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.

The championship game of the girls 12th Region Tournament has been postponed until 4 p.m. Sunday due to this weekend’s winter storm. Lincoln County officials made the decision to call off the game between Casey County and Rockcastle County near midday Saturday. Click here for details.

Notes and thoughts on day 3 of the girls 12th Region Tournament at Lincoln County:

• Casey County defeated Lincoln County 62-47; Rockcastle County defeated Mercer County 83-42. Casey plays Rockcastle in tonight’s Sunday’s championship game.
• Casey won despite only 10 field-goal attempts in the second half; the Lady Rebels were 27-for-36 at the free-throw line after halftime — when Lincoln drew 21 fouls — and 30-for-41 overall. The biggest of those free throws might well have come when Casey scored nine straight points at the start of the fourth quarter to take a 48-37 lead.
• This was Casey’s second win over Lincoln in two weeks. The Lady Rebels won a regular-season meeting between the two teams 44-38 on Feb. 22 at Casey.
• Lauren Hatter led Casey with 17 points, followed by reserve Nicole Coffman with 15. Megan Pittman added 12 points and eight rebounds. Kendra Brown had 18 points and seven rebounds for Lincoln, and Savannah Lane added 10 points.
• Mercer’s season ended with a blowout loss for the second straight year. It was a 39-point loss to Southwestern in a first-round game last year, then this season’s loss to Rockcastle, for which the die was cast when the Lady Rockets scored the game’s first 15 points. It was 50-29 in the third quarter when Rockcastle scored another 15 in a row to put the game far out of reach.
• Jackie Alexander scored 17 points to become the third different goal to lead Rockcastle in scoring in its last three postseason games. Sara Hammond and Sarah Rowe added 14 points each, and Mary Saylor had 13. Loran Crowell led Mercer with eight points, and leading scorer Hayley Spivey, who averages 19 points per game, had only six.
• The championship game will be the fourth meeting this season between Casey and Rockcastle. The Lady Rockets are the only 12th Region team to have beaten Casey this season, having won 66-57 in the 47th District final. Casey won the two regular-season meetings, 49-45 on the road and 66-52 at home.
• This is Casey’s first trip to the regional finals since the Lady Rebels won their only title in 2000. To do that, they defeated Wayne County 64-51. Rockcastle has reached the regional finals for the second time in three years since joining the 12th Region. Two years ago, the Lady Rockets defeated Lincoln County 52-40 in the title game at Lincoln.
• The Other 15: Girls games in five regions and boys games in two regions were postponed Friday night due to the winter storm. Update: As of 1:30 p.m., today’s games had been postponed in 10 of 13 girls regionals and the only two boys regionals scheduled to play. Revised schedules and start times are available on the KHSAA boys and girls scoreboards. … In the girls 4th Region, Bowling Green upset Barren County 48-43 to advance to the title game against Franklin-Simpson. … In the 13th, Clay County clipped Middlesboro 53-46 to reach the final against South Laurel.

Lincoln County officials made the decision at about 12:30 p.m. to go on with the girls 12th Region Tournament semifinals tonight. Click here for details.

Notes and thoughts from day 2 of the boys 12th Region Tournament at Pulaski County:

