⚔️ ? | Tough home court loss for the Kittens in the Bluegrass' border battle of the day.

Ashland is playing a super challenging schedule this season. Portsmouth beat GRC back in December and may be the best small school team in Ohio.

? Up next ~ 

Trojans (OH #7, 21-1): Regular season complete. They begin their quest for on Ohio Division V title, Round 1 opponent TBD. 

Kittens (KY #19, R16 #1, 13-9), Monday vs. Russell (KY #27, R16 #2).

Kenleigh Woods (Committed to EKU) was out today with illness and her presence was missed on the court. For Ashland, that hurt a lot but the team put up an impressive fight especially after they were blown out by Portsmouth early in the year although they were missing Kenleigh for that game as well (knee injury) and Gabby Karle. Ashland jumped out to an 11-2 lead and Portsmouth kept creeping back, cutting the lead to one at halftime. They would jump ahead for good in the third, but Ashland continued fighting, cutting the lead to 32-30 at the end of it. Ashland is gritty - this is a team with many returning players from the group that shocked #2 ranked George Rogers Clark last season and also missed Kenleigh Woods in that game to injury.

For the fourth, you have to feel good if you're Portsmouth. Daysha Reid and Hayven Carter both stepped it up big for the Lady Trojans in the fourth quarter. Both are terrific players, but they hardly had to rely on their star, #1 Sienna Allen who has a lot of college looks - and for good reason. She hit some big shots early to help get Portsmouth back in the game in what was a physical, defensive battle. Portsmouth is coached by Amy Hughes and one of the assistants is her Father, Mike. Amy played for UConn's 34-4 team in 1996 under Geno Auriemma and eventually would come a little closer to home, playing at Xavier in the Atlantic 10. She does a great job with her rotations and has a team with a great mix of speed, strength, and length. I don't know Ohio basketball or many of the teams, but they resemble the type of team that would be in contention to win their division's state title.