Bracken County 58 Mason County 55

Bracken takes an 18 point lead...and holds on after a furious mason comeback

Bailey Cummins (8th grader) leads all scorers with 21 for Bracken

Bierly leads Mason with 20

Congrats to Coach Kelsch on back to back district titles!!

Gotta give it up to mason for not giving up. They will be strong next year.

Great job from my Lady Polar Bears tonight to fight off a determined Mason County team. Not sure by winning gives us much of an advantage considering your going to either play Harrison, Clark or Brossart in the first round. Enjoy this one girls and get ready for next week!

Congrats to Bracken. They'll continue to be good for quite a while with an 8th grader like Cummins.

Mason Co got off to a slow start but Coach Lindsey and her staff got the team to battle back and play a great second half! Mason Co took the lead but was never able to pull it out. A great high school basketball game.

Congrats to Coach K on back to back district championships!

Great Job Bracken County and congratulations to Coach Kelsch.

What a night at the Igloo!!!! The girls, PK & company could have folded during the "All A". They have roared back and proven they are the real deal.
Mason Co has nothing to be down about. They have really come on strong at the end of the season.
Good luck next week.

A tale of two halves.

1st half...all Bracken County. Well, the 2nd quarter, at least. Tied 12-12 after one quarter & the Lady Bears outscore Mason 22-4 to take a 34-16 lead to the locker room. 8th grader Bailey Cummins had 16 at the half to match the Mason County total. Lady Royals were ice cold in that second quarter. Team FG% in 1st half? Mason County 32% & Bracken County 48%.

2nd half...Bracken extends the lead to as much as 17 (I think) on two different occasions in the third quarter. But as others have said, the Lady Royals kept fighting. They were much more aggressive in taking it to the basket (particularly Butler). Simms hit four 3-pointers in the 2nd half, which helped them keep clawing back. Bracken's defense, which was as solid as I've ever seen it in the 1st half, was horrendous in the 2nd. Butler got to the basket whenever she wanted.

Lady Royals take their first lead of the game, I believe, on a Simms corner 3 with a little over 3 minutes left. Conley responds with a 3 on the other end to give Bracken a 55-54 lead. Butler hits 1 of 2 FT's with 1:58 left to knot it at 55. Bracken's Jordan Wills takes it to the hole & misses, but Allison Tarvin gets a huge putback to give BC a 57-55 lead. Lady Bears eventually go up 58-55 & then Cassidy Jefferson gets a huge block on a Simms 3-point attempt. Bailey Cummins gets the ball & gets fouled with about 8 seconds left & she's shooting two. Cummins uncharacteristically misses both, Mason rebounds and calls timeout at around halfcourt. Butler gets a 25-footer off that was right on target, but just a smidgen short & Bracken wins their 2nd consecutive district title (and 17th in school history, I think). Team FG% in 2nd half? Mason County 57%. Bracken County 29%.

A glaring statistic is FT attempts. Bracken gets 26 to Mason's 5. If I had not watched the game, I'd tell you that the officiating was horrendous. In actuality, it was pretty good (certainly better than the three man crew for the boys game). There were a few noticeable missed calls (one in particular when Cummins got to shoot 2 FT's & it should have been Tarvin). Mason County had a lot of help defense, which led to fouls on drives. Bracken County, at least in the second half, had basically zero defense at all.

Bailey Cummins leads Bracken with 21 pts. Emma Conley with 8. Cassidy Jefferson & Jordan Wills both with 7. My personal opinion is that Cummins was the best player on the floor tonight.

Bierley with 20 to lead the Lady Royals. That young lady can flat out play. Love her aggressiveness around the basket. Also had 9 boards & 4 steals. Butler was very strong in the 2nd half. Again, she got to the basket at will in the second half. She finished with 15 pts. Simms with 14 on 4/10 3pt shooting. She's also a nice player.

Much congrats also to Mason County for battling back.

Congrats also to my Lady Bears & Coach Kelsch. To think this team wins the district after losing the 10th Region's top player is saying something. Not sure how many other teams would be able to do that, but this team did. Way to go ladies & best of luck in the regional!

An excellent high school basketball game.

^ Forgot to mention Mallory Bell of BC scoring 11 points as well. Played a very solid first half.

Congratulations to the Lady Bears! Great job by the Lady Royals to battle back after a slow start. It was a great high school game to watch. Good luck to both teams next week.

