Anna Kate Drakeford Wraps Up Accomplished Career With Lady Titans
The Harrodsburg Herald/April Ellis
Anna Kate Drakeford will graduate from Mercer County this spring and was named 12th Region Player of the year and was a Miss Basketball candidate.
Samuel Warren
Herald Staff
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In the 2020-21 Mercer County Senior High girls basketball season, the Lady Titans hit their stride going into tournament play. They won the district and advanced to the region championship game against Southwestern. They lost that game by six points, 62-56, after starter Anna Kate Drakeford went down in the second half with a knee injury. What could have been a career-ending injury instead was a motivator to an illustrious high school career that included achieving a 16th straight district championship title, a 12th region championship, a KHSAA Sweet 16th appearance at Rupp Arena, district and region all-tournament teams, and the 12th Region Player of the Year and Miss Kentucky Basketball candidate.
“As soon as I went down, I knew something was seriously wrong,” said Drakeford, “But, this was the region championship. I wanted to get back out there for my team. I tried to jog along the sideline and convince them I could go back in, but we all knew it was worse than we wanted to admit. My coaches care about me. They thought it was in my best interest to sit out.”
Drakeford suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) along with two tears to her meniscus, which added more time to her recovery. She headed to the University of Kentucky sports medicine clinic and Dr. Austin Stone. Stone had operated on other Mercer athletes and was optimistic he could get her back on the floor for the 21-22 season.
During her work to return to the basketball court, she also had to deal with a worldwide pandemic. One of the few silver linings of dealing with COVID protocols was the Kentucky Legislature voted to allow students to reclassify and have a fifth year of eligibility. After her knee injury, Drakeford opted to repeat her sophomore year and made the most of the opportunity.
The Lady Titans made a repeat appearance at the regional championship game in the 2021-2022 season but again fell to Southwestern, 58-42. There were high hopes for the 2022-23 season until leading scorer Timberlynn Yeast went down with a season-ending knee injury during a pre-season scrimmage. Sports critics wrote the Lady Titans off, but Drakeford had other plans.
