The Fern Creek Lady Tigers travel to Crestwood, KY on Saturday 12/7/19 to tangle with the South Oldham Lady Dragons.

 

South will be playing just their second game of the season after traveling to Louisville Holy Cross earlier in the week. For FC, this will the fourth game in an extremely busy Week 1....all four of the games (vs. Western, Ballard, Waggener, and South) are on the road...in fact, Fern Creek will open the season with six consecutive road games, as they continue to be "road warriors" in their next two games, road contests at Male and Manual. Fern Creek won't see their home court until 12/17/19, when they host Louisville Holy Cross.

 

Triniti Ralston (30 points) and Jakayla Thompson (20 points) led Fern Creek to a narrow 57 to 53 victory over South last year on Christmas Eve, despite the team shooting just 33% from the floor, 18% beyond the arc, and 63% at the line. Ralston and Thompson, combined, shot the ball well (14 of 30, just a hair under 50%), but the rest of the Lady Tigers managed to hit just 6 of 30 shots for 20% from the floor.... Tiana Austin had nearly half of the Tigers' rebounds (13 of 27 total).

 

The two teams battled again just 4 nights later, in the Southern Lady Trojans Holiday Jamboree, with South turning the tables and winning, 63-54. The Lady Dragons held FC to just 31% shooting, limiting Ralston to 13 points and Thompson just 6 (on 2 of 18 shooting).

 

South Oldham senior Payton Herald was superb in both games, with 21 and 22 points, respectively, but she's gone to graduation. But Skylar Sahatjian - a junior last year - returns for her senior season after scoring 12 and 10 points in last year's two games, while hitting a combined 10 of 19 shots. Sahatjian - a four year starter at point guard for South - brings a remarkable shooting touch and plenty of varsity starting experience to this year's game. Also back is Mikalia Bowlden, an inside beast who had 9 points and 10 boards in last year's South Oldham win. Just a sophomore, Bowlden is still just scratching the surface of her potential after averaging 4.3 ppg / 4.5 rebounds last season.

 

Also back for South is Brynna Blackburn, who averaged 7.9 ppg / 4.5 rebounds last year.

 

For Fern Creek, some questions appear to need resolution this season. Austin (9 ppg / 10.3 reb) graduated, but Ralston (15.9 ppg) and Thompson (11.2 ppg) were 8th grade phenoms last year...unfortunately for Fern Creek, neither shows on the 2019-20 roster showing on Kentucky High School Athletic Association | KHSAA – Student-athletes of Today, Leaders of Tomorrow. Also gone to graduation is Miyana Foree (11.0 ppg). This means the top four scorers and the top rebounder for FC have to be replaced this year.

 

Who wins? These two have played every year since meeting in December of 2014. Fern Creek won five in a row in the series until that last game last year.

 

The AFTERNOON game will be broadcast over the internet (video) live and archived on Pegasus Sports Network. Pregame will begin Saturday 12/17/19 at 1 pm ET on The Pegasus Sports Network - PSN.

 

CM

I have confirmed why Ralston and Thompson are not on the roster....one transferred to Sacred Heart and the other to Manual. Big losses for a Fern Creek team already devastated by graduation.

South opened on the road at Louisville Holy Cross and came away with a dominant win despite shooting poorly, 62-40. Four Lady Dragons finished in double figures, led by senior PG Skylar Sahatjian's 15. Brynna Blackburn nearly posted a double-double with 14 points and 9 rebounds. 8th grader Ella Morrison - younger sister of last year's 8th Region boys' player of the year Luke Morrison - popped in 14 and Meagan Chen added 10. Looks like Kemelgore is still resting that injured leg, but she should be back very shortly, and perhaps this Saturday. South held HC to just 32% shooting, including 0 of 8 beyond the arc, but was outrebounded by Holy Cross, 54-39.

 

Fern Creek comes into the game 1-1 after beating Western and losing to Ballard. No stats available yet for the Ballard game, but Jonee Yount had a staggering 25 points and 22 rebounds in the win over Western. India Young added 18. However, FC had trouble hitting the basket in the win over Western, making just 18 of 70 shots for 25.7%

 

Shooting woes the first week or two of the season are nothing new for teams, so I doubt either coach is too terribly concerned with the shooting stats quite yet.

 

Tip is at 1:30 pm ET Saturday. Video coverage begins at 1 pm ET on The Pegasus Sports Network - PSN

 

CM

South Oldham wins. Fern Creek lost too much this past season.

Edited December 6, 20196 yr by bugatti
No punctuation at the end of the sentence.

Just got word from South Oldham coach Gene Heffington....KHSAA.org site was wrong....the girls varsity game tips at 2:30 pm, not 1:30 pm.

 

Pegasus Sports goes on air at 2 pm ET.

 

CM