Eminence 59 Oldham County 49

This was one of the most entertaining basketball games I have attended this season, boys or girls.

Impressions:

Eminence is immensely talented despite being one of the youngest varsity teams you will find.   The roster we received had 5 freshmen, 5 8th graders, a 7th grader, and a senior.....   and the 7th grader started!

Jada Hughes, a freshman, and Ashlinn James - the 7th grader - are both tremendous young talents with a good shooting eye, aggressive athleticism, and a street-baller's instincts.    One on one, both are extremely difficult to guard, and both will only get better over the next few years.   Hughes (18 ppg) and James (14 ppg) lead the team in scoring and both shoot over 50% from the floor.   

This team has won 14 games (versus 3 losses) this year against a relatively user-friendly schedule - though not a schedule full of patsies, either - and has the chance to return Eminence to region contender status after they get a little more experience and develop more strength on the inside.

Oldham County is still recovering from a horrendously long COVID quarantine nightmare.   The Lady Colonels just got back a key player - Chloe Brown - which helps their inside game, but Brown was clearly rusty last night (except at the line, where she was a nifty 5 of 6!).   Oldham is still missing two other players who haven't cleared protocols yet.

Both teams came into last night's game on a roll; both were riding three-game winning streaks.    

Last night, Oldham got into foul trouble early when senior PG Sydney Cheatham picked up two quick fouls less than 60 seconds into the ballgame and left the game.   Without a reliable backup, Oldham turned the ball over repeatedly against the Eminence press, leading to an early 17-4 Warrior lead, and three quick timeouts by Oldham coach Chris Nethery.

Nethery rolled the dice and re-inserted Cheatham, and the Lady Colonels got on a roll, repeatedly going inside where they had a mismatch with center Reagan Cheatham, who scored 9 points in the first frame alone.   At the end of one, it was 21-16, Eminence.

Oldham rallied repeatedly in the second, but could never quite catch the Warriors.   It was 33-29 Eminence with just under 3 minutes left in the half when Amber Barnett followed up a missed FT for the Warriors, and Eminence went on an 8-3 run to end the half with the lead in a free-scoring affair, 41-32.

Nethery's gamble had paid off, though; Oldham was back in the game and Sydney Cheatham had played the rest of the half without picking up a third foul.

Eminence stretched the lead to 13 early in the third, but Oldham - largely behind 5 third quarter steals by Sydney Cheatham - got another big rally to cut the lead to 47-44 at the close of the third quarter.   Oldham's 3-2 zone appeared to confuse Eminence, and it certainly shut down a lot of the big drives from James and Hughes.   Fouls continued to be an issue for both teams, and Hughes went to the Eminence bench with her fourth foul late in the period.

Eminence turned the tables around in the fourth, as Oldham suddenly became turn-over prone again, with five turnovers in the fourth.   Cheatham fouled out with 5:08 to play, but Oldham hung around a bit longer.   

With 4:11 left, a basket by Reagan Cheatham pulled OC back to within five points at 52-47, but the Warriors controlled the game from that point on, finishing with a 7-2 surge that iced the game.

Jada Hughes led all scorers (unofficially) with 25 points.   Hughes has now scored in double figures in all 18 Eminence ballgames.  Ashlinn James had 21 for Eminence.

For Oldham County, Reagan Cheatham had her third double-double in the last four games, finishing with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Eminence improves to 14-4; Oldham falls to 5-6 on the year.

Kudos to both teams for a very entertaining evening!

CM