The Best Seat In The House

Notes and thoughts from Day 3 of the girls 12th Region Tournament:

• Southwestern defeated Rockcastle County 74-64; Wayne County defeated East Jessamine 74-51; Southwestern plays Wayne County for the championship Saturday night.
• Southwestern’s win is an upset by any measure. The Lady Warriors were believed to be capable of big things this season but came into this tournament with 13 losses. When they waxed Mercer County in their first-round game Monday, many said they could win the tournament if they played two more games like that, and they apparently played one of them Friday to beat Rockcastle.
• Wayne’s win over East Jessamine set up a rematch in the title game of last week’s 48th District final, which Wayne won 68-58 after grabbing an early 10-point lead. Southwestern won their first regular-season meeting 63-56; Wayne won the second 67-54.
• Both Friday night winners relied on balanced scoring. Southwestern got 21 points from Devin Fothergill, 19 from Stephanie Salyers and 16 from Chasidy Zimmerman. And while Sarah Rowe had 22 points for Rockcastle, Southwestern held Sarah Hammond and Mary Saylor to eight each. Wayne got 17 points from Meg Latham, 16 from Heather Stearns and 15 from Rachel Bristow, while Ashley Willoughby led East Jessamine with 22 points.
• Wayne will be trying to win its fifth regional championship and its first since 2004, when it beat South Laurel for the title. Southwestern has never been to the Girls Sweet Sixteen.
• The Other 15 (noteworthy scores from the rest of the state): Elizabethtown beat Bethlehem 54-33 and North Hardin beat Adair County 78-44 in the girls 5th Region to set up a title-game showdown between two of the state’s top five teams. … It’s all over for my alma mater, Jackson County, whose season ended with a 68-46 semifinal loss to South Laurel in the girls 13th. The Jackson boys did not make the regional.

Notes and thoughts from Day 2 of the boys 12th Region Tournament:

• Boyle County defeated East Jessamine 75-62; Southwestern defeated Somerset 56-48 in overtime. Boyle plays Southwestern in Monday’s second semifinal.

• Boyle needed most of the game to put away East Jessamine, but that doesn’t mean the Rebels didn’t play well. East Jessamine was equal to the task, enduring every run Boyle made except the last one. And that one came so late and so quickly, the game was out of reach before the Jaguars had a chance to use their last timeout or to stop the clock by fouling.
• The one player in Boyle’s starting lineup who gets the least amount of attention and accolades, point guard Nate Collins, might well have been the star of the show Thursday. His three 3-point baskets came just when the Rebels needed them, and he and Grant Tamme were key players on defense away from the basket as well.
• The stage was set for an upset in the second game until Southwestern came up with a couple of big plays late in regulation and buried Somerset with five straight points early in the overtime period. The biggest bucket was a tying 3-pointer by Southwestern’s Kyle Klingensmith with 1:02 left in regulation. Somerset’s John Cole had a chance for a game-winning shot from just outside the lane with 2 seconds left, but it was blocked by Kyle Rodgers. The Southwestern-Somerset game marked the first time in modern times that two Pulaski County schools went head to head in the regional.
• Of course, Monday’s Boyle-Southwestern game will be a rematch of last year’s regional final, which Boyle won 67-51. Southwestern defeated Boyle 81-79 this season in a Jan. 6 game at Southwestern. Lincoln County’s game with West Jessamine is a rematch of a Dec. 15 game at Lincoln that the Patriots won 54-52 in overtime.
• The McCreary County Voice reports that Lindsey Waters of McCreary Central has been voted the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches’ 12th Region Girls Player of the Year. Waters is the Lady Raiders’ all-time leading scorer with over 2,000 points. She has signed with Eastern Kentucky.
• The Other 15 (noteworthy scores from the rest of the state): North Hardin was by no means the favorite in the boys 5th Region, but with the preseason favorites having been eliminated in district play, it was a recognizable team that had a decent chance to win until Bardstown beat the Trojans 76-72. Pre-tournament favorite Adair County is still alive after a 68-48 win over LaRue County. Remember, the 5th Region winner plays the champion from the 12th in the first round of the state tournament. … Big doings in the boys 6th and 7th semifinals in Louisville: Fairdale upset 6th Region favorite Pleasure Ridge Park 60-54 to play Butler for the title, and defending state champ Jeffersontown whipped Male 50-35 in the 7th to set up a title game showdown with Ballard. … Boys 8th Region power Shelby County was taken down by Gallatin County, a little school that’s having a big year. The Wildcats have their region’s best record at 25-6, and they beat Shelby 63-58.

