She certainly had a better experience at the Physical Education Complex on Thursday night.

The Randolph eighth-grader scored a career-high 34 points, including a Cardinals girls basketball record 10 3-pointers, as the New York State Sportswriters Association’s second-ranked Class C team beat Portville 58-38 in a Section VI Class C semifinal at the home of the Jayhawks.

“That was pretty incredible. … The whole offseason, last year’s game has been motivation. She was just ready to go tonight,” Randolph head coach David Pihlblad said. “You could see from the start, she has no fear. A lot of younger athletes, it’s a big stage and a lot of people, but she played incredible.”

“She was crushing it. She had a phenomenal game,” Portville head coach Inga Welty added of Herington. “If she wanted to prove to anybody that she’s legit, she pretty much did it today. I was impressed.”

Randolph’s Kyra Pence (1) attempts to block a pass from Portville’s Teagan Kosinski (00) during Thursday’s Section VI Class C semifinal at Jamestown Community College’s Physical Education Complex. P-J photo by Jason Bower

Herington, whose previous career high was 26 points in a win over Otto-Eldred this past December, shot 12 of 20 from the field, including 10 of 15 from 3-point range.

“That was pretty incredible. I’ve never seen anything like that, especially from an eighth-grader,” Cardinals sophomore Payton Morrison said. “She’s a pretty special player.”

Herington’s special night got going quickly as she scored 11 of the top-seeded Cardinals’ first 13 points, including three 3-pointers, as Randolph built a 15-7 lead after the first quarter.

“We rode her coattails from the beginning,” Pihlblad said. “She started that game off for us and we just kind of went from there.”

The Cardinals’ lead grew to 24-9 before Lillian Bentley, the fifth-seeded Panthers’ leading scorer, found the scoresheet with a free throw. Senior Kyra Pence, Morrison and Herington then connected on consecutive 3-pointers as Randolph’s advantage ballooned to 33-10.

“At one point, when she hit one, I clapped for her. To me, that’s impressive,” Welty said. ” … She was calm, cool and collected. I look forward to seeing her future … not against us.”

Portville junior Jackie Scanlon slowed the outburst with a 3-pointer, but Herington answered with her fifth 3-pointer of the game before the second quarter was over as the Cardinals took a 36-13 lead into halftime behind Herington’s 17 points.

“A couple of the early (3-pointers) were just playing basketball out of our motion offense,” Pihlblad said of Herington’s first-half output. “She hit a couple and we started running a couple of sets to get her some shots. We just kept feeding it to her. She was hot so we said ‘keep shooting it, you’re open.'”

The Panthers’ biggest run of the game came at the start of the third quarter with a 6-0 spurt during which Bentley made her first field goal of the night, but Herington scored the next 8 points for Randolph, including her sixth and seventh 3-pointers, and the Cardinals led by 22 entering the fourth quarter.

“I’ve been telling the girls all year that Kyra (Pence) is their Energizer Bunny, the one that keeps them going … but I’ve believed since the beginning of the season that the eighth-grader was their best overall player,” Welty said of Herington. “She pretty much proved it today.”

All that was left over the final eight minutes was to find out which milestones were going to fall for Randolph.

Herington opened the period with her program record-tying ninth 3-pointer.

Pence, who entered the night needing 15 points for 1,000 in her career, made 1-of-2 free throws twice down the stretch to put her 1 point away, but was unable to convert in the final minutes.

Finally, with under 2 minutes remaining, Herington sank her 10th 3-pointer to put an exclamation mark on the Cardinals’ victory.

“I’m gunning for it,” Morrison said of the program record, which she set just last week with nine against JFK, “but she deserved it.”

“Sometimes those records are in blowouts and meaningless games. It’s a testament to her and how good of a player she is,” Pihlblad added. “It’s going to be really special to see where she goes and how good she can be in the future.”

Next up for Randolph is a 2 p.m. Saturday date with No. 3 Wilson, which beat No. 7 Cassadaga Valley 59-45 in Thursday’s first game.

“Wilson’s traditionally a very good program,” Pihlblad said. “They’ve always been a ‘B’ school … I’ve never faced them and I don’t know if Randolph has ever.”

Pence’s first basket Saturday will put her over 1,000. Ironically, two years ago, Cardinals’ legend Sydney Hvizdzak scored her 2,000th career point during her a Section VI Class C championship game victory over Frewsburg.

“We were hoping to get that done and over with. … She’ll get it Saturday,” Pihlblad said of Pence’s 1,000th point. “I told Kyra to tell everybody she was trying to miss so it’ll be more special.”

NOTES: Randolph shot 21 of 64 (32.8%) from the field, including 14 of 39 (35.9%) from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 13 times. Herington had five rebounds and five steals; Kyra Pence had 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists and seven steals; Quinn Pence had six rebounds, four assists and five steals; and Morrison had five rebounds and three assists for the Cardinals. … Portville shot 16 of 36 (44.4%) from the field, including 3 of 10 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 29 times, which led to 30 Randolph points. Bentley grabbed nine rebounds; Ava Haynes had six steals; and Teagan Kosinski had six rebounds and three assists for the Panthers.

PORTVILLE (38)

Kosinski 0 0 0, DeFazio 2 0 4, Haynes 6 1 13, Scanlon 5 1 14, Lyle 0 0 0, Bentley 3 1 7. Totals 16 3 38.

RANDOLPH (58)

KPence 5 2 14, Bowles 0 0 0, QPence 0 0 0, HSmith 0 0 0, Storer 0 0 0, Steward 1 0 2, Morrison 3 0 8, Herington 12 0 34, Dickerson 0 0 0. Totals 21 2 58.

3-point goals–Scanlon 3, KPence 2, Morrison 2, Herington 10.

Portville 7 6 15 10 — 38

Randolph 15 21 14 8 — 58