West Union junior Violet Randolph nailed six three-point baskets in the Lady Dragons’ district tournament loss at Minford on February 18. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
The 2025-26 version of the West Union Lady Dragons finished their season with a winning record of 12-11. (Photo courtesy of Robby B. Media)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The end of their 2025-26 season was a Catchy-22 for Coach Jacob Stout and his West Union Lady Dragons. On one had, the Lady Dragons were ousted from the Division V district tournament with a 59-47 loss at Minford on February 18, but on the other hand, they achieved their goal of improving and producing a winning season. With the help of a late season surge, the West Union girls ended their 25-26 season with an overall record of 12-11, filled with a whole lot of “what-ifs.”
“We just didn’t make the shots,” said Coach Stout in his postgame radio interview. “In and out all night.”
“We’ve grown at West Union, we’re competing and getting better each year. The girls went through some rough patches but now they’re good ball players.”
The Lady Dragons made the trip to Minford High School to face the Lady Falcons in a district quarterfinal contest and behind some hot shooting from senior Violet Randolph, gave Minford a battle from start to finish before fading late and suffering the season-ending loss.
With Randolph hitting the first of her six three-pointer in the game, the Lady Dragons took an early lead, but lost that advantage when Minford’s Lainey Howard converted a three-point play followed by teammate Kerigan Davis triplet. Another bucket by Howard made it an 8-0 Minford run until another Randolph three cut the home team’s lead to 15-12 after one quarter.
Quarter number two began with a basket by West Union’s Kaydence Cook but a quick 5-0 burst from Minford gave them a 20-14 lead. A bucket by Jocelyn Hall sliced the West Union deficit to four, answered by Minford’s Davis connecting from beyond the arc to make it 23-16. The spunky Lady Dragons then reeled off five straight, aided by a three-pointer from Annabelle McIntosh, and the first half ended with West Union right in the action, trailing just 24-21.
Early in the third period, two free throws from Davis pushed the Minford lead to eight at 29-23 but a later Randolph three-ball again pulled her team closer at 31-26. Randolph went deep again moments later to make it 33-29, almost single handedly keeping her team in the game. With 4:30 left in the third, she found the range from deep for the fifth time, but that was answered by a Riley Kasee three that again extended the Minford lead to six at 38-32.
With 1:10 left in the third stanza, Randolph added a sixth triple to her collection and after a Maddie Stout bucket for the Lady Dragons, a high-scoring quarter ended with the Lady Falcons on top 44-37.
All season long, the Lady Dragons ave been plagues by their plain inability to put the ball in the basket, even getting an i12 9 17 9ordinate amounts of attempts in each outing, and they only hit 19 of 66 from the field at Minford, eight of those behind the three-point line, and pulled in 16 offensive boards. In the fourth quarter, their inability to get a clutch defensive stop would lead to their downfall.
As the fourth quarter progressed, the Lady Falcons slowly added to their lead, pushing it to 55-42 with just 46 seconds to play. The Lady Dragons got late three-pointer from McIntosh but time ran out in the West Union season as the Lady Falcons advanced in Division V with the 12-point victory, a game that was definitely closer than the final score indicated.
In the win, the Lady Falcons were led in scoring by three players in double figures, topped by 22 points from Kerigan Davis, with Lainey Howard hitting 14 and Makenna Enz 13.
West Union placed one player in double figures, Violet Randolph with 18, all coming on three-point baskets. Annabelle McIntosh and Jocelyn Hall added 8 points each with Kaydence Cook chipping in 6.
“Violet is a flat-out shooter,” said Coach Stout.
The loss at Minford was the final game in the high school careers of West Union seniors Emmy Stapleton, Nina McCann, Shelbi Weakley, Paige Tolle and Madison White.
“They’re a great group of kids,” said Coach Stout. “I watched them in Pee-Wee growing up and now I am extremely proud of them. I’m glad I could be a part of it. Those girls love each other and get along really well.”
Box Score
West Union
12 9 17 9 —47
Minford
15 9 19 16 0059
West Union (47): Randolph 18, McIntosh 8, Stout 5, Hall 8, Cook 6, White 2
Minford (59): Carter 5, Davis 22, Enz 13, Flaig 2, Howard 14, Kasee 3