Congratulations to my good friend Patrick Kelsch!

Congrats to Coach K and the Lady Polar Bears!

Originally Posted by Randy Parker

A tale of two halves.

1st half...all Bracken County. Well, the 2nd quarter, at least. Tied 12-12 after one quarter & the Lady Bears outscore Mason 22-4 to take a 34-16 lead to the locker room. 8th grader Bailey Cummins had 16 at the half to match the Mason County total. Lady Royals were ice cold in that second quarter. Team FG% in 1st half? Mason County 32% & Bracken County 48%.

2nd half...Bracken extends the lead to as much as 17 (I think) on two different occasions in the third quarter. But as others have said, the Lady Royals kept fighting. They were much more aggressive in taking it to the basket (particularly Butler). Simms hit four 3-pointers in the 2nd half, which helped them keep clawing back. Bracken's defense, which was as solid as I've ever seen it in the 1st half, was horrendous in the 2nd. Butler got to the basket whenever she wanted.

Lady Royals take their first lead of the game, I believe, on a Simms corner 3 with a little over 3 minutes left. Conley responds with a 3 on the other end to give Bracken a 55-54 lead. Butler hits 1 of 2 FT's with 1:58 left to knot it at 55. Bracken's Jordan Wills takes it to the hole & misses, but Allison Tarvin gets a huge putback to give BC a 57-55 lead. Lady Bears eventually go up 58-55 & then Cassidy Jefferson gets a huge block on a Simms 3-point attempt. Bailey Cummins gets the ball & gets fouled with about 8 seconds left & she's shooting two. Cummins uncharacteristically misses both, Mason rebounds and calls timeout at around halfcourt. Butler gets a 25-footer off that was right on target, but just a smidgen short & Bracken wins their 2nd consecutive district title (and 17th in school history, I think). Team FG% in 2nd half? Mason County 57%. Bracken County 29%.

A glaring statistic is FT attempts. Bracken gets 26 to Mason's 5. If I had not watched the game, I'd tell you that the officiating was horrendous. In actuality, it was pretty good (certainly better than the three man crew for the boys game). There were a few noticeable missed calls (one in particular when Cummins got to shoot 2 FT's & it should have been Tarvin). Mason County had a lot of help defense, which led to fouls on drives. Bracken County, at least in the second half, had basically zero defense at all.

Bailey Cummins leads Bracken with 21 pts. Emma Conley with 8. Cassidy Jefferson & Jordan Wills both with 7. My personal opinion is that Cummins was the best player on the floor tonight.

Bierley with 20 to lead the Lady Royals. That young lady can flat out play. Love her aggressiveness around the basket. Also had 9 boards & 4 steals. Butler was very strong in the 2nd half. Again, she got to the basket at will in the second half. She finished with 15 pts. Simms with 14 on 4/10 3pt shooting. She's also a nice player.

Much congrats also to Mason County for battling back.

Congrats also to my Lady Bears & Coach Kelsch. To think this team wins the district after losing the 10th Region's top player is saying something. Not sure how many other teams would be able to do that, but this team did. Way to go ladies & best of luck in the regional!

An excellent high school basketball game.

Great analysis. Did the Bierley girl play last season for MC? Don't remember that name. Have heard good things about her from others. What class is she in?

Originally Posted by All In

Great analysis. Did the Bierley girl play last season for MC? Don't remember that name. Have heard good things about her from others. What class is she in?

She played last year. She's a sophomore, very athletic and strong. My greatest concern about her is that she will do too many sports, work to hard and get a stress injury or something.

Originally Posted by beverlybubba

She played last year. She's a sophomore, very athletic and strong. My greatest concern about her is that she will do too many sports, work to hard and get a stress injury or something.

Was at Beacon Orthopaedic Clinic last night. They indicated studies show playing multiple sports LESSEN chance of injuries.

Specializing in one and playing it all the time INCREASES injury chances.

Originally Posted by ladiesbballcoach

Was at Beacon Orthopaedic Clinic last night. They indicated studies show playing multiple sports LESSEN chance of injuries.

Specializing in one and playing it all the time INCREASES injury chances.

Interesting. I wonder what the reasons are. Maybe your body becomes more balanced, or you're not as good as a single sport thus don't plays as hard or as much. I do know she's had some back strain issues, but she certainly seems 100% now.