To be fair though, I've seen some horrific officiating from the refs of the 9th this year also though. They always seem to be on the opposite end where they anticipate calls before they happen and blow their whistles on many phantom calls. So if the 9th officials are doing 7th region games, good luck to those teams too lol.

I'd say refs this year were consistently inconsistent & that is the biggest problem for teams, not being able to play the same game both halves!! I don't think officials changed the pace of this game at all. They were bad for each team. NCC came out the 2nd half with a "Refuse to Lose" mentality & Conner just couldn't match that. NCC played scrappy & pulled almost every rebound not giving Conner a 2nd shot. Conner may have lost but they did show promise & will be a tough team in the future. Congrats to NCC for pulling out the win!!

same sequence

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]43046[/ATTACH]

 

Charge!

No foul was called on this play, this is how bad it was tonight.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]43045[/ATTACH]

 

Yes, should have been 3 seconds or foul on #12 white. #20 and #14 both have feet firmly planted. #20 is "straight-up" on D. #14 with a clean strip of ball while #12 white shooting, #12 white hooks arm of #14 on follow through of shot, creates unfair advantage preventing #14 from getting ball.

 

Contact does not mean a foul. It's only a foul if someone gains an advantage due to the contact.

Yes, should have been 3 seconds or foul on #12 white. #20 and #14 both have feet firmly planted. #20 is "straight-up" on D. #14 with a clean strip of ball while #12 white shooting, #12 white hooks arm of #14 on follow through of shot, creates unfair advantage preventing #14 from getting ball.

 

Contact does not mean a foul. It's only a foul if someone gains an advantage due to the contact.

 

:laugh: Too funny!

I'd say refs this year were consistently inconsistent & that is the biggest problem for teams, not being able to play the same game both halves!! I don't think officials changed the pace of this game at all. They were bad for each team. NCC came out the 2nd half with a "Refuse to Lose" mentality & Conner just couldn't match that. NCC played scrappy & pulled almost every rebound not giving Conner a 2nd shot. Conner may have lost but they did show promise & will be a tough team in the future. Congrats to NCC for pulling out the win!!

This I agree with. At the beginning of the season with the new rule changes and what a foul is it was horrific in that there was no pace to any games. I will never forget the first Boone game this year I saw both teams were in the bonus and the score was 2 to 3. I will never forget that and I will never see that the rest of my life I am willing to bet.

Then it carried over into the boys game where I saw way too often the 9th region officials blowing their whistles way too early many times when they were simply anticipating fouls and many times the fouls never happened. It was just so inconsistent and like you said it never really favored 1 team, it was just poor for both sides.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS – The vaunted on-ball pressure defense of the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds girls basketball team is no secret in the 9th Region.

But a simple halftime adjustment propelled the Thoroughbreds (27-4) to their first region win in three years, 65-55 over the Conner Lady Cougars (15-16) on Tuesday. The region site is again the Bank of Kentucky Center on the Northern Kentucky University campus.

Instead of pressuring Conner full-court, NewCath picked up its pressure at half-court. The Lady Cougars could not drive past them for easy shots. That let the Thoroughbreds erase a 10-point, 31-21 halftime deficit on their way to the win. NewCath had 13 turnovers and seven steals to six steals and 17 turnovers for Conner.

“I didn’t have to get on them too much (at halftime). They knew they had to play better,” said George Stoll, NewCath Head Coach. “But at the same time, it was almost like Conner shot 100 percent from the field in the first half. Every open shot they got, they made. That’s what good teams do. We were leaving them open a bit with our press and gambling some. It didn’t work out. Our depth helped us out. We guarded much better in the second half.”

NewCath had not won a region game since its last region crown in 2011. The Thoroughbreds lost in the district semifinals to Highlands last year and lost in the region quarterfinals to Boone County in 2012.

Conner made 17-of-46 shots total for 36 percent. The Lady Cougars made 12-of-21 in the first half for 57 percent but just 5-of-25 in the second half for 20 percent. They stayed in the game making 17-of-21 free throws for 81 percent.

In a tightly-called contest, Conner finished with 22 fouls to 19 for NewCath. The Thoroughbreds hit 16-of-26 free throws for 62 percent including 8-of-16 for 50 percent in the fourth quarter.

Despite a combined 41 fouls, only one player fouled out on either squad. That was Conner post Madi Meyers after scoring nine points.