Notes and thoughts from Day 1 of the boys 12th Region Tournament:

• West Jessamine defeated Wayne County 45-43; Lincoln County defeated Pulaski County 70-49. Lincoln plays West Jessamine in Monday’s first semifinal.
• Lincoln’s win before a capacity crowd was surely more impressive than most people expected. The Patriots took control in the second half, leaving Pulaski behind and leaving no doubt that they’re capable of winning the tournament. It’s always easier said than done, but three games like that would easily get Lincoln to Rupp Arena. Pulaski, meanwhile, played not at all like it had in wins over Boyle County in the final week of the regular season or over Somerset in the 47th District Tournament. The Maroons made mistakes both in shooting and ball-handling, and they struggled to deal with Lincoln’s speed.
• The West Jessamine-Wayne game might have looked like a mismatch to some, but I expected the Colts to have their hands full with an up-and-coming Wayne team. It took a big shot by Kuda Kagora with 2 seconds left to send the keep West Jessamine out of overtime and send the Colts to the semifinals.
• Lincoln’s regional tourney games are being broadcast on the Internet thanks to the work of Jon Logan Smith, who called Lincoln’s football and basketball games for the former WRSL-FM for many years. Smith, who now lives in the Chicago area, produced webcasts for his son’s high school football team late last season, and he’s using the same technology this week at Lincoln. The audio feed goes out via a wireless broadband connection and is available online at this link. A replay of Wednesday night’s game can still be heard through that link. Smith did play-by-play, with Kevin Bandura and Tim Estes doing color. They are also able to receive and respond to listener e-mails during the live broadcasts at lchsontheair@yahoo.com. The long-range plan is for Bandura and Estes plan to use to use the same set-up to broadcast Lincoln football games on a weekly basis this fall.
• Abigail Laub of The Jessamine Journal, one of the Advocate’s sister newspapers, reports that Zack Fain of West Jessamine has been named the 12th Region boys player of the year by the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches. Fain is a talented player with impressive numbers (17 points, 10.5 rebounds, 4 assists entering the regional), but this is a surprise to those of us who saw Boyle’s Spencer Perrin dominate the competition this season. I didn’t see it coming before the season, when I ranked Perrin behind McCreary Central’s Aaron Watts, Casey County’s Keith Price and Pulaski’s John Perkins, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Perrin has been the best player in the region all winter long.
• The Other 15 (noteworthy scores from the rest of the state): Warren Central’s Tim Riley could become only the second Kentucky coach to win six straight regional titles if his Dragons win two more games. They opened play in the boys 4th Region with an 88-71 win over Russellville. … It was a bad night for small independent schools, as it often is in the first round. Fulton City (1st Region), Mayfield (1st), Bethlehem (5th), Walton-Verona (8th), Deming (10th), Model (11th), Red Bird (13th) and Pineville (13th) were all kicked to the curb.

Notes and thoughts from Day 2 of the girls 12th Region Tournament:

