The Best Seat In The House

Notes and thoughts from day 4 of the girls 12th Region Tournament at Lincoln County:

• Rockcastle County defeated Casey County 57-48 for the 12th Region championship.
• This is Rockcastle’s fifth regional title, its fourth in the last five years and its second in three years since being moved to the 13th Region. Rockcastle plays Ohio County or Muhlenberg North in the first round of the Girls Sweet Sixteen on Wednesday. (Those two schools play Monday for the 3rd Region championship.)
• Rockcastle does so many things well, but this win was above all else a product of its defense, which took Casey County completely out of its game. The Lady Rebels couldn’t get the 3-point looks they need, nor could they free up Megan Pittman on the inside. Rockcastle was both quicker and more physical on this day, and that made all the difference.
• The most telling part of this game might well have come in the final minutes of the first half. Rockcastle outscored Casey 10-0 over the final 2:32 of the second period and didn’t allow a field goal in the final 3:40. And just when it looked as if the Lady Rockets might hold for the last shot, Mary Saylor unloaded a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left that made it 24-17. When the teams headed off the floor at halftime, Rockcastle’s players were practically skipping toward their locker room, while the Casey players walked slowly toward their locker room with stunned looks on their faces.
• Saylor scored 31 points, going 7-for-9 from the field and 16-for-18 at the free-throw line. All of her field goals came in the first half; all of her free-throw attempts in the second. She also had four rebounds and four assists. Several folks who have seen Rockcastle play far more than I have said this might have been the best game of her life.
• Saylor became the fourth different player to lead Rockcastle in scoring in five postseason games, joining Sarah Rowe (27 points vs. Somerset, 24 vs. Danville), Angie Lawrence (24 vs. Casey in the 47th District final) and Jackie Alexander (17 vs. Mercer County). The last two girls mentioned are reserves, and Alexendar didn’t even score Sunday.
• Saylor had three points when Rockcastle beat Casey 66-57 in the 47th District final on Feb. 28. The Lady Rockets’ top two scorers that night, Lawrence and Ashley Robinson, combined for 38 points in that game but only two on Sunday.
• Sara Hammond turned her ankle and left the floor with a severe limp with 3:44 left in the first quarter, but she got a quick tape job and returned with 6:44 left in the second quarter and went on to grab a game-high nine rebounds. “All I could think about was this game. I just wanted my team to win,” she said.
• Kayla McFarland led Casey with 14 points, followed by Pittman and Tara Weddle with 10 each. Pittman had eight rebounds.
• Casey finished with 17 turnovers, 14 of which came in the first half.
• Casey is now 1-2 in regional finals. Prior to this game, the Lady Rebels lost to Boyle County in 1997 and defeated Wayne County for their only regional title in 2000.
• The Lady Rebels ended their season without a championship, yet this was the winningest basketball season in school history — girls or boys, by total wins (27) or by winning percentage (.870) — and surely one of the best seasons ever for any area team. Coach Randy Salyers said after the game that his team will learn from this experience and be ready to make another run next year in what will again be a fiercely competitive region.
• Salyers also made a point of praising the Casey fan base that grew exponentially along with the team’s win total. The Lady Rebels’ fans far outnumbered the Rockcastle partisans Sunday, and good crowds have cheered them on at home and away for several weeks. “We’re very appreciative of the support our fans have showed us,” Salyers said. He also thanked Casey’s school administration for its backing.
• The boys 12th Region Tournament resumes tonight with the semifinals at Pulaski County, with Lincoln County playing Pulaski at 6:30 p.m. and Somerset playing West Jessamine at about 8:30 p.m. The first game is a rematch of a Jan. 15 game at Lincoln, which the Patriots won 75-56 behind 25 points from Noah Keeton and 18 from Ryan Young. This was one of the last (perhaps even the last) of the four games Ethan Spurlin missed due to mononucleosis. Lincoln shot 47 percent from the field and outrebound a bigger Pulaski team 31-26. Somerset and West Jessamine played that same night in Somerset, with the Briar Jumpers winning 54-45. Click on the links to read the semifinal previews from the Advocate and from the (Somerset) Commonwealth-Journal.
• The girls all-tournament team: Rachel Bristow, Wayne County; Kendra Brown, Lincoln County; Nicole Coffman, Casey County; Loran Crowell, Mercer County; Devin Fothergill, Southwestern; Sara Hammond, Rockcastle County; Lauren Hatter, Casey County; Tasha Milby, Danville; Megan Pittman, Casey County; Sarah Rowe, Rockcastle County; Mary Saylor, Rockcastle County; Hayley Spivey, Mercer County; Jessica Upchurch, Lincoln County; Ashley Willoughby, East Jessamine.
• The Other 15: Five teams joined the Girls Sweet Sixteen field Sunday, joining two that had already gotten their tickets punched. In addition to Rockcastle, Sunday’s winners were Butler (6th Region), duPont Manual (7th), South Laurel (13th) and Breathitt County (14th). Marshall County (1st) and Franklin-Simpson (4th) were already in. … Nine regional champions will be decided Monday, none of which will be won by Paul Dunbar, the team that ended the regular season ranked No. 1 in the state. Dunbar lost 53-42 to Henry Clay in an 11th Region semifinal Sunday. … On the boys side, Lexington Catholic smoked Scott County 80-54 to advance to the 11th Region finals against Bryan Station, which beat Paul Dunbar.