Jesse James

Coach Kelly Wood resigned today. Jacqueline Coleman, former coach at East Jessamine has been named interim coach. See story below: GIRLS' BASKETBALL: NC head coach Wood resigns | KYStandard.com

All polls are opinions. This poll is not just my work, but a work of people all across the state thats hashed out each week over and over. You can use computer rankings or these polls. After the first 5/6 there are tons of teams that could beat the others on a given night. If you like those polls then by all means use them.

1. Butler 2. Male 3. Mercer County 4. Sacred Heart 5. Simon Kenton 6. Manual 7. Murray 8. Franklin County 9. Bullitt East 10. Henderson County 11. Mason County 12. Holmes 13. Elizabethtown 14. GRC 15. Mercy 16. Scott County 17. Highlands 18. Monroe County 19. Ryle 20. Conner

Its not the 27 thats alarming, its the 0.

The New Year came in with a bang as #1 Mercer County went 2-1 this past week with wins over Notre Dame and Pulaski County before taking it on the chin to a very determined #3 Butler team. Mercer lost to Butler 80-55 in a game that was never close. Butler was clicking on all cylinders and Mercer County was not. 2018 Molly Lockhart led Butler with 21 points and 11 rebounds. This will undoubtedly produce a new #1 this week. #2 Male went 2-0 this past week with easy wins over Louisville Collegiate and Ballard. Butler commit 2018 Emilia Sexton led the Bulldogs with 14 points in the win over Collegiate. #3 Butler was on a tear this week with wins over Iroquois 83-2 and #1 Mercer County 80-55. The Bearettes are this weeks hottest team in the BGP Top 20. #4 Manual went 2-1 this week by dismantling #20 Eastern 52-47 and Shawnee 93-26. Manual lost a thriller to #6 Sacred Heart who avenged a earlier loss to Manual over the Christmas break, 67-62 in a game that was a war from the beginning. #5 Simon Kenton went 2-0 on the week with a 12 point win over Scott 58-46 and a 73-43 win over 8th region foe Shelby County. Ally Niece led Simon Kenton over Scott with 20 points. Niece again led Simon Kenton with 19 points and 5 rebounds over Shelby County. #6 Sacred Heart ended up 2-0 for the week with a 80-23 win over Waggener and a win over #4 Manual 67-62. 2018 Kiki Samsel led Sacred Heart with 21 points. #7 Murray also picked up two wins this week. A drubbing of Mayfield 82-31 and a easy win over #Henderson County 68-49. Murray appears to be the top team west of I65 after that win today. 2018 Macey Turley led Murray over Mayfield with 18 points. #8 Franklin County had a easy week with wins over Western Hills 75-25 and North Hardin 62-24. No stats were available for these two games on the KHSAA site. #9 Henderson County only had the one game this week, losing to #7 Murray 68-49. #10 Bullitt East went 2-0 this week with wins over Fern Creek 66-58 and #20 Eastern 68-58. UL signee Lindsey Duvall led the Lady Chargers over Fern Creek with 31 points. She again led them over Eastern with 25 points. UL is getting a player in Miss Duvall. Some big match up for the coming week: Mercer County vs Franklin County Butler vs Mercy Manual vs Mercy

One glaring stat from looking at the box score is a 27-0 advantage for Sacred Heart on bench points.

1. Mercer County 2. Male 3. Butler 4. Manual 5. Simon Kenton 6. Sacred Heart 7. Murray 8. Franklin County 9. Henderson County 10. Bullitt East 11. Mason County 12. Holmes 13. Elizabethtown 14. GRC 15. Ryle 16. Highlands 17. Mercy 18. Monroe County 19. Nelson County 20. Eastern

I will go back next week doing the top 10. Only doing top 5 over the break. So if Mason gets in the top 10 they will get press or does something exceptional.

