Pete Mitchell

Unbelievable play, but you have to give some credit to the guy running the clock and the referees. They both got it right. In this day and age when everything gets captured on video, if the clock hadn't started or the referees had blown call (if the lights on the backboard had come on before he released the ball) everybody would be up in arms. The clock keeper and the referees both did their jobs perfectly, and they should get credit for that, those split-second decisions that are now reviewable by everyone on social media. Great job guys.

Thank you. What's your reference material? I remember hearing about a History of Ninth Region basketball or something like that but I never saw it in print.

Congrats NCC .... Ben Weyer is a special player, glad to see him getting one more shot ... Tough luck for Cooper, missing Hendrix and full speed Kunkel and Sean McNeil .... They will be very, very tough next year .... (But then again so will CovCath) ...

That's some good research right there , a lot of rich history .. Was Ron Dawn still PLAYING at NC (as it was called then)? Who was the fourth team that year? Boone County had Big Ricky Waller (obviously it couldn't have been Holmes even though they had a freshman named Doug Schloemer who went on to be maybe the best ever in the Ninth) ... Turkey Jones at Holy Cross ....

That is as detailed a game recap as I have seen in a long time. I will give him a pass on referring to Chames as a freshman ... It's tough to see her as a 13 year old. What is very encouraging, though, is that, at least in the opinion of the writer, teams from Northern Kentucky are now looking at the possibility of winning the state tournament. I think it is warranted, that the state of Northern Kentucky girls basketball has never been better, and that we will see a number of Northern Kentucky players (including girls at Campbell County and Simon Kenton, which I still consider "northern Kentucky" even though they aren't in the Ninth Region) getting a lot of statewide recognition.

Two things ..... First, I will go out on a limb and say that whoever scores in the thirities is watching the semifinals from the stands. Second, was that when Draud was coaching at Dixie? I remember his teams winning some games in the low 30's that were painful to watch because his TEAM took fewer shots in a game than HE did by himself. Always surprises me how the same guy can have such a different view of the game as a coach than he had as a player.

Seriously, I thought early in the year Caleb was maybe a little over-hyped, but after seeing CovCath and Holy Cross have the problems staying in front of him that they did - and there are some quality defenders on those teams- I expect him to have a big impact next year as a frosh. He's a quality kid. I just hope everyone lets him decide where he wants to go to high school and leave it at that. Maybe he will decide to go to school closest to where he lives, maybe he will go to play with AAU team mates, maybe he will go to the best academic school, maybe he will choose the school for reasons that none of us know. No one ever questions why kids travel to go to Covington Latin; they are free to make that decision just like Caleb should be.

Aw, c'mon "man plans God laughs", I thought I had dibs on the whole "Jeffersons moving on up" joke ....

6'4" 250ish. Good hands. Working on stamina, strength, speed and athleticism. I think you will hear a LOT about her over the next five years.

Holy Cross needs to regain the midseason swagger it had after defeating fully loaded Cooper, Newport Catholic and CovCath. If they get Eric Jakubowski and Nolan Schrand shooting the ball well, with strong production from Bezold, Leighton Schrand and Barnes that they got earlier in the season, they could make things interesting.... Opening round against Dixie will show a lot about whether they can get back to where they were when they were ranked first in the region ....

I miss that there is no Kentucky Post or Cincinnati Enquirer to read about games anymore, BGP is the only thing to fill that void and IMO it gets hijacked too often. In this game, Homy Cross led most of the game until the last two minutes, and the last quarter was basically decided because Holy Cross couldn't score, and probably had 11 or 12 possessions come up empty either as a result of missed shots or turnovers, and Highlands made a lot of free throws. Highlands scored 30 points in the second half, and I would guess that 18 or 19 of them were on free throws. I thought Highlands most consistent offensive player was Zoe Barth, who takes the ball to the basket effectively and with authority, even over holy cross's two young big girls, Chames and Thomas. It seemed to me that highlands picked up its intensity after Haley Coffey made a three in the third quarter to put them up by two, and I thought they defended very well and aggressively in the fourth quarter. For holy cross, they lost because they couldn't score, including woeful free-throw shooting, and that marked the end of the career of Dajah McClendon, A great career with individual accomplishment and the state championship ring. Doesn't get much better than that. Looking forward, Highlands three seniors (Adler, Coffey and Leigh) move on to fight another day, looking for the first regional championship under Coach Richey. The Indians look forward to next year, including the return of talented guards Beal and Tucker, with a slew of other very young and talented players, including 6'4" 7th grader Sidney Thomas and 6'1" Milaysia Chames, both of whom progressed during this year. Highlands has a very strong freshman class, though, including Barth, so I think you can expect to see those two schools competing for regionals for the next few years at least.

That's really pretty interesting ... every year, the Ninth Region plays its regional at a site that is geographically in the 10th region.

How many does Goetz have?

Great school system in Ft. Thomas, outstanding athletic programs and community support. We are all in agreement. But we all know there is a complex matrix of considerations in raising children. I always trust and expect that parents make what they think are the best decisions for their children, given ALL of the considerations, and I try to avoid second-guessing them. I don't think it is necessary to presume any indictment of the Fort Thomas Independent schools because she transferred, but instead to recognize that there are other places that also offer good, albeit different opportunities for students.

