Simon Kenton’s ‘instant offense’ helps Pioneers pull away to Girls’ Sweet 16 win
Simon Kenton eighth grader Angela Kabeya shuddered every time coach Jeff Stowers mentioned his nickname for her in their post-game press conference Thursday after a hard-fought 70-61 win over Ashland Blazer in the first round of the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls’ Basketball Sweet 16.
But perhaps Kabeya earned the good-natured ribbing after scoring a career high 29 points, including four 3-pointers in Rupp Arena. The last appeared to put a dagger in No. 14 Ashland’s upset hopes against the No. 3 Pioneers
“Boy, Cheesy, you put it on tonight,” Stowers said with a smile as Kabeya sighed.
Kabeya’s final 3-pointer from the right corner put Simon Kenton up 62-54 with 1:44 to play and capped an 11-3 Pioneers run that started with the game tied at 51-51 less than four minutes prior.
“She’s instant offense,” he said.
The first player off the bench during most of the regular season, Kabeya, who averaged 8.8 points per game, was thrust into a starting role when senior Megan Gadzala suffered a season-ending knee injury at Frederick Douglass on Feb. 9. Gadzala had been one of the Pioneers’ best defenders.
“Everybody felt sorry for us. But little did they know what I lost on the defensive end I was going to get on the offensive end from Angie,” Stowers said. “And Angie can play a little defense, too, when she wants to.”
But the Pioneers recovery from blowing a 14-point third quarter lead included key plays from all over. Tied at 53-53 with 5:03 left, Haylie Webb’s putback basket started the final breakaway. Moments later, Brynli Pernel ran herself into position to take a charge on an Ashland fast break.
Bella Ober then broke loose for layups on back-to-back possessions. An Ashland Blazer turnover led to Kabeya’s final 3-pointer. Stowers broke into a little strut when the ball went through the net. Ober finished with 14 points and six assists. Pernell and Webb each added 12 points
“We’ve played a lot of games like this this year. You know, we come out, we don’t get the fast start, but the second half or toward the end of the game, we have what it takes to close the game out,” Stowers said.
Trailing 48-40 going into the fourth quarter and 51-42 after Kebaya’s third 3-pointer, Ashland ran off nine unanswered points and tied the game at 51-51 on a three by Brookelyn Duckwyler.
Duckwyler finished with 20 points for the Kittens (26-6). Gabby Karle, the 16th Region player of the year and a Miss Basketball finalist, scored 22 points to go with five assists. Zoey Smith added 11.
“These girls could have quit. We could have lost by 30 and been one of these other blowout games that we’ve seen so far in some of the games here. But they didn’t,” Ashland Blazer coach Stacy Davis said. “They fought back. And it just speaks for their character, their love for their teammates, just to fight back and battle.”
The Pioneers (32-2) had made the state tournament two of the last three years, but suffered first round exits each time. They were determined to avoid that fate this year. Stowers called timeout after Duckwyler’s game-tying 3-pointer.
“I said, ‘We’re right back where we started the game. I said, ‘Now it’s just a matter of us getting one more point than them,” Stowers said. “Through anything else that’s going on, claw, gnaw, whatever we’ve got to do to get one more point. … We’ve come down here too many times to take an ‘L’ and go back and try to figure it out. They weren’t going to let us lose tonight.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 6:42 PM.
