Lady Stangs Advance to the 10th Region Championship Game, Where We will Face GRC at 7pm Saturday Evening at the Middle School
Lady Stangs 58, Bracken County 45
Friday, March 7th
Brossart jumped out to a 15-9 first quarter lead, with the most exciting seconds coming just ahead of the buzzer when Graylee Kremer nailed a 3-pointer. The second quarter was more of the same, with the final 4:18 played without either team scoring a point, until……Zoee Meyers nailed a “3” again at the buzzer, giving the Lady ‘Stangs a 26-14 lead. With a half of basketball in the books, we completed six consecutive periods, holding our opponents to single-digits, and holding 2,000 points career scorer, Nicole Archibald scoreless.
Things picked up dramatically in the second half, when Archibald put up six in the third quarter and their team added 16, but our girls were up to the challenge delivering 18 points of our own to expand the lead to 46-30 with eight minutes to go in the game. Kylie Smith had a big second half adding 14 points to her 6 point total from the first half, and hit 7 of 8 free-throw down the stretch to hold the Lady Bears at bay, defeating their Class A counterparts 58-45, punching their ticket to the Saturday night finals, and improving their season mark to 26-7. Smith led all scorers with 21 and 9 rebounds, while Zoee Meyers and Graylee Kremer added 11 points apiece. Keiley Sharp led the Lady Bears, who close out their season at 23-11 with 16 points, and Nicole Archibald added 10, all in the second half, closing out her career with 2,213 points, earning her a spot among elite Bracken County Career scorers. She and Brianna Bauer were named to the All-Tournament Team.
In the prelim game, GRC doubled it up on Campbell County 68-34 advancing to the finals with our Lady ‘Stangs at 7pm Saturday night in the Middle School. For our Lady ‘Stangs this was our fifth appearance in a Final Four, and it will be our second reginal finals in that time frame, winning the 10th Region Tournament in 2021. This is also only the third time in program history that a Lady ‘Stangs team has won 27 games in a season, with the last time being in 2000-01 when they won 28 games, and in 1997-98, when they too, won 27 games.
Lady 'Stangs Turn A Two Point Halftime Lead Into A Twenty Two Point Win, Defeat The MoCo Indians 45-23 In The 10th Region Quarter-Finals. Freshman Kylie Smith Goes Off And Puts Up 21 Points.
Lady 'Stangs 45, Montgomery Co 23
Tuesday, March 3rd
Campbell Co. Middle School
This game had many complexions. While the first quarter wasn’t all that uncommon, the second quarter died a slow death, to the point where our girls went the final 3:57 of the half scoring only two points at the buzzer. It was so dead that I expected the large turnout to revive the old school chant of “Hey You (Indians or Mustangs) We want some Action!!!” The half ended with the Lady Stangs on top 16-14, and the game had a very unsure feel about it. Remember these were two teams who had won a joint 44 games this season and were playing in the 10th Region Tournament. One team awoke from their doldrum and the other didn’t. MoCo’s Addison Terry hit a 3-pointer, their first in the game, to open the second half, giving the Lady Indians a 17-16 advantage, but it was then that our girls went on a 12-0 run, opening a comfortable 26-17 advantage, as the Terry three would be the only points scored in the quarter for the ladies from Mount Sterling. Mid-Fourth, Brossart Freshman Kylie Smith went on abut a 30 second tear, scoring 10 points in that time span by hitting a pair of free-throws, and two consecutive three-point plays the old fashioned way, giving us an overwhelming 38-21 lead – Game, Set, Match.
Some things to ponder. We scored 45 points – 12 under our season scoring average, and we WON by 22 points. We held a team that defeated Bryan Station, Henry Clay, Dunbar, and South Laurel to merely 23 points, 30 under their season scoring average, and their lowest scoring output of the season. MoCo failed to score double figures in any of the four quarters. To their credit they have no Seniors on their roster and only a pair of juniors. They close the book on their season at 20-13. 257 listeners checked out the broadcast of this game.
We were led in the scoring column by Kylie Smith with 21 while Hadley Eviston put up 10. Addison Terry was the lone MoCo double-figure scorer with 10 points that included a pair of 3-pointers, her 76th and 77th of the season.
Bracken County defeated Harrison County 57-30 in the first lower bracket semi-finals contest, setting up a date with our girls Friday night at 7:45pm in the Middle School. Campbell County will play George Rogers Clark in the lidlifter at 6pm. I’d expect a large student section from GRC. Their school is providing bus transportation, a ticket and a meal to all interested students.