• Somerset defeated Wayne County 38-33; West Jessamine defeated Boyle County 50-43. Somerset plays West Jessamine in Monday’s second semifinal.
• This was three hours of my life I wish I had back. Several of us watching these grueling games concluded that they were doing their best to set basketball back 30 or 40 years.
• A Somerset team that most had written off after its 47th District title game loss to Pulaski County deserves a good deal of credit for fighting off Wayne. The Briar Jumpers rose to the occasion at least a couple of times in the second half when it looked as if things were starting to go Wayne’s way. There were no style points awarded, but perhaps we should score this one for Somerset’s experience over Wayne’s youth.
• Corey Price led Somerset with 12 points, and Dustin Wells led Wayne with 11. No one else had more than seven, as you might expect.
• As you also might expect, this was the lowest-scoring game in the boys 12th Region in many moons. Nothing in the last 10 years has come close for combined total points, although Wayne’s total equals that scored by McCreary Central in an 84-33 loss to South Laurel in a 2004 first-round game.
• Boyle was held to its lowest point total in 51 games in its loss to West Jessamine. The Rebels also scored 43 in a December 2006 loss to Apollo.
• Boyle was shut out in the first quarter and missed its first nine shots from the field, and the Rebels also went 5-for-14 in the fourth quarter. In between, they were 13-for-19. West Jessamine got off only 29 shots but hit 16 of them.
• In the first meeting between the teams on Dec. 11 (a 65-53 Boyle win at home), the Rebels were 23-for-46 from the field and forced 20 turnovers, which they converted into 23 points. Gulian Blanton, who led West Jessamine with 17 points Thursday — all in the second half on 6-of-7 shooting — was held to four in the first meeting.
• Jared Polson scored 16 points for the Colts, including all nine of their first-quarter points. Christian Williams led Boyle with 11.
• The girls regional resumes tonight at Lincoln County, where the marquee attraction is Lincoln vs. Casey County in the upper bracket semifinal at 6 p.m. Mercer County and Rockcastle County meet in the second semi at 7:45 p.m. Casey beat Lincoln 44-38 in the final game of the regular season for both teams Feb. 22 at Casey. Rockcastle won 73-55 at Mercer on Jan. 28.
• If the weather is tolerable, expect a near-capacity crowd to be in place for the first game. If winter weather strikes and postponement is a possibility, check www.amnews.com for updates.
• If the Friday or Saturday games at Lincoln are postponed, look for officials there to finish the tourney on Sunday if possible. They don’t want to wait until Monday because the winner plays on Wednesday in Bowling Green at the Girls Sweet Sixteen. A Monday-to-Wednesday turnaround happened once before, though, when the March blizzard of 1993 delayed the boys 12th Region final until snowplows could clear 18 to 20 inches of snow from the roads around London. Casey County’s boys beat McCreary Central on Monday night at South Laurel, then played (and lost to) Harlan on Wednesday night at Rupp Arena.
• The Other 15: Leonard Macon, who transferred from Danville to Taylor County early this season, did his best to keep Taylor alive, but the Cardinals fell 72-66 to Bardstown in a 5th Region first-round game. Macon had 16 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots, according to an account on Bluegrasspreps.com. … In the 11th Region, Scott County survived a scare before winning 59-54 at Franklin County. … Anderson County, my pick to win the 8th, lost 63-56 to Gallatin County. … In the 2nd, Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie and Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl watched as Scotty Hopson scored 28 points to lead University Heights over Hopkins County Central 75-48. … And sadly, another season ends quietly at Jackson County, which lost to South Laurel 76-59 in the 13th Region. It’s now 42 years and counting without a trip to the state tourney, but congratulations on a good season to former schoolmate Keith Hays and his team, which finished 22-9.

Steve Watkins, a former assistant coach with the Danville boys soccer team, has been named the head coach of the Somerset girls.

Watkins, who played for Centre College, was out of coaching for two years until he finished out last season as Somerset’s interim coach. He left Danville in 2003 to coach the Pulaski County girls, which he did for two years.

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Two 12th Region teams are ranked in the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association’s preseason top 25 poll, but neither are local teams. Somerset is No. 20; West Jessamine is No. 22. Mercer County, Boyle County, Rockcastle County, Danville and Lincoln County all received votes.

The KHSBCA’s preseason all-state team includes Matthew Robertson of Mercer County, as well as Somerset’s John Cole.

Notes and thoughts from day 1 of the boys 12th Region Tournament at Pulaski County:

