The return of Simon Kenton High School girls basketball coach Jeff Stowers is going well, as expected. After two seasons away from the head job, all the hallmarks of a Stowers-coached team are already there: tough schedule, many wins despite it, loads of talent, unselfish team play, tough defense and solid shooting.
“I would say it’s going OK,” Stowers said. “There are always plenty of things to work on and get better at.”
One of those areas is rebounding. The Pioneers are averaging 19.3 rebounds per game. Haylie Webb, a 5-foot-10 junior post player, leads the team with 6.9 boards. Just one other player, 5-11 junior forward Anna Kelch at 3.1, averages 2.7 or more. The Pioneers averaged 32.2 rebounds per game last season.
Simon Kenton is doing a lot of things right during a 12-3 start, including playing its brand of suffocating man-to-man defense. Coach Stowers continues to fine-tune the Pioneers on that side. The offense has improved in several areas, especially shooting. But Stowers is vexed by the team’s lack of rebounding, something that usually comes along with the Pioneers’ hard-nosed defense.
Stowers has tried lots of things to get Simon Kenton going on the boards. With a month to go until postseason play begins, he is reaching deep into his trick bag to help out his team.
“This week in practice we’re going to put bubbles on both rims and rebounds are now points,” the coach said Tuesday morning. “It’s a 5-on-5 drill, and we’ll start at half court to get everybody used to it then extend it to full court. The girls who win will get a prize. The girls who don’t win will run. Hopefully, everybody will get better at rebounding.”
Stowers says few things work better than “pointifying rebounds.”
“They get a point for a rebound and a point for a block-out,” said Stowers, who further divvies the points by noting how much the ball hits the floor. “Now they’re thinking about, how do I get this rebound. Read the ball off the rim, get position and block out. Then get the rebound.”
The coach said the rebound is a hustle stat for a reason, and he needs to see more hustle on the boards from a team that takes pride in hustling. Brynli Pernell, his 5-foot-4 sophomore star, totally gets it.
“She’s got the heart of a lion,” coach Stowers said. “Excellent shooter, good defender and a great floor leader. She will help us get better.”
Even though Pernell is a little short on height, plays in the backcourt and leads the team in scoring, she knows she can help the team by improving on her 2.4 rebounds per game.
“Sometimes, it’s tough because I’m the leak-out person and I’m heading down court,” Pernell said. “But I can stay back a little bit to see if there’s a rebound. My coach is really motivating me.”
Chalk it up to good old-fashion Stowers coaching power. It’s something college recruit Bella Ober appreciates and welcomes.
“Just get in the right position and be more aggressive and help Haylie out,” said Ober, a freshman forward. “I feel really good about it because we’re all so close. Our coaching is helping us improve.”
Stowers has a history of making teams better in part through creative resourcefulness and sheer force of will. The coach broke out the bubble rim drill during Tuesday afternoon practice. A full 30 minutes of a 90-minute practice were dedicated to the drill.
“We spent a lot of time on it,” said Pernell, who was completely gassed after practice. “I’m pretty tired but it should work.”
Coach Stowers ran the drill with a 35-second shot clock for each new possession. The Pioneers’ next contest is slated for Saturday against Meade County at Mercy Academy’s Raatz Fence/O’Shea’s Basketball Classic. Games at the event are using an experimental shot clock. Tuesday’s workout at Simon Kenton helps solve two tasks at the same time.
“Next week, we’ll do more of the bubble rim drill at full court but without the running clock, and I might do that once a week” said Stowers. “We’ll still be working on our 10-second offense because we need to learn to find a way to score with eight seconds left and not be looking to pass the ball.”
There will be more tinkering, tweaks and drills until Stowers achieves his aim. The coach prefers to take the long view and therefore the regular season is nothing but a less important preview of the all-important postseason. When it comes to preparing for the district and regional tournaments, there’s no better time than the present, according to Stowers.
It’s a philosophy that’s guided Stowers for years, going back to the days when he was coaching boys at Seven Hills in Cincinnati. Stowers coached girls for 20 seasons at Simon Kenton up until 2022, when he became a Pioneers assistant. He stepped aside for two seasons in order for his son Brenden Stowers, a Pioneers girls assistant and former boys standout, to gain experience as a head coach.
