13th Region Week 7 Rankings and Review

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13th Region Week 7 Review:

This week we seen the All “A” get completed, multiple district show downs, and one of the regions and possibly states top team play at full strength. Here’s a shake down of the week in the 13th Region.  

1. Harlan (17-2): The Green Dragons went 4-0 on the week by finishing dominating the All “A”, before only beating Clay County on the road by 2. Attribute it to dead legs, overlooking the opponent, or just not showing up but it’s better to win in an ugly game than lose in a pretty game. Kyler McLendon averaged 30 points and 1.6 rebounds per game on the week. We also say Jae’dyn Gist join the 1000 rebound club and Will Austin join the 500 rebound club. Harlan only has one game this week as they play Middlesboro at home, but will have a busy week the week after. The Green Dragons are undefeated in the year 2023. 

2. Harlan County (14-3): The Black Bears had a nice week by going 2-0 by beating Clay County by 14 and Middlesboro by 33. HC has also been rolling and haven’t dropped a game since December 20th. Trent Noah led the way with 33 earlier in the week while Daniel Carmical and Maddox Huff paved the way with 23 and 19 respectively in their next game. Harlan Co will go on the road Tuesday with a big time district game against Bell County and wrap up their week Thursday at Letcher Co Central. The Black Bears have put together a nice season thus far under Kyle Jones first year at the helm. 

 3. North Laurel (9-8): The bad news, the Jaguars went 0-1 on the week and are in the midst of a slump that’s seen them drop 4 of their last 5. The good news, the Jaguars lost to national power and top 25 in the nation Mount St. Joseph by only 6 and are now back at full strength for the first time in months. Ryan Davidson led the Jags in the loss with 14, Reed Sheppard had 13, and big man Gavin Chadwell had 9. Mount St. Joseph is ranked 19th in the nation, so to go and hold their own against a team of that quality is telling. However, the Jaguars need to start putting W’s in the win column. NL will take the floor twice this week in two district matchups, on the road against Jackson Co and at home against Clay Co. 

4. Corbin (8-4): We finally got some clarity this week in the 4 and 5 slots when Corbin finally put an end to the streak South Laurel had in the 50th district. Corbin had a big 9 point win in a key district game and was led that night by Hayden Llewellyn who had 20, and Kade Elam who had 16. No time to waste celebrating, as the Redhounds will host Whitley County today, DCA tomorrow, and then have a big rematch with South Laurel on the road on Friday with a game against Garrard County on Saturday. If Corbin can find a way to go 4-0 on the week, we may have a true look at one of the Dark Horses of the 13th Region. 

 5. South Laurel (12-5): The Cardinals saw their win streak over Corbin come to an end with a 9 point loss, but bounced back in an impressive way by beating Williamsburg behind their stifling defense holding them to only 25 points in the 44 point win. The Cardinals are led by a balanced scoring attack, and will need that to show up big this week as they take on Barbourville at home on Tuesday and get another crack at Corbin Friday. The loss last week can be quickly forgotten if they can get back in the win column Friday, however a loss there will ultimately place South as the 2 seed in the district. 

 6. Whitley County (11-5): The Colonels move into the 6th place this week as they picked up a big district win over Williamsburg and then beat Lynn Camp by 16. Eric Swords is putting together one of the better seasons that Whitley has had in quite some time. This is a team that only had 13 wins on the season last year and can reach that mark this week if they can find a way to upset Corbin today, and then take care of business against Pineville and Bell County later in the week. To pull off the upset today, WC will need huge games from the likes of Brayden Mahan and Ashton Reynolds. 

7. Barbourville (9-6): The Tigers only played one game this past week and dropped to Harlan 60-70. Matthew Warren had a nice game with 21 and 5 but it wasn’t enough to pull off the upset. Barbourville will go on the road to South Laurel on Tuesday, before traveling for a district game against Lynn Camp on Friday. The Tigers will host Clay County on Saturday to wrap up the week. Barbourville at least needs to go 2-1 this week to keep things trending in the right direction. Barbourville right now is the favorite to win the 51st district, so it’s crucial to prove they can play with the other district winners and runner ups by having a good showing against South Laurel this week. 

8. Jackson County (12-6): The Generals had a busy week which saw them beat Pineville by 2 to make the Championship game of the All ‘A’ before getting drubbed by Harlan. Jude Lakes led the Generals on the week averaging 12.5 and 3.0 in the two games. JC takes on OBI on the road today, hosts North Laurel tomorrow, then hosts Model on Friday. Jackson Co is winners of 4 of their last 5 and look to keep the momentum going. 

9. Clay County (7-7): The Tigers make the biggest jump of the week going from the 12th slot to 9th. It may be recency bias, but the way Clay is playing against some of the top of the teams in the 13th and holding their own has been impressive to me. The Tigers went 1-2 on the week with losses to the top two ranked teams in the 13th and a win over OBI. Against Harlan Co and Harlan, the tigers held leads but couldn’t hold them till the end. Hayden Harris had a monster game in the almost pulled upset against Harlan by pouring in 31 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. 13th region basketball is better as a whole when Clay is good, so I hope this is a sign of good things to come. Clay will go to Perry County Central today, host OBI on Thursday, go to North Laurel Friday, then play at Barbourville on Saturday. The Tigers have a busy week. 

10. Pineville (10-4): The Mountain Lions dropped a close one to Jackson in the All ‘A’ before rebounding with a huge win over Knox Central. Why was this win huge you might ask? Pineville had lost 15 straight against the Panthers and their last win over them.. try January 4th, 2013. That’s right, it had been 10 years in the making! Pineville will look to build off of that win as they host Middlesboro and Whitley County at home, then go on the road against Paris this week. 

Best of the rest:

11. Bell County (6-11)

12. Williamsburg (8-8)

13. Lynn Camp (4-11)

14. OBI (6-9)

15. Middlesboro (3-12)

16. Knox Central (0-16)

17. Red Bird (1-10)