “Haven’t done anything yet!”
Well, they finally did something and if this week and now will get a chance to try and do it again.
