In one of the more contentious games that our Lady ‘Stangs have played this year, we were able to prevail 61-55 over Nicholas County , win our fifteenth 10th Region “A” Title, and punched our ticket to net week’s All “A” State Tournament in Owensboro, where we will face Green County at 11:30am on Wednesday. While this might have bene the fifteenth for our girls, it was the first one for their coach, Aaron Stamm, who has spent his career in the 9th Region at Ludlow, or at Conner, who does not qualify for the All “A”.

This game versus the Lady Jackets, who feature only two blue-chip upperclassmen, and nine 7th, 8th and 9th graders, on paper shouldn’t be able to compete with our more experienced, older, Lady ‘Stangs, But they did, leading 18-13 after a period of play, and we found ourselves tied at 31s at halftime.  A one-point lead at 42-41 with eight minutes left to play didn’t exactly exude confidence in making the trip to Owensboro next week.  Our experience and strength of schedule paid off in the final quarter, as we hit our free-throws and Graylee Kramer put up 7 points down the stretch.  This game saw ten ties and fifteen lead changes before we were able to break a 47-47 tie, opening a late game lead at 54-49, and then drawing off to a 61-55 victory.  Kylie Smith led the Lady ‘Stangs with 21 points.  Lillie Myers added 15, and Greylee Kramer 10, as we improve to 17-1 on the campaign. Lilee Meyers, Kylie Smith, and Greylee Kremer were all named to the All-Tournament Team.  The Lady ‘Stangs have two regular season engagements scheduled before their date with destiny in Owensboro.  The Simon Kenton game, slated for Saturday at home has been rescheduled (see below), but our commitment to face Mason County in the MLK Showcase at Bracken County H.S. on Monday will be honored.

On the Boys side, Nicholas County came out on fire, opening a quick 9-2 lead, before Brady Boruske came off the bench, scoring four field goals, along with six points from Beckett Kuntz, which resulted in cutting the Jackets lead to 19-14 at the end of the first quarter, and 19-17 when Beckett hit a “3” to start the second quarter.  From that juncture, Nicholas County used its size and girth to get the ball to the rim, and victimized us for 20 points to our 8, allowing them to build a seemingly insurmountable 39-24 halftime lead.  A 6-0 Jackets run to open the second half, provoked a Ben Franzen time-out, that effectively stemmed the tide, and sent us on a mission, which saw us cut the Jackets lead to 12 at 52-40 after three quarters. Full court pressure resulted in our further closing the gap to 60-53 with 3:09 to play in the game, and had Nicholas County hearing footsteps.  The Jackets hit shots down the stretch when they needed them and knocked home free-throws needed to hold us at bay and win their first 10th Region “A” title sine 1994.  The Jackets will play Harlan on Thursday at 6:30pm.  Beckett Kuntz and Nick Cozzi were named to the All-Tournament Team.  Our Mustangs will be back in action Monday night when we travel to Warsaw, for a bout with the Gallatin County Wildcats.