All indications are Chadwick's 60-55 Class 1 Sectional loss to Delta on Monday will mark the end of Kerrigan Guerin’s Lady Cardinals career. The junior guard's plans are to forego her senior season at Chadwick in favor of finishing out her prep career at Link Academy.
“It's very heartbreaking not playing with some of my best friends again,” Guerin said of her Lady Cards teammates. “That’s the hardest part. Not graduating with my best friends is going to be really hard also. (There are) a little bit of pros and cons, some of them outweigh others.”
As bittersweet as Guerin feels while looking at her past and her future, she feels the opportunities at Link Academy will better lead her toward her end goal of playing at the college level.
“Chadwick basketball holds a special part of my heart. It has shown me so much and showed me the way to Link Academy,” she said. “Going there will help me improve and improve my weaknesses. It’s going to give me bigger opportunities. Colleges look at their teams. That's what I want to do.”
Link Academy, which is based in Branson, also serves as a prep school, offering its players a fifth year of prep eligibility.
“If I want to do a fifth year, I can,” Guerin said. “I will most likely not do a fifth year of school there and will go on to college.”
Guerin earned All-State honors last season while leading Chadwick to a Class 1 Final Four berth and a state runner-up finish.
This winter marked Link Academy’s inaugural season having a girls team. The Lady Lions initially featured SWMO players in Webb City’s Sam Mancini and Republic’s Paelyn Gilmore, but both returned to their original schools.
Link Academy is not MSHSAA affiliated. The Lady Lions played two MSHSAA opponents this season, beating Chadwick 57-31 and losing to Columbia Hickman 51-38.
