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Reserve senior basks, blushes
By BRANDON JUDEH
BERLIN CENTER
What a career it has been for Western Reserve senior Colleen Kennehan.
The 5-foot-6 floor general recently scored her 1,000 career point against Southington. However the emotion she experienced after scoring the basket was not excitement.
“I felt relief,” she said. “I was so glad to have it over and done with so that I could stop thinking about it and focus on the upcoming tournament.”
Kennehan said it was her individual career highlight, but she gives most of the credit to her teammates.
“I owe everything to all of my teammates over the past four years,” Kennehan said. “To be honest, I wouldn’t be here without them.”
Two of her closest friends and teammates, seniors Hannah Mowery and Sissy Stubbs, said they are honored to play with someone like Kennehan.
“I have been with [Colleen] all four years and to watch her grow from the little Colleen freshman year to the senior, 1,000-point Colleen now has been awesome,” said Mowery.
Stubbs agreed.
“It was amazing to watch her grow as an athlete and achieve something I could personally never do,” she said. “It’s so great. I am proud of her; she is like my sister.”
Kennehan has lettered all four years of her varsity basketball career, but few things have made her blush.
At the start of their game against Lake Center Christian, which the Lady Blue Devils won 64-58, it was announced that Kennehan was now a part of the 1,000 point club, to which she received a standing ovation.
Kennehan, who hopes to continue playing basketball in college, received her 1,000 point ball with a wide smile and blushing face. She quickly gave the ball to a teammate on the sideline and got her game face on; she wanted to win this game on senior night.
“Kennehan works so hard, I try to get her to be more vocal since she is the floor general, but she leads more by example,” said Western Reserve coach Josh Scott. “She’s a special player; you don’t get a lot of kids like her to come through a program and play and progress as much as she has over the past four years.”
Kennehan displayed her role as floor general by leading the Blue Devils (17-3) with 21 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Eleven of her points came from the free throw line.
Fellow seniors Mowery and Stubbs scored 17 and nine points respectively.
Lake Center Christian (10-10) stayed close, but Kennehan’s clutch free throw shooting down the stretch proved to be too much.
“All of us push each other so hard, it’s kind of like tough love,” said Mowery.
Stubbs added that though her friend scoring 1,000 points has not sunk in yet, she knows that in the future when they come back to Western Reserve for class reunions it is something they can all look back on and be proud of.
With the tournament up next for the Blue Devils, Kennehan only has one thing in mind.
“I want to end the season cutting down the nets,” she said. “That’s our goal.”