• East Jessamine defeated Boyle County 60-58; Wayne County defeated Casey County 73-49. East Jessamine plays Wayne in Friday’s second semifinal.
• All four teams from the Advocate’s coverage area have been eliminated. I can’t tell the last time that happened, but only once in the previous eight years has there been just one local team in the regional semifinals. That was in 2005, when Mercer County joined McCreary Central, Wayne County and eventual champion South Laurel in the final four.
• East Jessamine didn’t seem to be such a bad draw for Boyle, which could have played Casey or Southwestern in the first round. But it turned out to be a pretty good draw for East Jessamine, which instead of facing Wayne or Rockcastle County got a Boyle team whose youth finally caught up with it. The experience Boyle’s many young players gained, however, should keep the Lady Rebels among the players in this region for a few years to come.
• The one player who won’t return for Boyle, center Tori Alcorn, improved by leaps and bounds during her four-year career, and especially between her junior and senior seasons. Her improvement meant a lot to the Lady Rebels, but it may have meant even more to coach Judie Mason, who cited ways Alcorn has improved off the court as well as on it. “I’ve never had a kid come as far as she has in every aspect. It means more to me to see the person she’s become than any win I’ve got at Boyle County,” Mason said. Coming from a coach who loves — make that L-O-V-E-S — to win, that quote speaks volumes.
• This was the first regional tournament appearance for East Jessamine in either the 11th or the 12th regions, so of course it was the Lady Jaguars first regional win. They have some good young players and a good veteran coach in Ralph Sallee, so it probably won’t be their last.
• When a team is raining 3-point baskets the way Wayne was in the third quarter against Casey, you can’t do much more than tip your hat. The Lady Cardinals were 5-for-5 behind the line over the first 4:10 of the third quarter, 6-for-7 in the entire period and 12-for-23 overall. They did it with four different girls, and from all around the perimeter. No defense can stop that.
• Here’s the shooting breakdown on Wayne’s 3-point foursome (3-point totals only): eighth-grader Kayla Bowlin, 2-for-2 in the third quarter, 3-for-4 overall; junior Rachel Bristow, 2-for-2 and 2-for-6; sophomore Heather Stearns, 1-for-1 and 4-for-6; and junior Courtney Duncan, 1-for-2 and 3-for-6. No one else attempted a 3.
• It’s too bad that a good season at Casey had to end with the two worst losses of the season. The Lady Rebels lost their last two games to Rockcastle and Wayne by a combined 50 points. But the Wayne game was nothing like the Rockcastle game, which was never close. Take away Wayne’s unbelievable 3-point shooting and the game is still in doubt in the final minutes. Meanwhile, this team should be remembered for winning 20 games for the first time since 2000, when the Lady Rebels made the Girls Sweet Sixteen. And don’t forget that they only lose two starters, so they’re not going away, either.
• If you’re going to tonight’s opening session of the boys 12th Region Tournament at Lincoln County, come early. Wayne’s usual red-clad horde will be in place for the opener when their Cardinals play West Jessamine, and fans will be coming out of the woodwork for the Lincoln-Pulaski County nightcap. There aren’t many full houses for first-round sessions in these parts any more, but this might be one.
• The Other 15 (noteworthy scores from the rest of the state): Girls fans who are weary of seeing Lexington Catholic dominate the state should skip this paragraph. Catholic took an important, if early, step toward a third straight state title by beating Scott County 91-83 in a first-round game in the girls 11th Region that matched what might be the state’s best two teams. … It wasn’t quite 1 vs. 2, but Pleasure Ridge Park beat Doss 54-47 in a battle of top-20 teams in the boys 6th.

Notes and thoughts from Day 1 of the girls 12th Region Tournament:

• Southwestern defeated Mercer County 78-39; Rockcastle County defeated Lincoln County 67-55. Southwestern plays Rockcastle in Friday’s first semifinal.
• The tournament opened with a big surprise. It isn’t shocking that Southwestern won, but the margin of victory was stunning. It was the most lopsided score in this tournament in many years — at least 10 — and Mercer’s first first-round loss since 2001, when it was eliminated by McCreary Central. It also might well have been the first regional win ever for Southwestern.
• Southwestern and Mercer are among the many young teams in this region, with only two seniors each. Southwestern’s two seniors are starters, forward Jasi Flynn and guard Chasidy Zimmerman. Mercer’s two seniors are role players, guards Brittney Kendrick and Annie Sutton.
• Speaking of Kendrick and Sutton, it was a nice gesture by Mercer coach Chris Souder to play them for the entire second half of what everyone knew by then would be their final game. Even when he rotated young players from the end of the Titans’ bench into the lineup in the fourth quarter, the two seniors stayed on the floor for the finish.
• The draw was unkind to a Lincoln team that couldn’t generate enough offense to keep pace with powerful Rockcastle. Lincoln never scored more than 58 points this season, and Rockcastle averages 57. Lincoln was within 42-41 late in the third quarter, but when Rockcastle scored seven points in the first 2:02 of the fourth quarter to reach 50, it was clear the Lady Patriots couldn’t score enough points to win.
• Big rosters are a trend in this tournament, none bigger than a Lincoln roster that lists 32 girls, including eight sixth- and seventh-graders. Mercer lists 21 players, Southwestern lists 18 (but had only 12 in uniform) and East Jessamine lists 17. Remember, only 15 get to play.
• The Other 15 (noteworthy scores from the rest of the state): North Hardin beat Nelson County 69-58 in a clash of titans in the girls 5th Region … Belfry edged Paintsville 71-66 in a battle of boys 15th Region contenders — and the only boys game played in the entire state.

