Simon Kenton’s basketball philosophy is simple.
Just Be Us.
Those two words are working well enough. The Eighth Region champion Pioneers meet 16th Region winner Ashland in the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls Sweet 16® first round at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
Simon Kenton (31-2) coach Jeff Stowers coined the phrase after Simon Kenton’s 58-37 semifinal win over Spencer County when the Pioneers trailed, 13-10, with a minute left in the first quarter.
“Everything we’ve done – know our offense, know our defense, play hard is the first thing you do … and we always say ‘Just be us’,” Stowers said.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, Simon Kenton has done a lot: compiling a 31-2 record, staying undefeated against Kentucky teams, averaging 59.9 points a game, and allowing only 38.0.
The Pioneers’ closest call to remaining unblemished in the Commonwealth was a 53-47 win Feb. 9 at Frederick Douglass and a 56-49 victory Feb. 13 at five-time champion Louisville Sacred Heart.
Stowers wasn’t worried.
“You’re always gonna get somebody’s best punch on their own floor,” he said. “It’s a quality opponent, they’re playing at home, so they’re gonna play with a lot more sense of urgency. They’re gonna have the crowd behind them.”
Junior Brynli Pernell averages 17.7 points a game, and senior Haylie Webb is next at 13.0 and a team-high 7.4 rebounds.
Stowers said eighth-grader Angela Kabeya is one of the most improved players he has, and not just for her 8.8 points.
“We lost probably our best defender in (senior) Megan Gadzala,” Stowers said. “And what we lost in her defense, we’re getting probably half of that from Angela … but we’re getting more points.”
Ashland’s run included a tournament-record 14 three-pointers in a 76-33 semifinal win over Menifee County, but folks may still be talking at Slim Chickens or Fat Patty’s restaurants about the final against Russell because Ashland (26-5) overcame a 12-point deficit with seven minutes left by uncorking a 20-4 run on the Red Devils.
Kittens coach Stacy Davis told the Ashland Daily Independent the ability to get the right shot rather than the first shot paid dividends down the stretch in the 53-49 win.
“I think that was the difference in us winning the ball game, really, besides the defensive part,” Davis said. “In the first half, some didn’t look to score, and we took shots when we shouldn’t have and didn’t take shots when we should have. We always talked about, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get a good shot.’ And that’s what we told them here: it’s got to be a good shot. And they did.”
Ashland averaged 62 points a game and allowed 45.5. Senior Gabby Karle leads the team with 14.8 points a game, junior Brookelyn Duckwyler is next at 13.1, and senior Aryanna Gulley is third at 11.8.
Gulley averaged 8.5 rebounds, junior Alexis Troxler had 6.2, and Karle added 5.7.
Simon Kenton, ranked third in the final Kentucky Elite 16 media poll, won’t see Sacred Heart this week (second-rankedAssumption knocked off the Valkyries in the Seventh Region finals), but a Saturday semifinal against No. 1 George Rogers Clark or No. 7 North Laurel is a possibility. (The Cardinals and Jaguars meet in the final first round game at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.)
Stowers isn’t nervous about Ashland – or anything else.
“They have a lot of athleticism,” he said. “We’ll break down everything else that they do here in the next day or so, so it’s always fresh in our mind, and basically see what they do – and then do what we do.”