The Double Deuce

Wow!!! Huge congrats to Coach Sorrell and his Bellevue Lady Tigers. Welcome to the 9th Region Tourney, Bellevue!!!!! Monster upset.

Brossart won the regular season matchup by 4 in Taylor Mill.

Congrats to Scott and welcome to the 10th Region tourney.

Wow!!! Post-season madness is here! Thanks for posting, Owl.

I think the Lady Owls make it all the way to Rupp!! Enjoy the ride, @The Professor.

Simon Kenton advances to the 8th Region Tournament by making the 32nd District Finals. They play the host Lady Braves of Grant County in the finals.

1. Sacred Heart (16 FPV) (7th Region) 2. Cooper (9th) 3. George Rogers Clark (10th) 4. Covington Holy Cross (9th) 5. Owensboro Catholic (3rd) 5. Pikeville (15th) 7. Anderson County (8th) 8. Franklin-Simpson (4th) 9. McCracken County (1st) 10. Ashland Blazer (16th) 11. Franklin County (11th) 12. North Laurel (13th) 13. Russell (16th) 14. Butler (6th) 15. Ryle (9th)

* 32nd at Grant County: Tonight, 2/26, Simon Kenton takes on Walton Verona. The winner of that game (SK won the first match-up by a lot, and are clearly favorites again this time) gets the hosts, Grant County, on Thursday the 29th at 7:00. * 33rd at Conner: On Tuesday the 27th Cooper plays Boone County at 6:00 and then the marquee match-up of Ryle vs Conner at 7:45. Certainly one of the better District Semi-finals in this part of the state, and Anna Hamilton's last chance to earn a trip to the 9th Region Tourney. Someone's amazing HS career, Anna's, or Quinn's and Sarah's, will sadly end on Tuesday night at Conner. The winners of the two games meet on Thursday the 29th at 7:00. * 34th at Villa Madonna: Tonight at 6:00 sees the hosts take on Lloyd. Tomorrow at 6:00 the winner of tonight's game play top-seeded Dixie. At 7:45 on Tuesday, Ludlow and St. Henry play in an elimination game. The winners of Dixie's game at the 7:45 game with Ludlow and SHDHS will play at 7:00 on Thursday the 29th. * 35th at Holmes: 5:30 on Tuesday the 27th will see top-seeded Holy Cross play the hosts from Holmes. At 7:30 on Tuesday Notre Dame take on Beechwood in the other semi-final. The winners of those games, presumably another Notre Dame vs Holy Cross district final, will play at 7:00 on Thursday the 29th. * 36th at Newport: Tonight at 7:30 Dayton plays Newport. Tomorrow, Tuesday the 27th, at 6:00, Highlands plays the winner of tonight's game. At 7:30 on the 27th NewCath takes on Bellevue. The winners of Tuesday's games will play in the District Championship at 7:00 on Thursday the 29th. * 37th at Campbell County Middle School: Tuesday the 27th at 6:00 Bishop Brossart takes on Scott in another terrific district semi-final. The winner of that game gets Campbell County at 7:00 on Thursday the 29th. Reminder: the four district winners in the 9th (33rd, 34th, 35th, and 36th), and the four teams that lost in the Championship games, will begin the 9th Region Tournament this Sunday, March 3rd, at NKU starting at 1:00. There will be two quarter-finals game in the first session, and then the remaining two quarter-finals in the night session. A week from this morning, next Monday, there will only be four 9th Region girls' basketball teams still alive. Thanks for a great season, and here's to a great "Districts Week" for everyone, stay healthy, play hard, and know that we appreciate the work that you seniors have put in for the last 4-6 years.

As voted on by 9th Region Coaches.

BGP doesn't officially produce a team. Neither Boys nor Girls side.