Good point about Campbell County .... And I may have misspoken... Do public school students that live in the vicinity of BBT arena go to Highlands (9th region) or Campbell County (10th region)? I always considered NKU to be "in" the 9th region, but I don't know if that's right ....

With the girls State Tournament being played at BBT arena, the Ninth Region winner (either Holmes, Conner, Highlands or Ryle) becomes the geographic home team. I think that could be a huge boost for whoever wins the regional as far as fan support goes, particularly because it's been a long time since most of them got to a state tournament. I would expect, for example, that if Highlands prevails we would see tremendous fan support, but particularly since it is in their backyard and it has been a long time since they captured a regional.

Age vs grade rules cloud this issue a little, but in the past if you won the national D2 championship (as the Legends did) you were required to play up in D1. I don't know if that rule will apply since they won an "age based" D2, but I would like to hear if anyone has addressed that.

Q, there is no defense from anyone's perspective. Holy Cross deserved a technical for having six players on the floor. How the referees missed it is a mystery. Having said that, however, it is also ridiculous to infer or imply any deceptive or deceitful intent. It was obviously a mistake that six Holy Cross players were on the floor, and Coach Murphy tried to call a timeout as soon as he realized it. They still deserved a "T" but to suggest that it was some kind of orchestrated play is ludicrous. As I said in the only posts I have put up about the regional, I am happy for the seniors at HHS who have had long productive careers (Coffey, Leigh and Adler), that they have the chance to move on and perhaps play in the state tournament. I wanted to see HC win obviously, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate both what the girls at HHS have accomplished and the chance to play under the bright lights of the state tournament. I thought the three pointer by Haley was the most important play of the game, it seemed like the momentum shifted and, even though the lead changed hands a couple more times after that, it seemed like the energy on the HHS bench changed at that point. I avoid getting into a quarrel over officiating. I have been around long enough and have literally and figuratively been on both sides of this one, so I understand that perspective changes perception. I thought they called some cheap fouls on Chames, some HHS voices think they didn't call enough. It is what it is, silly to argue about that IMO. The only thing I take issue with is the suggestion or out right expression that Holy Cross or it's coaches have done anything wrong to bring players to the school. I think I know both the facts and the allegations as well as anyone on this site, and it is a very small audience of people that make the allegations, most of whom are completely ignorant of the facts, that do so in an attempt to (and I admit I am drawing some inferences here) marginalize the success that Holy Cross has had or may have in the future. For example, it is a shame, and will be a shame in the future, if Laylay Chames is not recognized as the unique talent that she is because somebody tries to diminish her achievements with whispers of "recruiting". She has always lived right down the street from Holy Cross and has all kinds of connections to the school. She is where she belongs - nothing untoward about it at all - but that is not the popular narrative, at least in the small world of BGP. I find it very unfortunate that kids like Laylay, or adults like the coaches at Holy Cross, who are doing the right things for the right reasons, have to put up with the things they do because they are successful. I am not that kind of guy. I applaud HHS' success and wish them well moving forward ... Although I must say that I am also a fan of Ryle point guard Maddie Scherr, and want to see her do well also. I've said my piece.

Details? Statistics?

No agenda. I've seen them play in person a few times, have relied on statistics and video from other games. It has appeared to me that when Dontaie is not involved, particularly when he was out for those few games, Pendleton was a much different team and struggled mightily to score. It is a team game, and IMO Dontaie is outstanding and is not a selfish player by any stretch in the games I've seen.

Pendleton has beaten Campbell, Paris and Mason in the last few weeks, and they don't even get a mention? If his coaches and teammates let best player in the tournament Dontaie Allen do his thing, they could be the ones cutting down the nets.

Whoever comes out of the bottom bracket will have well earned it, I just hope whoever it is has enough left in the tank to compete with Holmes. I am emotionally pulling for Holy Cross, and I think they have a shot if they put things together and get production out of their two very young bigs, but if either Highlands or Ryle were to cut down the nets, it would be a great culmination to long high school careers for girls at either school, Coffey, Adler and Leigh at Highlands, and Jump, Jones and the rest of their classmates at Ryle. I do believe that the X factor for Ryle has been the play of 8th grader Maddie Scherr, and would like to see her get the chance to play in the girls Sweet Sixteen. Good luck this week, should be an exciting regional (and then we have the state up here the following week!).

With Bezold at full strength, Holy Cross beat all 3, including Cooper at full strength, which we are not going to see in the regional unfortunately. Regardless of the outcome on tonight's district final, Holy Cross will be opposite CovCath, so depending on where NewCath winds up, with CovCath or Holy Cross, I certainly can see Holy Cross getting to the finals. In fact, I would say the draw tomorrow is more determinative of that than what happens tonight.

Not sure of the entire bracket, but one side has Highlands v. Holy Cross, and Ryle v. St. Henry. So it looks like Holmes got the best draw, away from Highlands, Ryle and Holy Cross. Highlands got the toughest path of the district winners, and will have to get past Holy Cross, then probably Ryle, to reach the finals. Should make for an exciting week...

Not sure of all of them, but I know Baugh, Notre Dame Beal, Holy Cross McClendon, Holy Cross Stovall, Holmes Englemon, Holmes (MVP) Ally Johnson, Beechwood