Many tournaments were played after Christmas and teams continued to find the rotations that are going to need to make a deep run in March. Its this time of year that you get to see who are really contenders for the big Trophy in March at NKU. Mercer County went to Springfield MO to compete in another national tourney with some of the nations best teams in the Pink and White Lady Classic. Again the Titans did not disappoint. They went 3-1 losing in the Championship 76-75 to Strafford MO. In the semi final game they took down the #1 4A team in Texas, Argyle 62-43. Argyle came into this tourney ranked Top 10 nationally and ran into a hot shooting Lady Titan team. Shout out to Lexy Lake for hitting 10 three pointers in this game. School record I am sure. Male had a great run in Destin Fl this past week also at the Destin Holiday Classic. Shout out to Ciaja Harbinson for being named Tourney MVP. Harbinson a junior is a St Louis commit. Butler traveled to Sevierville, TN where they ran the table at the Winterfest Shootout. Tourney Champions with a 62-22 win over Sevierville, TN in the finals. Sacred Heart headed to Naples Florida for the much heralded Naples Holiday Classic. Heart went 1-2 vs National competition. Shout out to Grace Berger of Sacred Heart for getting her 1000th point during this tourney. Simon Kenton traveled to the Gateway Holiday Classic in Montgomery County. The Pioneers also ran the table with wins over Boyd County, Scott and Dunbar all in convincing fashion. Looks like this team is starting to gel. This coming week we get back to regular season games and with the season going into the new year the coaches are finding out what they need to work on for the next 7/8 weeks to get their teams better. Shout outs this week to the Ryle Lady Raiders who had another good showing at the Lake Cumberland Holiday Classic. Lost in the finals to Eastern by a close margin of 55-53. The Raiders were without the services of Juliet McGregor this week or the outcome might have been different. More great basketball coming up this week. Tuesday Manual vs Eastern is a must watch game along with the much anticipated Simon Kenton vs Scott rematch Wednesday night. Hang on guy/gals the wars are just starting as we enter the new year and the countdown to the Sweet 16!

Lexy Lake hit 10 3s for Mercer in this game.

29,22 and 24 points at Lexington Catholic is no slouch. And you are right, special talent.

Alot of quality players in the state right now. Tons of D1 kids.

All those were great too! Plus Carleigh Wilson(Spelling?) Wilsons little 2022 sister was killing it too!

The Christmas break is upon us and we have seen a lot of good basketball so far in the 2016-17 season. This will be different than my last articles as we just kinda recap some of the highlights and some shout outs to different teams. This past week saw a Traditional Bank Holiday Classic tourney at Lexington Catholic. Tony and the guys at Catholic always run a first class event. This year the match ups were great and featured some of the best teams in Kentucky. Butler came out on top with a well deserved victory over a really good Manual team. Jaelynn Penn was name MVP. Some standouts from the tourney was : Jaelynn Penn(Butler) Ally Niece (Simon Kenton) Jaela Johnson (Manual) Grace Berger( Sacred Heart) Macey Turley( Murray) Tashia Jefferies (Butler) Lauren Schwartz (Ryle) Jada Stinson (Elizabethtown) Anna Clephane (Scott) Maddie Scherr (Ryle) Madison Darnell (Russell) Emmy Harris (Boyle County). This in no wise was all the players who shined but a few that stood out. This tourney was loaded with D1 talent. Mercer County after a delayed flight arrived at the Nike TOC in Phoenix and performed great on a national stage. Winning two of three and losing on a last second shot to the #10 team in America and winning the next two including a drubbing of the #18 team and a win over St. Anthony, CA. Earned alot of respect on a national level for sure. Shout out to Ryle Lady Raiders for a eye opening performance at the Traditional Bank Holiday Classic with wins over Eastern, Murray and Sacred Heart. A young team with much upside. Shout out to 2018 Alexis Burpo of Murray for getting her 1000th point during this tourney. She was also a standout there! Shout out to the Male Lady Bulldogs for winning the Queen of the Commonwealth tourney at Bulllit East. There are many more great tourneys after Christmas. Looking forward to watching some more great games!

Got to remember what the #1 team did this week at the Nike TOC. Mowed down a couple of nationally ranked teams in best tourney in America this time of year.

I got some good help. We will probably wait till after the Christmas break to release the next set. But you can bet Ryle will be moving in. Our whole BGP Girls rankings crew has been at this tourney all week and Bullitt East. Got alot more games to watch before the new year.

Final.

Ryle and Sacred Heart in OT right now.

Yes.

On the Boys side only.

The had the #2 Wing in the 2017 class headed to Stanford, another to Tennessee and one to WKU along with other younger BCS kids. Was a good win for Mercer. Puts then on the map nationally.

I felt like as the game went on Brie got more confident. She is going to be good...

Good win for Ryle. Schwartz had a big game.

I think Bullitt East won by like 4/5. Duvall with 31. Clos 20.

Some good match-ups for sure. Looking forward to watching some good games!