Congrats to the Raiders. This was a bragging rights game between 2 excellent teams. One of the two of them will have to play Highlands before a possible rematch. The draw is fairly important for that reason.

What a great District Championship game in a packed house at Cooper HS in Union between the #1 girls HS team in all of Kentucky, Conner Cougars, and the #3 (or #5) in KY, Ryle Raiders! The Lady Raiders avenge a 5 point loss to Conner just a couple weeks back and stopped an incredible 26 game win streak for Conner. Ryle goes to 26 - 5, Conner is 29-2, both of their losses coming from Ryle.

 

Great close game, great environment! Hard to believe one of these fine teams had to be the runner up in their district!

 

Plan on catching these 2 teams play at NKU next week.

When looking at strength of schedules and overall record for the season, you could make an argument that Northern Kentucky has the 2 best teams in the state. Take a closer look at the tournaments these two teams have won this year. Not taking anything away from the other top 5 schools, however, there is a clear separation in who they have played and beaten IMO. Good luck to Conner and Ryle.

It’s a 50/50 crapshoot as to whether winning district means much this year. Conner could end up drawing Notre Dame or Dixie, while Ryle could end up facing Holy Cross in Round One and Highlands in Round Two. Ryle could also get a relatively easy walk to finals drawing Ludlow with Conner and Highlands facing off on the other side. Fun stuff.