Lady 'Stangs Reclaim 37th District Title, Avenge Crosstown Loss,
Defeat Campbell County 64-63 in overtime, Zoee Meyers Puts Up 27
Following the script of several recent Lady ‘Stangs games, we were hot early, establishing a 15-2 lead before the fans were comfortable in their seats, and led again by 13 points at 21-8 before the Lady Camels got on track, narrowing the margin to 7 at 30-23 at intermission.
The Lady Camels made a run mid-third period, that cut the Brossart lead to 4 points at 30-26, but was quickly rebuked by a 7-0 run, padding the L ‘Stangs lead back to 11 and a false sense of confidence that we would ride it out to the finish line. But as we have learned, in these games you don’t “ride them out to the finish line.” Teams do not go quietly into the night, nor did this one. Campbell County unleashed seven 3-pointers in the second half, and three more in OT, continuing to battle back, and hit a shot at the buzzer to send the contest to OT. Again, in the extra frame, we opened a six point lead at 60-54 which should have been enough to win, but it wasn’t. Isabella Jayasuriya hit a pair of threes and Madeleine Barbian connected on another , closing the gap to 61-60, before Zoee Meyers would send the contest to two possessions at 64-61 with 4 ticks remaining in OT, when Jayasuriya connected on her final 3-pointer of the night. making the final score 64-63. There was nothing pretty about this game, as it was marred by excessively physical play on both ends of the floor, and again, didn’t resemble the game that Dr. Naismith had envisioned. A few whistles early in the game, would establish a pattern of play where at least a modicum of mutual respect would be shown to each other by the combatants. Such was not the case in this one, which Coach Steve Brown accurately refers to as a “Rock Fight.”
Girls Tournament Field:
- GRC
- Montgomery County
- Brossart
- Campbell County
- Nicholas County
- Harrison County
- Mason County
- Bracken County
Zoee Meyers, who chatted with us after the game, netted 27 points to lead all scorers. Kylie Smith added 11, and Hadley Eviston, 9. The Lady Stangs capitalized on 13 of 19 Free-throw shooting, besting Campbell County’s 7 of 10. Jayasuriaya led the Lady Camels with 19, and Amerie Mullins 18. Mullins and Jayasuriya were named to the All-Tournament team, as were Hadley Eviston, Kylie Smith, and Zoee Meyers.
The 10th Region Tournament draw has been changed from Saturday morning to Friday morning in Cynthiana. The eight participating teams are: GRC, Montgomery County, Brossart, Campbell County, Nicholas County, Harrison County, Mason County, and Bracken County. It will be played beginning this coming Monday at the Campbell County Middle School.
In A Game Of Runs, The Lady 'Stangs Hold On To Beat The Lady Eagles 46-39, For Their 23rd Win Of The Season
Lady 'Stangs 46, Scott 39
37th District Semi-Finals
Monday, February 24th
* Replay Available *
Congrats to Senior Zoee Meyers!
Trailing 4-3 at the onset of the game, our Lady ‘Stangs went on a 16-0 run, opening up a 19-4 lead before Scott would score next, with 2:32 remaining in the half. With :35 seconds remaining in the second period, and Brossart on top 26-11, Madam Momentum climbed into a Blue uniform and they reeled off 11 straight points that included a Noelle Price 3-Pointer at the buzzer ending the half, narrowing the margin to 25-16, and the Lady Eagles were right back in the game. Just prior to the end of the third stanza the Lady Eagles knotted the score at 28s, and found themselves down only a point at the third quarter stop. Early on in the fourth quarter we would be tied at 38s, but this was as close as the home team, which was the visiting team on the scoreboard, would come. The double bonus became our friend down the stretch where we would hit 9 of 11 free-throws to hold the Lady Eagles at bay. Included in that string of charity tosses was Senior Zoee Meyers’ 1,000th career point. She promptly tacked on Number 1,001. Zoee led all scorers with 16 points, after having scored our first 8 points of the game. Graylee Kremer put up 12, including a pair of blue-chip 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Noelle Price led the Lady Eagles with 13, and Kala Peterson 10. The Lady Eagles graduate five seniors.
The win was our 23rd of the season against 7 losses. The win earns our girls a date with Campbell County back at Scott High School on Wednesday night in the 37th District Championship Game at 7:30pm. It also earns us a spot in the upcoming 10th Region Tournament next week at the Campbell County Middle School.