North Oldham entertains Highlands on Tuesday, 1/19/2021 in Goshen, KY.

The game will be the first for North Oldham this season, under first-year head coach Gerard Mattingly.     The Lady Mustangs are coming off their two best seasons in school history, going 18-9 in 2018-19 and 17-4 last year.

But North has - in the school history - never reached the 8th Region tournament in 17 tries.  Last year's squad fell, 70-58, to South Oldham in the first round of the 29th District tournament.

The Lady Mustangs are led by junior forward Riley Neal, who has led North in scoring for the last two seasons as a freshman (16.9 ppg) and as a sophomore (23.9 ppg).   Neal will score her 1,000th point early this year for North - she stands at 956 points - and is on pace to eclipse the 2,000 point mark.  Last year, the versatile 6 footer shot 63% from the floor, scoring 23.9 ppg.   She not only led the team in scoring, she also was the leading rebounder at 8.8 ppg.   Unlike many bigs, Neal has the capacity to shoot the three, hitting 9 of 23 outside shots (39.1%) last season.   At the line, Neal was a devastating 82.7%.

Highlands will have several games under their belt by the time the two teams play.   The Lady Bluebirds (2-1 as of this writing) should have played six games by the time this one is played.  After three games, the Lady Birds have shot very well, hitting 53% of their twos, 33% of their threes, and 72% of their free throws.   Senior forward Kelsey Listerman (11.7 ppg) and senior point guard Rory O'Hara (10 ppg) have been leading the way.   O'Hara has made a living at the line; the senior has hit 16 of 20 free throws (80%) for just over half her points.

What does this one look like?

Live video coverage will begin at 7 pm ET on www.pegasussportsky.com.

CM

I'll also be trying to post updates as I can throughout the broadcast.

CM

Highlands looking like one of the top tier teams in the 9th....North is a bit of an unknown quantity in the context of where they rank in the 8th.

Good test for the Lady Mustangs out of the gate.

I will post updates as I can during the broadcast tomorrow night.   Should be interesting.

 

5'11" junior Riley Neal comes into tonight's game with 985 points, by my count.   Should eclipse the career thousand point mark sometime tonight.

Revised time.   Toss in at 7 pm.

Live coverage begins at 6:45 pm on www.pegasussportsky.com

Mustangs 4, Highlands 2 with about 4 minutes left in the first 

You have to pay for this

End of the first, Highlands 12, Mustangs 10.

End of one

Highlands 12

North Oldham 10

North's Riley Neal with 8 points already.   Needs 7 more to reach 1,000 career points.

ColonelMike, you got this, thanks! 

2:42 till halftime 

Highlands 26

North Oldham 15

HALF

Highlands gets a big three at the buzzer from Listerman

Highlands 35

North Oldham 17

Riley Neal of North with 12 points.

End of three quarters

Highlands 50

North Oldham 41

Riley Neal over 1,000 points....she has scored 18 points and has 1,003 career points.  Congratulations, Riley!

FINAL

Highlands 71

North Oldham 54

North cut it to 6 in the second half, but Highlands outscored the Lady Mustangs, 21-13, in the fourth to close things out.....