• Lincoln County defeated Southwestern 54-36; Pulaski County defeated East Jessamine 66-62. Lincoln plays Pulaski in Monday’s first semifinal.
• Some Lincoln fans were worried about the Patriots’ first-round game against 5-22 Southwestern, and I thought they were wrong to be. Clearly they were not wrong, because Lincoln found itself in a dogfight for three quarters before pulling away. Southwestern’s slowdown style helped keep the Warriors close in what Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson called “a grinder game” until the fourth quarter, when they went 1-for-12 from the field.
• Ethan Spurlin led Lincoln with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Ryan Young and Noah Keeton also scored in double figures for the Patriots with 13 and 12 each. Trevor Jones was the only double-digit scorer for Southwestern with 17.
• Pulaski’s win was also closer than I thought it would be in an entertaining game. The Maroons did manage to open a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter, but East Jessamine still battled back to make it interesting until the final minute. East also beat Pulaski badly on the boards, 33-21, but Pulaski helped its cause by hitting 17 of 19 free throws — including 11 of 12 in the fourth quarter — and commiting only seven turnovers.
• Adam Dixon led Pulaski with 18 points, and Shawn Whitis scored 17. Darius Jackson scored 19 for East Jessamine, and Daniel Gainey had 17.
• Wednesday’s session had exactly the same matchups as in the first session of the 2006 regional at Pulaski, but with different results. In those games, Southwestern beat Lincoln and East Jessamine beat Pulaski.
• In tonight’s lower bracket games, Wayne County plays Somerset at 6:30 p.m. and West Jessamine plays Boyle County at 8:30 p.m. Boyle beat West Jessamine 65-53 on Dec. 11, and Wayne defeated Somerset 63-50 on Feb. 12.
• Boyle fans should be advised that if the first game is a quick one, the second game will start early. Wednesday’s second game started at about 8:15 p.m. The second game is 30 minutes after the first, regardless of the time of day.
• The Other 15: Corbin claimed a surprisingly easy 80-62 win over Clay County in the opening game in the 13th Region. Corbin is the top-rated team in that region, but Clay is always a tough out. With all due respect to South Laurel, I’ll pulling for Jackson County to spring the upset of the Cardinals tonight at Knox Central. … In the 10th Region, defending champion George Rogers Clark trailed Campbell County by nine points at the start of the fourth quarter before rallying for a 63-61 win. In the other 10th Region game, Mason County reached triple digits for the second straight game with a 101-54 rout of Deming. Darius Miller had 22 points in 13 minutes. … In the girls 7th Region, Sacred Heart checked out in the first round with a 69-62 overtime loss to Fern Creek. DuPont Manual, Mercy and Ballard all advanced.

Notes and thoughts from day 2 of the girls 12th Region Tournament at Lincoln County:

• Mercer County defeated Southwestern 61-54; Rockcastle County defeated Danville 69-47. Mercer plays Rockcastle in Friday’s second semifinal.
• For the second straight year, the Mercer-Southwestern game delivered the biggest surprise of the first round. Last year it was Southwestern’s 39-point flogging of Mercer, but on Tuesday it was Mercer avenging that loss and doing so with an impressive second-half comeback.
• The Titans appeared to be headed for the same fate as last year when they fell behind 7-0 out of the gate and 23-9 in the second quarter. They still trailed by seven points at halftime, but they came charging back behind a relentless defense that forced Southwestern into 19 second-half turnovers. Yes, 19. Mercer used its advantage in speed and a tenacity that recalled the way its defense harassed opponents in the program’s glory days in the first half of this decade.
• Hannah Barnett scored the basket that tied the game for the first time at 33-all, and she deserves special mention for being the unsung hero of Mercer’s defense both in this game and all year long. She leads the Titans in steals and blocked shots and is second in rebounds, and her value as a tireless defender is far more important to them than the 4.6 points she averages.
• Hayley Spivey led Mercer with 25 points, followed by Leah Flora with 10. Devin Fothergill had 16 points for Southwestern, which had only four scorers, all with at least 10 points.
• The second game was every bit as one-sided as Monday’s nightcap in which Casey County clobbered East Jessamine, although Rockcastle’s margin of victory over Danville wasn’t nearly as large. The Lady Rockets dominated from the word go against a team that was both overmatched and underexperienced.
• This game should serve notice to all think the regional title will fall to the winner of the Casey-Lincoln County semifinal. Rockcastle is playing better than both of those teams right now. Danville coach Judie Mason said the same thing Tuesday that Casey’s Randy Salyers said after Rockcastle beat his team in the 47th District final: The Lady Rockets are playing as well as it has all year. And they’re in much the same position as they were in 2006, the last time the regional was at Lincoln, when Lincoln scratched out a semifinal win over Mercer, only to lose to Rockcastle in the final. Don’t ever be surprised by what Chrysti Noble and her teams can do in the postseason.
• Mason also was the latest to say that Rockcastle guard Sarah Rowe is the best player in the region, and I’ll second that. Her moves toward the basket are effortless, whether she’s shooting, passing or reaching for rebounds. Rowe had 24 points and 12 rebounds, and Sara Hammond had 17 rebounds. Tasha Milby led Danville with 14 points, and Xerces Simpson had 13.
• It’s southbound to Pulaski County for the start of the boys regional tonight. Lincoln County plays Southwestern at 6:30 p.m. and Pulaski plays East Jessamine at 8:30 p.m. Lincoln won at Southwestern 69-59 on Feb. 12 to drop the Warriors to 3-18. If the eight teams in this tourney were seeded, this would be the 1-vs.-8 game, but Southwestern’s shocking win over McCreary in a 48th District semifinal last week is enough to make some of the Lincoln faithful nervous. Southwestern defeated Lincoln 74-62 in the first game of the 2006 regional at Pulaski. Later that night, East Jessamine defeated Pulaski 81-71 in the only meeting between the two teams in the three seasons since East joined the 12th Region.
• The Other 15: Lexington Catholic defeated Scott County 64-55 in a battle of 11th Region powers. (And that probably won’t be the last time we’ll use the phrase “battle of 11th Region powers” this week.) … C’eira Ricketts of Fairdale, an Arkansas signee, had a quadruple-double with 21 points, 17 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals in Fairdale’s 64-43 victory over Pleasure Ridge Park in the 6th Region. … Marion County had the best record in the 5th Region, but that record is frozen at 28-4 after a 59-55 loss to Hart County. … Boys plays began in the hotly contested 7th Region, where Eastern beat Male 58-48 and Jeffersontown edged duPont Manual 75-73 in two first-round games matching title contenders. Ballard and Seneca also won.