In order to break up two rather large threads, we are going to release the All NKY Teams (and POY and COY) today and then the District Previews tomorrow morning. A few things to know about these lists. Number 1: you have to have averaged 10 points per game to be considered. I know this rules out really important players like Miyah Wimzie, Maya Lawrie, and Maleah Alexander, but the rationale here is simple: high-motor, high-intangible, high-basketball IQ, "glue players" on teams that we all watch a lot get plenty of love (like the three I mentioned), but those same types of players from lower profile teams don't get seen as often by neutrals, so it is unfair to include those attributes from some but not others. No one loves those types of players more than I do, I've sung Maya Lawrie's praises for years, but those that were included in selecting these just don't see the bottom half of teams often enough to have a good feel for those important types of players from those teams. Number 2: you have to have played 20 games to be included, so that excludes, among others, Riley Boyd at Beechwood. Lastly, only the stats that are tracked on KHSAA are considered, so assists, steals, blocks, etc aren't factored in. First of all, I think most schools that track those do just an okay job of it, but most don't track them at all, and in almost no instances is there access to them. So when one coach says he'd include XYZ player on a higher team because she averages 5 assists and 4 steals, it isn't factored in. A number of people looked these over and provided input, some involved in coaching who know who I am, a couple of officials, and then some folks that are around GBB in NKY a great deal. That doesn't mean that many on here will disagree, but just so do respectfully please, not towards me, I'm fine, but towards the young ladies that are positioned above those that you think were too low. Thanks in advance. Also, note that ALL of the teams are listed ALPHABETICALLY by first name. I know someone would have asked why the order on each team...that seemed the fairest way. First of all: The Northern Kentucky Player of the year is Quinn Eubank, Senior, from Ryle High School. You could have made a great case for any of our First Team players for this award, but we landed on Quinn and we feel great about it. Secondly, our Northern Kentucky Coach of the Year is Ted Arlinghaus, head coach of Holy Cross. Holy Cross repeating as All A State Champs, and climbing into the Top 4 or 5 in the entire state, is too impressive to overlook. Certainly Coach Holthaus would have been a deserved winner as well, but we went with Coach Arlinghaus. NKY 1st Team: Anna Hamilton, senior, Conner Caroline Eaglin, junior, NewCath Julia Hunt, senior, Holy Cross Logan Luebbers Palmer, senior, Cooper Quinn Eubank, senior, Ryle NKY 2nd Team: Brynli Pernell, freshman, Simon Kenton Jada Cummins, junior, Grant County Liz Freihofer, senior, Cooper Marissa Green, junior, Highlands Sarah Baker, senior, Ryle NKY 3rd Team: Braylin Terrell, junior, Walton Verona Catherine Buddenberg, junior, Dixie Haylie Webb, sophomore, Simon Kenton Isabella Jayasuriya, sophomore, Campbell County Kayla Unkraut, senior, St. Henry Sophia Gibson, junior, Notre Dame Honorable Mention: Addy Garrett, sophomore, Ludlow Aumani Nelson, junior, Holy Cross Caroline Barnes, junior, Grant County DeAyjah White, senior, Newport Elin Logue, freshman, Walton Verona Jaelyn Jones, sophomore, Ryle Kaia Peterson, junior, Scott Rachel Shewmaker, sophomore, Brossart Sierra McCoin, senior, Lloyd Sydni Massey, junior, Bellevue Zoee Meyers, junior, Brossart

Notre Dame, at home, I thought would be able to put up more of a fight than a 32-9 first half. Kes knows how to muck things up, but they haven't found a consistent solution on the offensive end. Guess I'm no Wizard. Oh well, I look dumb in pointy hats anyway.

Coach Thacker's Lady Flyers hold serve at home.

Cooper with the shockingly easy win in Park Hills. 17-5 after 1st quarter. 32-9 at the half.

That is a world-class FLEX, my brother, I love it!! You'll pick the right ones, I'm certain of it.

I will reiterate here that if I had a Miss Basketball vote, and I do not (obviously), it would go to Claire Johnson from McCracken County. Trinity Rowe would be my 2nd place vote, and Shae Steele would be 3rd. Simply one person's opinion.

I hate ties for POY or COY and you won't see one when we release our All NKY teams on Monday. However, congrats to all of the area winners, Julia and Quinn are terrific, and Ted was obviously a great choice (although Justin Holthaus suffers from greatness being overlooked).

Ciara Byars has been out for about 13 games for GRC and I'm 99% sure she isn't coming back this year. Sadly.

Great home win for the Kittens.

In the LinkNKY article today on this game last night they allude to Anna Hamilton being "limited due to an injury"? First I've heard of it, but can anyone that was there shed some light? If she isn't 100% next Tuesday against Ryle their slim chances will drop dramatically. No anti-Ryle sentiment, but Anna Hamilton's brilliant career never including a 9th Region Tournament game at NKU would be an absolute shame.

Very cool! Gia is a terrific shooter, such a bright future for her.

Solid road win for the Lady Braves.

Got a funny text from a basketball person I knew in attendance tonight: "Least pleasant basketball game I've watched this year, my eyes hurt." Made me chuckle.