The Professor

I heard that GRC lost their best player Ciara Byars for the season a few weeks ago. They are still very good but with her they had a chance at a state title. 

Is Lyon’s Reddick still injured? He’s an important player for them. Starting guard.

On 2/7/2024 at 8:05 PM, rjal said:

I am not saying that Holy Cross should be number four.  Maybe they should maybe not, but why is Pikeville sitting one on top of them when HC won head to head less than two weeks ago? If they were both deemed that high they should be flipped.  IMO

I agree. That makes zero sense.

On 1/26/2024 at 11:09 AM, The Double Deuce said:

@The Professor Were you in attendance?  Hopefully you or @rjal can give us a first-hand account of this one.

Yes, I was there. I just now saw this or I would have posted earlier.

Rjal has given a good summation of the game. Owsley County came out strong, particularly senior guard Carly Smith, and led 15-10 after one quarter. But Holy Cross’ switch from zone defense to man and their little guard Carter’s defense on Smith changed the game quickly. She racked up 10 straight points mostly off steals and layups and gave her team a double digit lead that they didn’t relinquish. Owsley’s 6’2 freshman center Macey Brown did struggle from the line, going 0-6 for the game in a 22 point loss that could have been closer. I suppose the bigness of the arena and the moment got to her because she is a much better free throw shooter than that. 
One stat that is noticeable though is Owsley won the battle of the boards 39-37 (per Hudl). But they had too many turnovers (21) and missed quite a few point blank shots in the paint. 
Along with Boyd County, Holy Cross are two top notch competition that the Lady Owls have played this season. They also played a good Corbin team who was down one player at the time and won by 14 last month. 
 

The teams that defeat Holy Cross will need strong play vs their trapping defenses because that is the bread and butter of their game plan. 

39 minutes ago, Hard Work said:

I don't know about radio but Prepspin has exclusive broadcast rights. Per the All A website. 

Yes, that’s correct. 

Is Corbin Arena a temporary site until EKU gets their  coliseum renovated? 

Bluegrass Sports Nation (BSN) is doing an audio only of 14th region teams through their service but nothing else. In the past a radio station from the Ashland-Huntington area did all the games but I don’t believe it’s being carried this year in entirety except by PrepSpin. If it is I can’t locate it. 

Is anyone doing a radio broadcast of the All Classic State in Corbin?

I suppose they will be one of the favorites to win the All A State, along with Pikeville. 

That would have been a huge win for Sacred Heart. To lose it because of a turnover is a tough way to lose. 

I’m wondering if Boyd had a letdown coming off their Class 2A championship. Of course, with this being their biggest rival that’s hard to phantom as well. 

Where’s Ashland Blazer??? They just defeated #8 Boyd County by 38 points. 

4 minutes ago, DevilMayCare said:

She was healthy. It was a rough shooting night for her (1/12 from the field) combined with deferring to Jordan, who had a significant matchup advantage down low.

That’s still just baffling that Ashland could beat them by 38 points. Head scratcher to me. I’ve seen both teams on streaming services and imo there’s not much difference in them. But if Biggs was 1/12 Ashland has to be credited with some fantastic defense. She had 32 against us in our opening game of the season in a tournament in McKee. 

He has Owsley County not rated in the top 5 of the 14th region. They’ve played a difficult schedule, opening the season with a loss to Boyd County, losing in the WYMT by 2 points to Knox Central and 4 points to Martin County, and losing in overtime at Perry Central after leading for 95% of the game. They have also defeated Corbin by 14 points. And just won the 14th region All A Championship with a 16 point win over Leslie County in the semifinals and a 42 points victory over Hazard in the championship game. 
Of course I am extremely biased when it comes to the Lady Owls, lol, but they are much better than Professor Massey is aware of. For one thing they have four girls averaging in double figures and a well balanced team. 

I’ve seen Biggs from Boyd County in action and I have no idea how any team could keep her from scoring double figures unless she was sick or injured. Does anyone have some info on this. 

Pikeville will be difficult to stop from winning the championship. 

8 minutes ago, DevilMayCare said:

I've never seen Biggs in person, but she looks a legit 6' to me. Either way, her and Jordan give Boyd length and physicality down low that no one else in the region can match. Jordan, especially, is very underrated statewide.

I believe she is 6’0. Our local team played them in early December in McKee. She is very talented in all aspects of the game. She has signed with Pittsburgh. 
Her and Jordan together are a handful. They jumped on us early and although we was able to cut the lead to 10 they eventually ended up with a 20 point win. They certainly deserve their ranking. 

Biggs and Jordan are a tremendous chore for teams to contain. Biggs is so physical and can play any position. She’s 5’10 and Jordan is about 6’3. I saw them in the PRTC at Jackson County and was highly impressed. 

Owsley County had their game clicking on all cylinders vs Hazard, winning every quarter, making thirteen 3 pointers, and a running clock for the last 10 minutes of the game in the 42 point victory. 
It was the fourth All A Region title for the Lady Owls and their eleventh appearance in the championship game. 
They advance on to the All A Classic State at Corbin Arena for an 8:30 AM game January 24 against 4th region champ Cumberland County. 

Owsley took a brief lead in the fourth quarter.  The Owls are starting to play much better than they did in September. And two players who played last season have rejoined the team following the holidays. 

I just don’t see how Sacred Heart could lose four straight in any tournament unless they were playing prep schools that attract talent from far and wide. SHA is very good. 

On 1/4/2024 at 6:55 PM, The Double Deuce said:

Unless I'm missing someone, Pikeville, O-Cath, and Covington Holy Cross the only All A schools in the media Top 15.  

What about Notre Dame? Aren’t they an All A school? 

Owsley County played one of their best games of the year and it was their first home game. Owsley has had a challenging schedule in December, opening up with a loss to Boyd County in the PRTC Classic at Jackson County. They narrowly lost two games in the WYMT Mountain Classic to Knox Central and Martin County. And lost an overtime decision at Perry Central after leading for 90% of the game.
So it was good for the team to finally play a game in Booneville. Both head coaches were absent due to being ejected from a game in different Florida tournaments over the holidays and Corbin had a player sitting out because of an ejection on their southern holiday trip. 
It was a close game until the fourth quarter and Owsley went on a big run with several 3’s and fast breaks points  to expand their lead and put it away. Senior guard Carly Smith led the Lady Owls with 23 points and sophomore guard Addison Terry had 22. 6’2 freshman center Macey Brown scored 15 and had a double-double with her rebound total. Senior wing Laya Lynch made four treys and finished with 12 points. Junior guard Kiley Clem led Corbin with 26 points, of which 22 came in the first half. 
It was a good win for the Lady Owls heading into next week’s All A. The first rounds are at various sites. Owsley shouldn’t have much trouble making the semifinals rounds at Wolfe County, where most likely they play Leslie County. 

They have been plaqued with injuries for much of the season. I know they had 3 starters out when they played at Hazard. I think they’ll be okay going forward once they get their entire roster intact. 

The PRP semifinals win over Hazard in 1986 State Tournament was extremely controversial. It appeared the officials missed several obvious fouls on PRP late in the game and other odd decisions that swung the game to the Panthers. The crowd stood and booed and covered the court with debris for 30 minutes post game. The Lexington Herald -Leader received so many letters to the editor for the next several weeks from irate Hazard fans complaining about the game that they finally issued a statement in their newspaper requesting no more letters be sent. 

Leary has had a crazy amount of passes deflected this season. He’s already had 2 in this game.