The Double Deuce

Having seen O-Cath twice this year, this game is mildly surprising. Especially that 77 points got hung on the Lady Raiders. Congrats to the Lady Aces, this is a very nice win on a neutral court. Ryle going to have to lock in to play a Conner team in the 33rd semis that battled Holy Cross tonight in Hebron.

Here we go again!!! As I said in the top 10 thread this week, be careful SK, funny things are happening at Campbell Co this year. After getting a running clock put on them at home by HC, they have preceded to beat Ryle, Notre Dame, and now Simon Kenton. #3, #4, and #5 in NKY. Very impressive. Congrats to the Lady Camels, they are doing to be a tough out in the next few years. Just like the young Lady Neers.

Yikes....that will leave a mark. Manual, fresh off a double digit win vs NDA, gets molly-whopped in Union. That is a tough bus ride home on a school night.

Anderson County played better since the loss to Simon Kenton. Maybe that was a bit of a wake-up call for a good team that has played a pretty soft schedule compared to other top teams.

Heard from someone else that she was at a HUGE Club Volleyball Tourney. I assume that is true, but I'm not 100% sure.

Appreciate that, Nut, I just try to be consistent and fair and give ALL of the girls in the NKY area the coverage and recognition they deserve. I will have our All NKY Girls' teams on Monday, with Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, which will certainly cause many to be mad at me. That should be fun. 😊

SK comes from behind to get the win. Pernell leads the way, and the freshmen eclipses 1,000 points. Big congrats!!!

MoCo holds serve at home against the Kittens.

Final from Latonia. Indians stay red-hot.

Final from Louisville. Notre Dame's inability to create consistent offense gives them a very thin margin for error.

Thank you, that wasn't listed on the KHSAA site when I did my prep-work, but I appreciate that. Should be a GREAT basketball game, especially on a neutral floor.

Welcome to the last week of the regular season, so this will be our Final Top 10 of the year, and next week we'll roll into District / Region previews for Girls' Hoops. So before I do anything else, I want to thank @Runcible Owl, @JBake, @Baseball Nut 24, @rjal, @1992Rebel, @Hoops Junkie and everyone else that has been a regular contributor in our Girls' Hoops threads this year. The more, the merrier, and we've had a lot of posters dip in and out, but I appreciate those of you that have leaned in all year, shared your thoughts, and kept this interesting. Thanks! Last week didn't see a lot of major surprises, but did see Ryle beat Notre Dame and leap-frog the Pandas, saw SK battle two of the state's top 4 teams to respectable losses, Conner continue their year-end rally and resurgence, and the usual ups and downs of many of the teams that have bounced in and out of the bottom of our rankings this year. For reference, below, in addition to their record, their record last week (in parentheses), and who they play this week, you'll also see where they were ranked after week 1 this year as a frame of reference. Grant County is the biggest mover up, Dixie is the biggest mover down, but the majority of them have hovered around the same place all year. Special notes to two teams: Cooper was #1, is #1, and will be the top-ranked NKY team heading into the post-season (#2 in the state by most metrics) -- congrats to Coach Holthaus. Being the hunted is never easy, but you all have carried the pressure very well. Secondly, Holy Cross has ascended to #2 in NKY and #4 in the state of Kentucky, as well as defending their All A State Championship, and that State Ranking was on NO ONE's radar back in November, so huge congrats to Coach Arlinghaus and his student athletes. You repped NKY very well this year, across the river, and down-state, and everyone in NKY took notice. Okay, for this week's Top 10, here goes, and again, my season accolades and post-season previews will replace this ranking next week: 1. Cooper 22-4 (1-0 last week) [#1 in week one ranking]: vs Manual and at Notre Dame (one to keep an eye on) 2. Holy Cross 23-5 (2-0) [#4]: vs Lexington Catholic and at Conner (this could be a very interesting game to watch) 3. Ryle 18-9 (1-1) [#2]: vs Owensboro Catholic (I don't know where this is happening, but it is a GREAT game) 4. Notre Dame 19-6 (0-1) [#3]: at Manual and vs Cooper (monster chance to build momentum into 35th and 9th Region Tourneys) 5. Simon Kenton 17-9 (1-2) [#6]: vs Highlands, at Campbell Co. (careful, weird things happen there), and vs NewCath 6. Highlands 18-7 (1-0) [#8]: at Simon Kenton (the battle for 5th!), and at Beechwood 7. Grant County 18-7 (1-1) [Others]: at Madison Central 8. Conner 13-14 (2-0) [#7]: vs Holy Cross (great chance to stay hot and get themselves ready for the 33rd and Ryle in an elimination game) 9. Campbell County 17-10 (1-2) [Others]: vs Beechwood and vs Simon Kenton (can they make it 3 big upsets at home this year?) 10. NewCath 18-10 (1-2) [#9]: vs Bracken County and at Simon Kenton ====================================== 8th: Walton Verona 16-9 9th: Dixie [#5] 15-11, Bellevue 19-7, St. Henry 13-13, Ludlow 17-12 10th: Bishop Brossart [#10] 16-8, Scott 16-11 I appreciate the hard work by all of our female hoopers this year, whether you're Quinn, Julia, Anna, or you're the 13th girl on the 13th team, you put in work, you showed up, you balanced basketball, school work, and family life, and you repped your school! Thank you. To the coaches, staffs, volunteer workers, Admins, and Officials, THANK YOU for supporting these young ladies and making these games possible. And to the families and fans in the stands, thank you, most of you, for supporting your girls and showing our young people how to behave as a responsible adult (and to some others, pay attention to those around you ). Hope for great health the rest of the way, a fun last week of the season, and great post-season tournaments for our local teams. Been a great ride this year!