The 12th Region Tournaments are upon us, and the pairings give us reason to believe the next nine days will be as wild as we’ve thought all season.
Both the boys and girls tournaments could be full of surprises, as the regionals almost always are. However, those who say any team can win it are overstating the issue.
I say there are five teams on the girls side and three, maybe four in the boys bracket that can win it, though I’m not naming names. Anyone coming from outside those boundaries would be a real surprise.
However, pretty much any team in the field could win any given game, and that’s what will make the coming days so much fun.
Here’s a closer look at the first-round games:

GIRLS
At Pulaski County

Mercer County (13-17) vs. Southwestern (17-13), 6:30 p.m. today: They just this game a few days ago, when Southwestern beat Mercer 54-51 in the teams’ regular-season finale. … Southwestern is a talented team that struggled at times this season. It lost five games after Feb. 1, including two to Wayne County. The Lady Warriors are considered a contender, but there are enough questionable losses on their resume to consider them very beatable. … Mercer is a rebuilding team, but it’s still surprising to see the Titans with the worst record in the field. They’re getting better,
Rockcastle County (21-10) vs. Lincoln County (17-13), 8:30 p.m. today: A rematch of last year’s regional final and of an early-season game in which Rockcastle smothered Lincoln 62-28. … Rockcastle is bidding for its second straight 12th Region title and its fourth straight trip to the Girls Sweet Sixteen and rates a slight edge in this field thanks to experience and an excess of talent. The Lady Rockets lost only one game within the region, by one point to Casey County in January, and they avenged that with a 26-point win in last week’s 47th District final. … Lincoln has improved a great deal since that lopsided early-season game, but the Lady Patriots’ big problem remains their inability to score. They’ve often made up for that with good defense, and they’ll have to keep the score low to beat Rockcastle.
Boyle County (15-14) vs. East Jessamine (15-15), 6:30 p.m. Tuesday: East Jessamine won a regular-season meeting 69-62 on Dec. 4, but that seems like a long time ago when talking about these two teams. … Boyle has improved by leaps and bounds, as you’d expect from a team that starts three freshmen and a sophomore. The Lady Rebels have won nine of their last 12, including victories over Lincoln County and Southwestern. Relying on so much youth could hurt them one of these nights, but it’s working well right now. … East Jessamine is in the 12th Region Tournament for the first time ever (it joined the region last season) after beating Burgin in a district semifinal that could have gone either way. Former Burgin coach Ralph Sallee has this program on the rise, and their progress has been considerable this year and will be worth following in seasons ahead.
Wayne County (19-9) vs. Casey County (20-10), 8:30 p.m. Tuesday: In many regional tourneys, there’s one first-round game that has the qualities of a championship matchup, and this is it. Casey and Wayne are two of the top title contenders who had the bad luck of drawing each other. … Wayne relies on young players at some key positions — there are no seniors — and has paid for that at times this season, but the Lady Cardinals’ only losses after Feb. 1 were to Mercer County and Lexington Catholic, and the Mercer loss might be the only “bad” loss on their list. … Casey is still very much a threat despite last week’s lopsided loss to Rockcastle County. Coach Randy Salyers didn’t seem too upset by that loss, at least not publicly, and it’s clear he thinks the Lady Rebels can regroup. Sure, they’re low on size, but they have enough outside shooting threats to mow down any opponent in this field. And the Rockcastle loss was one of only two in their last 12 games, the other to Lexington Christian.
The semifinals are at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Friday. The championship is at 7 p.m. Saturday.

