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Sports

Senior Night Brings Emotional Win

Lady Colts dominate McGuffey and are one win away from share of section title.

Monday night’s 48-10 victory for the Lady Colts over visiting Section 5-AAA opponent McGuffey was bittersweet for senior guards Lexy Herron and Lindsay Richardson.

Any win is big, especially when it puts a team just one game away from winning at least a share of a section title. However, as both Herron and Richardson admit, it’s hard to believe that the two guards have just played the last game of their careers at Chartiers Valley.

“It just seems so unreal right now,” Richardson said. “These past four years have gone by so fast. I remember being a freshman and never thinking this day would come.”

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Herron felt similar.

“I remember seeing this day come for seniors in the past,” Herron said. “But I just can’t believe it’s actually here. I never thought this day would come.”

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With 3:48 remaining in the game, coach Spencer Stefko took his senior leaders out for the final time. The two walked off the court and embraced each other with a hug, as the crowd gave them a huge ovation.

Richardson sat on the bench with tears of joy falling from her eyes, while Stefko crouched down in front of the scorer’s table with his hand covering his eyes, as if he was holding the emotions inside.

“It’s definitely emotional. This is big time,” Stefko said. “I started with these two before I even knew what Chartiers Valley was. I feel like I’ve been with them longer than four years.”

Herron has been a four-year varsity contributor, and three-year starter despite missing parts of each season with re-occurring knee injuries. The Lady Colts’ leading scorer has torn both ACL’s, and recovered from three knee surgeries throughout her terrific career.

While recovering from each injury, Herron was at every practice and game to root her teammates on.

“Sometimes you may have the temptation to overlook her contributions to the program just because she’s missed some time,” Stefko said. “She’s a big part of the reason for this program’s growth.”

Richardson transferred from Seton-LaSalle to play her final two years at Chartiers Valley. Even though her role has decreased from last year, Stefko said her contributions cannot be forgotten either.

“Her ability to accept her role has been huge,” Stefko said. “Both her and Lexy have the ability to look at something greater than themselves. They have the opportunity to graduate with the best four-year record in Chartiers Valley history.”

Chartiers Valley will play again Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. when the Lady Colts travel to West Allegheny trying to win at least a share of the Section 5 title. But no matter what happens the remainder of the season, both Richardson and Herron know they have had some amazing memories at Chartiers Valley.

“I guess the best memory would just be going as far as we did last year,” Richardson said. “That experience helped us a lot for this season.”

Herron agrees.

“Even though I couldn’t play, I just think sitting on the bench with the team last year in the WPIAL and state playoffs, and when we finally beat Hopewell at Baldwin after they had been beating us,” Herron said. “It would be such a great experience to do it again with this young team.”

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