By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
When preseason practice for the Conner girls basketball team began at 5 p.m. Monday, four seniors were in the gym for the first day of their final season together as teammates.
“We definitely want to go to state, but it hasn’t set in yet that this will be our last go-round,” said senior guard Savannah Jordan.
“Yeah, the last game will be when it really hits us,” added Courtney Hurst, another senior guard for the Cougars.
Conner senior guards Savannah Jordan, left, and Courtney Hurst have been playing basketball together since elementary school.
The four seniors have become a close-knit group, but Jordan and Hurst were friends long before they came to Conner. They met in gymnastics class when they were 3 years old and started playing basketball together when they got to elementary school.
They joined Conner’s varsity team in the eighth grade and became full-time starters when they were sophomores. Last season, they both pushed their career scoring totals over the 1,000-point mark.
Winning the 9th Region championship is the goal Jordan and Hurst have set for the upcoming season. If they do that, the long-time friends will end their high school careers playing in the first girls state basketball tournament to be held at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
Making it to the “Sweet 16” state tournament is a dream shared by every Kentucky high school basketball player on Oct. 15, the first day girls and boys teams across the state were allowed to have organized practice sessions to prepare for the 2018-19 season that begins the last week in November.
It’s been eight years since Conner represented the 9th Region in the girls state tournament, but this year’s team has great potential. With five of the top eight players returning from last year’s 23-9 season that ended in the regional semifinals, coach Aaron Stamm expects the Cougars to be title contenders once again.
“We played some teams around the state this summer that were really good and we did some really good things,” Stamm said. “The big key for us is are we going to practice hard each day. That’s what it’ll take.”
Hurst is the Cougars’ top returning scorer with a 13.4 average. The shooting guard, who made 66 of her 148 field goals from behind the 3-point line, said Thomas More and Georgetown College are actively recruiting her.
Jordan, who doesn’t plan to play basketball in college, averaged 9.5 points per game last season along with senior forward Maddie Burcham, who has made a commitment with Georgetown College.
The other senior on Conner’s roster is guard Joy Strange, who plays a key role in the team’s fast-paced style of play. A lack of height is the Cougars’ primary concern, especially on defense.
“We’re definitely going to have me and Courtney guarding the best outside shooters on the other team,” Jordan said. “We’ll probably be playing a lot of zone (defense), depending on the size of the other team. But we’re a really good zone team.”
After losing in the regional semifinals the last three years, the seniors on the Conner team are hungry for a regional title and trip to the state tournament. That’s how they want the time they’ve spent as teammates to end.
“We’re going to need all four of them for leadership,” coach Stamm said. “They’ve all been there before and experienced those semifinal stops. I don’t think anything is going to be too much for them, so they’ll be up for it.”
