The Bourbon High School girls’ basketball season ended on Feb. 23 after the six-seeded Lady Warhawks fell to three-seeded Belle in the Class 3 District 8 Tournament quarterfinals at Steelville High School. 

Bourbon finished its season with a 14-12 record, the best record in the girls’ program’s history since MSHAA began recording them in the 2006-07 season. The Lady Warhawks hadn’t won more than 10 games in the last 20 seasons, and head coach Devon Payne will bring back a wealth of youth and experience to his roster.  

The Lady Warhawks will lose their leader, senior point guard Kaitlyn King, but will return with the rest of its team, including leading scorers, sophomores Kinzii Withorn and Kinzey Waldron. Fellow sophomores and front court players Reese Bell, Ella Biles and Hayden Terry will also return for their junior seasons. Freshman guards Savanna Vance and Bree Bouse, who both played significant minutes and improved throughout the season, will look to build on strong debut seasons. 

King was Bourbon’s primarily ballhandler and Payne spoke after Bourbon’s loss about how he’s already imploring his younger players to work on their craft to be able to step into that role.

“That was the last piece that we talked about in the locker room after the game, is just establishing the ball handling opportunities for our underclassmen,” Payne said. “We have all freshmen and sophomores this year. We had no juniors and we had one senior. So it is very important for us to make sure in this offseason that we’re building on our control, our dribbling abilities and getting our girls confident to where they can take care of the basketball while they’re under stress. So that’s going to be priorities, one, two and three in the off season.”

Bourbon experienced ups and downs throughout the season as the Lady Hawks lost three of their first four games before winning six straight games from Jan. 10 to Feb. 2. Payne said that he was proud of his team’s effort and growth throughout the season. 

“Just the amount of growth that they’ve had from the beginning of the season and now, as a team and as individuals, it’s hard to deny,” Payne said. “It’s just that they show up every day, they put their work in, they do what’s needed of them, and then they come out, and then they excel in those things. So we do lose one senior, Kaitlyn King. She’ll be dearly missed. And that’s another part of our conversation we had in there and it’s we just got to grow off of it now, reminding these kids that high school goes by super quick, and they just need to understand that they blink and all of a sudden they’re adults. So I told them to enjoy the moment.”

In the Feb. 23 game against Belle, the Lady Warhawks ran into a tough Lady Tigers team that played unselfishly and continuously moved the ball throughout the evening. Belle scored the first eight points and Bourbon’s sophomore starter Kinzey Waldron exited the game early in the frame with an injury and didn’t return. Bree Bouse drained a three-pointer and Reese Bell knocked down a free throw to get the Lady Warhawks on the board and Belle led 11-4 after the first period. Belle’s pressure defense held Bourbon to nine points in the first half and the Lady Tigers took a 25-9 lead into halftime. 

Bourbon didn’t lay down in the third quarter despite missing a starter and playing with a six-girl roster. The Lady Warhawks scored more than their first-half output in the third quarter, netting 15 points. But Belle seemed to hit baskets every time Bourbon would gain momentum and the Lady Tigers led 45-24 going into the final frame. The Lady Warhawks outscored Belle in the fourth quarter, but were unable to comeback from the 21 point deficit and eventually fell 53-34 to end its season. 

Bouse played her best offensive game of the season, making a pair of treys and finishing an and-one basket at the rim while being fouled, to end her freshman season with a team-high nine points. King was repeatedly pressured by double teams from Belle’s defense throughout the night but still finished with eight points in her last game as a Lady Warhawk basketball player. Kinzii Withorn scored seven, Savanna Vance added five, Bell chipped in three and Ella Biles scored two to round out Bourbon’s scorers. Senior Anastyn Lansford and freshman Natalie Lansford each scored 17 points to lead Belle into a district semifinals matchup against number two seed Fatima. 

Payne was positive about his team’s showing in its final game, despite the loss. 

“We were able to actually get them (Belle) spread out a little bit for our offense. We had a good couple timely screens, good gaps,” Payne said. “We had a couple girls step up and hit some nice shots tonight. We ended up with 34 points, which I would say that’s fair against a good team. We did well, establishing the offense and being patient. Sometimes we get into bad habits, just going too quick, putting their heads down and getting on the court. And I felt tonight that they actually were slowing the ball down and actually observing what was open on the court. And so, we’re at the end of the season, but I would love for that to just pick up right where we left off at the start of next year.”