Runcible Owl

Wow, you're right, thanks! Largest concentration of small schools (I believe) at opposite ends of the Commonwealth - Paducah and Pikeville.

🏆🐈‍⬛ MC | Pikeville | Final at Appalachian Wireless Arena per the interwebs. ❗The Panthers avenge last season's title game loss to fill the one remaining slot of the statewide bracket. They'll play 5th Region titleist Caverna Thursday in Round 1 at Corbin Arena. 🤔 Both teams won three times in the tournament. Martin Co. won the "play-in" game in the state's largest Regional field - nine teams. Up next ~ Pikeville (10-3, R15 4-0, D59 0-0), Tuesday - 59th District contest at Shelby Valley. Martin Co. (10-8, R15 4-2, D57 1-0), Friday - 57th District game at Paintsville.

📝 Latest Massey Ratings (1/15) and Regional rankings for the LIT field. 🔗 masseyratings.com/KY_Girls 8.20 George Rogers Clark, R10 - 1 8.06 Sacred Heart, R7 -1 7.91 Cooper, R9 - 1 7.01 Butler, R6 - 1 7.00 Frederick Douglass, R11 - 2 6.94 Central, R7 - 2 6.89 duPont Manual, R7 - 3 6.79 Simon Kenton, R8 - 2 6.72 Christian Academy of Louisville, R7 - 4 6.55 Assumption, R7 - 5 6.55 Bullitt East, R6 - 2 6.51 Mercy, R6 - 3 5.98 Ballard, R7 - 6 5.91 Male, R7 - 7 5.61 North Bullitt, R6 - 5 5.38 Pleasure Ridge Park, R6 - 7

📌 A bevy of the best of the Bluegrass converge in Louisville this week in a chase for the girls' LIT title. This Jason Frakes article has a great feature on the season's prospects for George Rogers Clark with an update on their injured star Ciara Byars, as well as the LIT bracket and schedule. 🔗 sports.yahoo.com/GRC-without-Byars-enters-LIT Images from the original Courier-Journal story linked above.

🥳 What a great weekend of basketball! "Final" threads have been started for each game. Here's an overview of the results ~

∆ Correction on Cooper's schedule for the coming week. The Lady Jaguars are playing in the Louisville Invitational Tournament. Their quarterfinal (Thursday, 7:00 at Valley) opponent TBD ~

♦️🐆 | Louisville | The Lady Aces win by a shocking margin on the Jaguars' home court in the "Raatz Fence-O'Shea's Classic." Up next per The Scoreboard: Owensboro Catholic (14-3, R3 #1, KY #10*), the 3rd Region "All 'A' Classic" champs play Bethlehem Wednesday in Round 1 of the statewide tourney. Mercy (8-13, R6 #2, KY #33*) plays Ballard on Tuesday in Round 1 of the girls' LIT. (* Massey Ratings)

🏴‍☠️ 🐈 | Hebron | The Raiders snap a 12 game losing streak at the hands of the Cougars per The Scoreboard. Both teams are back in action Tuesday: Ryle (11-6, D33 2-1) at Beechwood. Conner (3-14, D33 0-3) vs. Simon Kenton.

JJ Luhn has fouled out for the Breds. Moeves 2 though contact, & 1 good. Highlands takes the lead 69-68. Time out Bluebirds. 2:47 Q4

Louie Collopy scorching the nets for NCC - 6 3s.

Final at Mercy Academy's "Raatz Fence-O'Shea's Classic" via The Scoreboard. Excited for Coach Holthaus, his players and Jaguar Nation, now winners of 14 straight. This is "a big deal." The Tigers are also currently ranked #22 nationally by MaxPreps. Looks like Cooper (17-4, R9 #1, KY #3) is on a bit of a break. The Scoreboard lists their next game on February 1, hosting Simon Kenton. Pick' Central (14-3, OH #1, US #22) hosts Newark (OH) Tuesday in an Ohio Capital Conference contest.