BOYS

At Lincoln County

West Jessamine (19-9) vs. Wayne County (14-17), 6 p.m. Wednesday: Without the records in parentheses, this would look one of the best first-round matchups. These two teams from opposite ends of the region are closer than they appear. … West Jessamine’s only losses since the first week of January — 15 games — were to Scott County, Sayre and Lafayette, and its only losses within the region were to Boyle County and East Jessamine. First-year coach Robert Hammonds has relied on defense, and the Colts have given up more than 60 points only once, to Scott. … This isn’t the type of Wayne team that ruled the region a few years ago, but it’s also nothing like the nearly unwatchable team that went 3-24 last season. The Cardinals are better for that experience and will continue to get better for their experience this week, and this team is good enough to give coach Rodney Woods a puncher’s chance. They lost nine of their last 12 but reached the regional with their third win over Mccreary Central, which was considered a title threat in the preseason. Other “good” wins include East Jessamine and Mercer County.
Pulaski County (21-9) vs. Lincoln County (21-9), 8 p.m. Wednesday: The first-round game not to miss, this is battle between two teams with serious title aspirations. Lincoln won the first meeting 72-60 Jan. 15 at Pulaski. … Lincoln is looking to win the region for the first time since 1980 with a balanced team that can with with perimeter shooting, penetration and defense. The Patriots lost only three of their 16 games after Jan. 1, two to Boyle County and one each to Madison Central and McCreary Central. The losses to Boyle, which they beat once, and McCreary were their only losses within the region. … Pulaski didn’t figure to be a top contender when the season began, but the Maroons got stronger as the season went on and got a signature win in the final week over Boyle County. They won 10 of their last 11, losing only to West Jessamine, and won their second straight 47th District crown after a 13-year district title drought. Pulaski hasn’t won the region since 1992.
Boyle County (16-12) vs. East Jessamine (15-14), 6 p.m. Thursday: Another good first-round game between two teams that are better than their respective records. They split two December games, with East Jessamine winning 63-52 at home and Boyle winning 54-40 in a Lexington tourney. … Defending champion Boyle gets the nod as the favorite to win this year because of key off-season additions, seasoning from a tough early-season schedule and the improvement of its role players. The Rebels lost nine of their first 13 and have lost three times since Feb. 15 — to South Laurel, Bryan Station and Pulaski County. … East Jessamine has lost four games since Feb. 9, two to West Jessamine and one each to Lexington Christian and Wayne County. The Jaguars struggled to reach 50 points in each of those losses and a few others. West Jessamine held them to 37 in last week’s 46th District final.
Southwestern (17-10) vs. Somerset (14-14), 8 p.m. Thursday: A backyard brawl between two apparently friendly Pulaski County neighbors who split two regular-season games. Southwestern won at home 61-60 on Dec. 9; Somerset won at home 57-41 on Jan. 13. … It’s easy to forget that Southwestern was in the regional final last season, but the Warriors won’t forget how close they came to getting to Rupp Arena for the first time. Three starters returned from that team. They have lost four times since Jan. 30, to West Jessamine, Lincoln County, Pulaski County and Mercer County, and they won the 48th District crown with a one-point win over Wayne County. … Somerset lost five of its last eight games beginning with a first-round All “A” Classic loss to Hazard. The Briar Jumpers are a deep team despite being hit hard by graduation last season. They’re back in the regional for the first time in six years.
The semifinals are at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. March 12. The championship is at 7 p.m. March 13.

A note about admission prices: Tickets are $5 to both tournaments this season. Officials at Pulaski and Lincoln counties went to $6 last season, but the process of making change for all those 10s and 20s (and maybe a few complaints) led to long lines at the gate. They think charging $5 instead of $6 will get people into the building a bit faster. Tourney organizers always get their share of grief for one reason or another, but they should also get this compliment for a move that will make things just a little easier on the fans and their wallets.