When the elder Stowers left the head coaching job after the 2021-22 season, he had a career record of 427-180 at Simon Kenton. He has won five Eighth Region championships, earned six regional runner-up finishes and captured 10 32nd District crowns. He has 539 career wins combined in Kentucky girls basketball and Ohio boys basketball.
The younger Stowers recorded a 40-26 record in his two seasons with a 32nd District tournament championship and an 8th Region tournament crown. He was subsequently hired last year as a women’s assistant at Northern Kentucky University where he’s working with first-year head coach Jeff Hans, formerly at Thomas More University. The move at NKU handed the baton back to Jeff Stowers at Simon Kenton.
With the elder Stowers back at the controls, the Pioneers started fast against a murderous schedule. This includes an 11-1 stretch that followed a loss to George Rogers Clark, ranked second in the statewide media poll. The No. 12 state-ranked Pioneers put together a five-game winning streak and a six-game streak, with the only loss in that span coming against state No. 6 Franklin-Simpson. Simon Kenton’s other loss came against No. 5 North Laurel.
In between are wins over state No. 9 Bethlehem and No. 14 Notre Dame Academy. The Pioneers also defeated Dixie Heights, ranked No. 5 in the 9th Region, and Grant County, ranked No. 4 in the 8th. They have beaten 9th Region power Ryle, 6th Region stalwart Butler and the 3rd Region’s Daviess County, a 21-game winner last season.
The unselfish, hard-nosed style of play is back although it never really left under the younger Stowers. Under the elder Stowers, things are a little bit more pronounced.
“I preach defense,” Jeff Stowers said. “We play hard. If you don’t play hard, you don’t play.”
The Pioneers’ regular playing rotation includes seven dedicated players. There are three talented middle school players, two from the Niece and Krohman college basketball-playing families, who will eventually make a significant impact. The Pioneers spread the ball around on offense, just like always. They whip it around in search of a good shot, their forte. They pass up decent shots for better ones just like all good Simon Kenton teams do.
In Pernell, the Pioneers have a go-to scorer, something that always seems to be in Simon Kenton’s arsenal. The Pioneers have a pair of point guards, Pernell and Ober, who has been offered by NKU. Simon Kenton always seems to have a girl who is coveted by local colleges and plenty of girls who can handle the rock. Pernell averages a team-best 15.9 points per game. Next are Webb (9.4), Ober (8.4) and Kelch (8.3).
Shooting percentages are up across the board. The Pioneers are shooting nearly 40% from the field, 34% on 3-point attempts, and 70% on free throws. Last year those numbers were approximately 37% from the field, 27% on 3-pointers, and 64% from the free throw line.
Pernell and Webb both shoot about 45% from the field, leading the team. From 3-point range, Katie Blevins (40%), Pernell (38.9%), Kaelly Niece (37.5%), and Ober (35.5%) are the mainstays. Four players are shooting better than 70% on free throws, led by junior defensive stopper Meg Gadzala (85.7%), Ober (80.6%) and Pernell (77.1%).
On defense, the Pioneers are in opponents’ faces. They don’t give an inch and when they do, they usually regain it. Against Simon Kenton’s switching man-to-man, it’s tough to put up a good, high-percentage shot on a consistent basis. As a result, the Pioneers are surrendering just 42.1 points per game, ranking in the state top 30. While excellent, that number is actually down significantly from last season’s average yield of a very respectable 48.2.
The Pioneers function smoothly and efficiently because of the effective coordination of their parts, according to Pernell. The lasting effect is soaring team confidence.
“If you feel like you don’t have enough self-confidence, coach Stowers for sure is going to build it up,” said Pernell. “That’s so important on defense and with rebounding. We take defense very seriously and we’ll do that with rebounding.”
To Simon Kenton opponents, it must seem like some nights there is a lid on the basket. Well, this week there will be a lid on the basket in Pioneers practices to cure the one thing that ails them — rebounding.
“If we don’t rebound, I hope we’re scoring points,” coach Stowers said. “The goals are winning the region and making a run at state. We need to rebound better. So, we’re going to work on it.”