“A lot of the fouls they called were fouls,” Stoll said. “We had to do a better job moving our feet and being in the right position. We did fine.”

NewCath made 23-of-52 shots from the field for 44 percent. The Thoroughbreds made three three-pointers.

Nikki Kiernan once again led NewCath with a double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds. Kiernan has 1,806 points in her career. She made all eight free-throw attempts.

Kiernan had plenty of help in this contest as all five starters scored at least seven points. Point guard Michaela Ware followed with a double-double of 10 points and 11 assists.

The Thoroughbreds controlled the boards winning the rebounding battle, 40-26. Lewis also had 13 for NewCath matching Kiernan’s effort.

“I follow the ball, find the open spot, jump for it and get the rebound,” Lewis said. “Not everyone on their team was boxing out so I just went past them. It was really physical and you need to fight harder than you usually do.”

Conner saw two players reach double digits. That was Taylor Gambrel and Hunter Hendricks with 13 and 10 respectively. Gambrel made 9-of-11 free-throw tries.

NewCath used a 5-0 run early to go up 7-2 after a Sarah Neace three-pointer. Following a Meyer score, Conner called timeout. The Lady Cougars proceeded to go on a 14-0 run led by five points from Hendricks. Her three-pointer gave Conner a 16-7 advantage. But Ware scored with 24 seconse left to end the run. The Lady Cougars led 16-9 after the first quarter.

The teams exchanged baskets in the second quarter. Conner led by 10 five times in that quarter including the halftime score.

But NewCath quickly erased most of the lead quickly in the first few minutes of the second half. Davenport scored all seven of her points in the 9-0 run that trimmed Conner’s lead to 31-30 with 5:46 left in the half.

“(Those points) were crucial to help us start our run,” Davenport said. “They were doubling down on Nikki (Kiernan) and packing it in so someone had to start hitting shots. I thought I would try to step up and fill that role.”

The Thoroughbreds ties the game at 34 on a Ware score then took the lead at 36-34 with 3:37 left when Alexus Mayes hit a fast-break lay-up. Kiernan and Ware buckets gave NewCath a 40-34 advantage with 2:40 remaining in the quarter.

Conner rallied to tie the game at 44 when Meyers hit a three-point play with 49.1 seconds left. But Loren Zimmerman made a free throw with 34.1 seconds left to give NewCath a 45-44 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Gambrel tied the game at 50 with two free throws with 4:13 remaining. But NewCath took the lead for good with a 6-0 run. Kiernan made two free throws and an offensive putback and Lewis made a jumper.

Two Gambrel free throws trimmed the lead to 56-52 with 1:42 remaining. But NewCath pulled away with an 8-0 run. That run started with a Kiernan jumper. NewCath made 5-of-8 free throws in the final game’s final 1:21.

Next up for NewCath is a rematch with rival Covington Holy Cross (21-7) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the semifinals. The Lady Indians downed Dixie Heights, 41-28 in the earlier game. NewCath won both meetings earlier this season with Holy Cross.

 

FORT THOMAS MATTERS: Simple adjustment helps NC rally past Conner

The tale of two halves. Conner takes a 10 point lead into the locker room at the half absolutely on "fire", 31-21, but the Breds come out of the break on a "mission" and quickly erase a 10 point deficit and turn it into a one point lead after 3 quarters. Then the Breds "D" clamped down and the hot shooting Cougars went cold.

 

Mind you, the next game I coach will be my 1st, but if I have a 6 point lead, with the ball, and my team is in the double bonus, and with the better than average ball-handlers........I'm spreading the floor. However on two consecutive trips down the floor the Breds make difficult passes in the lane. :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

 

All the Breds gave a great effort to make the 2nd half run, excellent job girls. :ylsuper:

 

I have no idea what region the officials were from, but that was the worst called game I have witnessed. :no:

None off them knew what a 5-seconds call was, they must have been NBA ref's because in HS ball IT'S CALLED WALKING!!!! Players getting "mugged" without a "peep" coming from the zebras. Offensive player "hooking" the defender, nothing....the list could go on and on.

 

One guy was just "Jones'en " to call a technical on somebody. After every call, that he did make, he would stare at the player has he walked to the scorers table. The Breds Stephanie Lewis got popped for one.

 

NewCath 09-12-24-20---65

Conner...16-15-13-11---55

 

I commented on this during the broadcast. He would give the girls long stare down looks. Brooke Maines got one on the charge she was called for on our end of the floor. Almost creepy.