This story originally appeared in the Feb. 9 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here.
Addy Garrett has some big days ahead of her. The Ludlow High School girls basketball player is closing in on 100 career games and 1,000 points.
“I know I’m getting close,” she said.
It takes time, effort and sacrifice to reach such lofty milestones. Yet Garrett is only a sophomore for the Ludlow girls basketball team. Furthermore, the point guard is just now coming into her own for the Panthers after stepping out from the shadow cast by her sister, Ludlow’s fourth all-time leading scorer, Mylee Garrett, now playing at Berea College.
“Her sister was our point guard for five years,” Ludlow coach Blake Clary said. “We’ve asked Addy to take over primary ball-handling duties. We’ve asked her to take another step.”
Mission accomplished.
Garrett is not only running the show for the Panthers, she’s upped her scoring average from last season’s 11.6 points per game to this season’s team-leading 15.2. She’s getting more of her teammates involved by distributing the basketball far more than she used to, and her defense has improved.
“She has grown so much,” Clary said.
Yet Garrett’s prep journey is far from complete. She has two more years of play after this season.
“We have goals,” she said. “We want to win games and we know we can win games.”
This assertion by Garrett has merit.
Ludlow had a 14-9 record through January. The Panthers were 12-4 against 9th Region opponents. They were 4-1 against 34th District foes.
Ludlow is a small school playing much bigger schools. In the Panthers’ own district, they have to contend with Dixie Heights, which has an enrollment nearly twice that of Ludlow.
Against teams their own size, the Panthers were 4-1 as the February slate got underway. That was their record against fellow Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference Division III squads. The Panthers were looking for at least a share of the NKAC Division III regular season championship for the sixth straight season. Coming into this season, they were the two-time defending NKAC D-3 tournament champions hoping for further advancement in the postseason.
Helping them get there are Garrett and her teammates. After starting the season 2-4, the Panthers reeled off 11 wins in their next 14 games.
Ludlow’s regular rotation also includes Olivia King (9.5 points per game), Prestyn King, (5.7 ppg), Ava Hoffmeister (7.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg), Cheree Pence (6.3 ppg) and Lilly Dehnert (4.7 rpg).
The Panthers have seven seniors, some spirited role players and the next great Garrett.
As the calendar flipped to February, Garrett was up to 92 career games and 828 points, according to statistics kept by the KHSAA. She was on pace to reach 1,000 points sometime over her next 12 games.
At that point in the schedule, Ludlow had a chance to play 12 more games, requiring advancement out of the 34th District tournament and a win in the 9th Region tournament to get there.
That sounds pretty good to coach Clary, a 2004 Ludlow graduate. The 37-year-old has yet to guide the Panthers to an appearance in the 9th Region tournament as a head coach. The last time they made it was in 2022, when Clary was an assistant under current Ludlow boys basketball coach Aaron Stamm.
Back then, the Panthers had both Garrett sisters dismantling opponents. Addy Garrett has been playing with the Ludlow varsity since she was a seventh-grader. As her sister plies her craft at Berea, the remaining Garrett wants to take care of some unfinished business at Ludlow.
“The main goal is to be the No. 1 seed in the district,” she said.
District dominator Dixie Heights is in the way. But the Panthers continue to be the little team that can because coach Clary, Garrett and the girls continue to uphold the program’s ability to be successful despite every obstacle in their way.
“I like our ability to get past defenders with the dribble-drive,” said Clary, a third-generation coach. His father, Mark Clary, currently coaches the Summit View seventh-grade boys basketball team in Independence. His grandfather, Benny Clary, is a legendary figure at Ludlow after running game clocks for 50 years at Panthers basketball games.
“I also think we can shoot from outside,” the coach said of his squad. “We’re doing a better job driving and kicking. Defensively, we’re getting better.”
Garrett is central to all aspects. But she is far from alone in carving the Panthers’ identity. They have a passel of players with a propensity to come up big when the team needs them.
Pence has scored a season-high 21 points in a game. Olivia King has scored 19 points twice. Garrett scored a season-high 32 against Lloyd.
“On any given night, we have two or three girls who can step into that scoring role,” Clary said. “There is a lot of comfort with the confidence I have in all our players.”