Notes and thoughts from day 1 of the girls 12th Region Tournament at Lincoln County:

• Lincoln County defeated Wayne County 50-40; Casey County defeated East Jessamine 72-35. Lincoln plays Casey in Friday’s first semifinal.
• It was a good start for the home team, which on paper appears to have the toughest road to the title of any of the major contenders (excluding Wayne, which ran off the road early). The Lady Patriots will probably have to pass three stern tests — Wayne, Casey and either Southwestern or Rockcastle County, if form holds — to win it all.
• Wayne put up a fight until the fourth quarter, taking a 36-35 lead into the final period but failing to score a basket after that. The Lady Cardinals tied the game at 40-all with 4:25 to go but never scored again. Upchurch led Lincoln with 16 points, followed by Kendra Brown with 13. Bristow led Wayne with 19 points.
• Wayne won’t get to make a second straight trip to the Girls Sweet Sixteen, but the Lady Cardinals aren’t going away, either. Forward Courtney Duncan and guard Rachel Bristow are their only seniors.
• It was no surprise that the second game was lopsided, even though East Jessamine was a district champion. The Lady Jaguars got the worst possible draw: a Casey team that has the best overall and intra-region records in the 12th and that came to Lincoln with a chip on its shoulder after losing the 47th District final to Rockcastle.
• East Jessamine actually led 2-0 before Casey scored 15 straight points. East’s top player, guard Ashley Willoughby, drew three fouls in the first 2:07, which handcuffed her and her team. Megan Pittman led Casey with 23 points, 17 of them in the first half. Lauren Hatter added 14 points. Willoughby had 15 for East Jessamine, but she had only three field goals.
• Good crowds turned out to see Lincoln and Casey, and quite a few fans followed Wayne as well. The same could not be said for East Jessamine, which had an embarrassingly small following that was roughly equal to the total number of players and cheerleaders representing the school. Expect a smaller overall audience (and hopefully a cooler gymnasium) for tonight’s first-round session.
• Southwestern plays Mercer County at 6 p.m. and Rockcastle plays Danville at about 7:45 p.m. tonight. The first game is a rematch of Southwestern’s shockingly easy 78-39 win in the first round of last year’s regional. This year’s Lady Warriors have won nine of their last 10 games, including a 70-59 win over Mercer in their regular-season finale. This might well be the first meeting between Rockcastle and Danville; records show the two teams haven’t played in the last 10 years, and there isn’t much reason to believe they would have met before that.
• The Other 15 (noteworthy scores from the rest of the state): Grayson County upset Apollo 52-50 on Apollo’s floor in a first-round game in the 3rd Region, whose winner plays the 12th Region champion in the first round of the Girls Sweet Sixteen. … In the 13th Region, Clay County held a pretty good Whitley County team (22-8 entering the tournament) to just 18 points in a 38-18 win. Whitley had beaten Clay by 12 in the regular season. … First-round games were held in 14 of the 16 girls regionals Monday. No boys games were played; the 3rd and 7th regions begin today and most others open Wednesday.
• Look for daily updates in this space as the girls and boys regionals roll on through March 11.