Ouch. I didn't consider Grant County a threat in the 8th even though I have had them in the NKY Top 10 most of the year, and tonight does nothing to change my mind. Obviously.

Two of NKY's toughest teams to figure out game to game meet and, of course, it is a Conner run-away. Camels have wins over NDA and Ryle, but get topped by 23 by the Lady Cougars.

BG with a huge home win! Purples came in having lost 4 of 5, and McCracken County having won 9 of 10, but the Purples break their trend and defend their home court. McCracken County's Claire Johnson, my pick for Miss Basketball, leads all scorers with 26. Way to go, CJ!

Sounds about right. While obviously a great test for Coach Orem and her team, that is a LONG way to go for one game (that you were very likely not going to win).

Interesting. While the Lady Flyers are very well coached by one of my favorite characters in KY HS Sports, you take her away and they can struggle to score for periods. Surprised they didn't give Quinn (equally long and athletic) that assignment.

I would have loved to have seen Boyd at this point at full strength. In their current state, as much as I LOVE Pete and how he runs his program, I don't think they are a factor. Hope I'm wrong. Russell has the best player, in my opinion, but Ashland has some real toughness (and a lot of emotion coming from that bench), and I think the Kittens will be a tough out in the 16th if everyone is playing.

Did Shropshire do most of the damage? She is nice, but I'd have thought Quinn would have been a great Match-up for her.

Just when Ryle starts to suck me back in they get beat by Joey Thacker's team by 20?!?! Lady Flyers are very good, for sure, but wow. This one is a bit of a surprise, margin, not result necessarily.

There is a "Statewide Poll" thread as well, just as an FYI, we put it out every Wednesday. Thanks Real!

Who is making the hire, ultimately, the Principal (Mike Holtz) or the AD (Anne Julian). Or Koz? Or Mr. Alinghaus? Or someone else? Who should be making it, I'm honestly asking. Hiring a coach, to me, is ultimately part of the AD's job, so I'm assuming this falls to Anne...correct? Although I have to believe Mike Holtz (and some / all of the others) will have a loud voice in the room. High School AD's are often under-appreciated, but the good ones really make a big impact. I'll leave it at that.

Doubling down on the above, because I will be shocked if Holy Cross and Ryle don't cross paths in the first or second round of the 9th Region (HC winning the 35th, Ryle runner up in the 33rd), even though I know Cooper and Holy Cross could be on the same side (hope not), but worth noting when looking at the Holy Cross vs Ryle series: Ryle has won 9 straight games vs the Indians and HC's last win over the Lady Raiders will be more than 10 years from the 2024 9th Region Tournament. So it has been a LONG time. We'll just say that. I still think HC is playing better today, but Ryle has a GREAT chance to make the 9th Region Tourney Championship a 33rd District match-up....again.

I don't know enough about the Boys' teams around the state to make an educated guess, but I do think GRC wins the 10th and Newport wins the 9th.

I'm likely a lone ranger on this, but my attendance at both the Boys and Girls' Sweet 16 tournament is completely dependent on who wins regions I follow and / or care about. I need to care about the teams involved, or certain players involved (and / or their families that I know and care about), to consider attending. I can get great soft-serve closer to home and a lot cheaper! 😎