❗🐆 🐯 | Louisville | The girls from Union have just defeated Ohio's #1 team. Way to represent the Bluegrass! Congratulations Lady Jaguars! 🎉

C 🐎 | Louisville | Final at Dodge Gym via The Scoreboard. This has the makings of an excellent series - two stalwarts within their respective Regions playing close games (all recently by six or fewer point margins). I hope it continues. Game details anyone? @coachb110? Both teams play host Tuesday: The Colonels (15-4, R9 #1, KY #5), winners of eight straight, play a triple header vs. Cooper. 👀 The Colts (15-7, R6 #2, KY #17), vs. Western in an important 22nd District seeding game.

🐈‍⬛ ⚔️ | Louisville | A nice bounce back win over a very good CAL keeps Pikeville undefeated vs. Kentucky competition this season. The 15th Region "All 'A' Classic" champs finish Mercy's tournament with a 1-1 record. The Lady Panthers (13-2, KY #4), one of the favorites to win the "All 'A'," play Harlan Wednesday in the opening round of the statewide tourney. The Lady Centurions (10-6, R7 #4) have a Round 1 game on Tuesday in the girl's LIT.

⚔️ | Louisville | 1️⃣1️⃣6️⃣ straight wins for the Red Knights of St. Louis after a thriller of a game at Mercy's "Raatz Fence-O'Shea's Classic." Per Jason Frakes ~ Tied at 50, with less than five seconds to play, Peyton Hill had a steal and layup that sealed the Valkyries fate. Up next ~ Sacred Heart (11-7, R7 4-0, KY #2), Tuesday in a Round 1 game of the girl's LIT. Incarnate Word (16-0, MO #1, US #16), Thursday vs. St. Joseph's Academy (MO).

⚔️ 🐈‍⬛ | Louisville | Last night's final at The "Raatz Fence-O'Shea's Classic" at Mercy. Tough game for the Lady Panthers, as the Red Knights from St. Louis are ranked 16th in the nation by MaxPreps. Details here as they become available. Up next ~ Pikeville (12-2, R15 4-0, KY #4), today at the tourney vs. CAL in an 11:00 game. Incarnate Word (15-0, MO #1, US #16), today at the tourney vs. KY #2 Sacred Heart.

🏹 H | Latonia | Final at "The Finn" via the livestream by the good folks at Holy Cross Radio. Good game from both squads in this District matchup. Nice to see Holmes putting up some points and they led at the end of the first quarter. McCutchin, as he was in the Cov Cath game, is a handful for the Bulldogs on his way to the basket. Holmes: 20-16-13-8 • 57 Holy Cross: 18-22-11-14 • 65 Up next ~ Holmes (1-10, R9 0-3, D35 0-2), Monday at Trimble County. Holy Cross (12-6, R9 5-4, D35 2-0), Tuesday vs. Lewis County.

I'm old-ish, but I don't have that many rings around my tree to have seen a game at Alumni (and know what was going on). 😆 Congrats to the Kittens; nice win! 🎉

Is Anderson Gym still a good/great home court advantage for Ashland teams now? Seemed that was the case at the AIT many moons ago during my last visits. I may be thinking of their "old" gym?

SI was journalism draped with the trappings of sport. Award winning writing from Deford, among many others, and the "Illustrated" was often jaw dropping, whether on the field or on the beach. Among many others, Neil Leifer's camera work around the globe, in sports of all sorts, was incredible. Each issue was eagerly anticipated at our house and was a great forum to learn about the great, near great, and the often overlooked - remember "Faces in the Crowd"? The magazine introduced me to the hero of my high school years ... and where else would you discover a kid from Coos Bay, Oregon making a splash on the world scene. It's a sad truth that folks don't want to pay for print content, and that's been apparent for quite a while. The same is happening now on the digital landscape. Fewer eyes and voices of quality in long form writing make the world a smaller, less informed place. I'm saddened by this news today. Credit to the original story, noted in the OP. ~ 🔗 deadline.com/2024/01/sports-illustrated-staff-layoff 🔗 From the archives ~ si.com/olympics/2012/06/29/classic-photos-of-prefontaine

