South Oldham 76 North Oldham 42

South Oldham with the big win last night over North Oldham, taking the lead in the race for the District 29 top seed.

South improves to 5-1 on the season with their fifth consecutive victory; North falls to 1-5.

With the win, South is 1-0 in district play and will earn the #1 seed for the post-season tournament if they beat Oldham County later this season.

North, who previously beat Oldham County by 21, falls to 1-1 in district play.   Oldham County is 0-1 to date.

The Lady Mustangs and the Lady Dragons split two games last year, with North winning, 70-52, in the regular season matchup and South returning the favor, 70-58, in the first round of last year's District 29 tournament.   With several returning players on both teams, the game promised plenty of excitement.

As it turned out, most of the excitement wore South Oldham green.   

North Oldham got out to a fast start to the game.  Star forward Riley Neal (average 22.5 ppg / 10 rebounds) openedthe contest with a quick three pointer, and North led, 7-2, about two minutes into the contest.    But South rallied, scoring 7 straight points to go up, 9-7 at the 4:57 mark.   An Alaina Leber three - she hit four on the night, en route to a team-high 14 points - put North back on top, 10-9, but South put together another run, scoring the next nine points to push out to an 18-10 lead - a lead they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way.

The Lady Dragons hit four of nine beyond the arc in the first quarter, and ended the period on a 22-5 run to seize a 24-12 advantage after one.

A strong display of shooting (9 of 15, including 3 of 6 beyond the arc) and team rebounding allowed South to all but put the game away at the half, as South won the second quarter, 23-9, to take a 47-21 halftime lead.   5'9" senior Brynna Blackburn was unconscious - the Lady Dragons' leading scorer on the season (16.6 ppg) hit 7 of 10 shots in the first half, including an amazing 5 of 8 from beyond the arc for 20 first-half points to lead all scorers.

For Blackburn, it was her second straight game with 5 made threes; she's made 21 threes in six games now.

If North had any hopes of a big comeback, they vanished in a 19-9 South onslaught in the third.   Sierra Kemelgor, the Dragons' 5-8 junior guard, hit five consecutive shots without a miss and scored 11 points in the frame to serve as a one-person wrecking crew.   Kemelgor wound up as the game's leading scorer, finishing with 24 points and 10 rebounds, unofficially.

South continued to shoot well, hitting 9 of 13 shots.    The Lady Dragons' pinpoint accuracy - both inside and out - was evident all night long, as South hit 50% or better in each quarter, and finished 31 of 53 for 58.5% from the field (8 of 18, 44.4% from beyond the arc, and 5 of 7  71.4% at the line).

Unofficially, North was 14 of 56 on the night for 25% from the field.   The Lady Mustangs made 7 threes - Leber had four of them - but unofficial stats had the Lady Mustangs just 7 of 25 from beyond the arc for 28%.

One of the big keys on the night was the South defense.    The Lady Dragons paid a lot of attention to North star Riley Neal.   The Mustang junior came into the game averaging 22.5 ppg / 10 rebounds, and hadn't been held below 16 points all year.   South held her to just 5 points in the first half, when the game was largely decided, and just 9 points for the game.    To Neal's credit, she didn't try to force the issue and "get her points"; she stayed within the framework of what the defense would allow her to do - but South did a good job of denying her the ball when she tried to get into the paint, and when she did get the ball, she was confronted by a lot of "helping hands".    Unofficially, Neal finished just 4 of 15 shooting on the night.

South coach Gene Heffington began subbing freely in the fourth, and 11 players played for South.   

Unofficial Pegasus stats:

South Oldham:  Kemelgor 24 points / 10 rebounds, Blackburn 22, Meagan Chen 14, Ella Morrison 6, Maia Sapp 6, Sophia Kirtland 2, and Hallie Brown 2

North Oldham:   Alaina Leber 14, Riley Neal 9, Kelsey Lubker 6, Kylie Vize 5, and Gracie Sipes 5

A good night for the Lady Dragons, winners of five straight.   In one of the stranger stats, South is now 24-2 all-time against North Oldham, including 12-0 in the Crestwood gym.

South Oldham stays home for two games next week, hosting a good Grant County team on 2/3/21, before playing Ballard on 2/6/21 at noon.

North Oldham gets a bit of a chance to re-group this week.   The Lady Mustangs have been playing a murderers' row schedule YTD; they will travel to winless Woodford County on Tuesday, 2/2/21, before traveling to play at Fern Creek on Saturday 2/6/21 at 2:30 pm.

Good luck to both!

CM