💻 WOPR was committed elsewhere earlier in the week. Thanks to a reminder by @The Professor, here are each Region's "Fab Five" from Monday's statewide Ratings ~ * For games through Saturday, January 13. 🔗 masseyratings.com/KY_Girls 🏆 = All 'A' Classic Region Champion. 1️⃣ 7. McCracken Co., 63. Marshall Co., 71. Graves Co., 83. Calloway Co., 134. Mayfield 🏆 2️⃣ 27. Henderson Co., 75. Madisonville, 108. Christian Co., 110. Lyon Co., 114. Union Co. 3️⃣ 11. O'boro Cath. 🏆, 15. Meade Co., 40. Breckenridge Co., 41. Owensboro, 47. Daviess Co. 4️⃣ 8. Franklin-Simpson, 24. Bowling Green, 45. Barren Co., 65. Warren East, 89. Metcalfe Co. 5️⃣ 31. Bethlehem 🏆, 36. Bardstown, 46. Taylor Co., 50. North Hardin, 64. Elizabethtown 6️⃣ 17. Butler, 39. Bullitt East, 42. Mercy, 58. Whitefield Acad., 104. North Bullitt 7️⃣ 2. SHA, 21. Central, 23. Manual, 30. CAL, 38. Assumption 8️⃣ 5. Anderson Co., 26. Simon Kenton, 48. Spencer Co., 52. Grant Co., 57. South Oldham 9️⃣ 3. Cooper, 9. Ryle, 10. NDA, 12. Cov. Holy Cross 🏆, 35. Dixie 1️⃣0️⃣ 1. GRC, 32. Montgomery Co., 54. Campbell Co., 61. Bp. Brossart, 73. Scott 1️⃣1️⃣ 18. Franklin Co., 19. Douglass, 34. Henry Clay, 49. Madison Cent., 67. Lafayette 1️⃣2️⃣ 20. Pulaski Co , 25. Southwestern, 28. Danville Christ. 🏆, 29. Rockcastle Co., 60. Mercer Co. 1️⃣3️⃣ 6. North Laurel, 22. Corbin, 33. South Laurel, 44. Jackson Co., 53. Knox Cent. 1️⃣4️⃣ 56. Perry Cent., 74. Letcher Cent., 80. Owsley Co. 🏆, 81. Leslie Co., 82. Knott Cent. 1️⃣5️⃣ 4. Pikeville 🏆, 43. Johnson Cent., 70. Martin Co., 84. Lawrence Co., 86. Paintsville 1️⃣6️⃣ 13. Boyd Co., 14. Russell, 16. Ashland, 55. Rowan Co., 87. Bath Co.

🦉 It can be difficult to sort through the data. I'm lucky to have WOPR on the job (most of the time). 😁 Using games through Saturday, January 13, at the link below ~ 🔗 masseyratings.com/KY_Girls I read the Lady Owls in at #3 in the 14th. The Top 5 ~ 1. Perry Co. Cent. - 6.21 2. Letcher Co. Cent. - 5.95 3. Owsley Co. - 5.89 4. Leslie Co. - 5.88 5. Knott Co. Cent. - 5.88

🐾 ⚔️ | Erlanger | Final at Holbrook Hall per The Scoreboard. Nine straight wins for the tenth ranked Wildcats. Up next ~ Newport (17-3, R9 7-1) vs. Sayre next Thursday in Round 1 of the statewide "All 'A' Classic" at Corbin. St. Henry (6-11, R9 3-7), Tuesday at New Cath.

Worth remembering not to overcount the number of teams in Regions 6, 7, and 9 - those that have all-girls and all-boys schools. 6th - DeSales and Mercy. 7th - Assumption, Presentation, Sacred Heart, St. Xavier, and Trinity. TBD - 6th or 7th, wherever Grace James and WEB Du Bois land. 9th - Covington Catholic and Notre Dame.

🤦 Yes, of course! Totally missed three. Corrections bolded with the link to the statewide Ratings below. Massey will update Monday, the tourney's first day. 🔗 masseyratings.com/KY_Girls I (aka WOPR) sort the Regional Rankings from the statewide master list. ✓ Apologies for the errors.