With the first week of the basketball season in the books, it means the weekly basketball column is back!
Each week we’ll take a look at what happened the past week on the hardcourt in Northern Kentucky and highlight big performances, milestones, program records, coaching milestones and from time to time take a peak at the college ranks.
Here goes:
Pernell sets 3-point record at SK
Simon Kenton junior guard Brynli Pernell recently set the program record for career 3-pointers made. In their 73-32 win over Mercy on Saturday at Hoops 4 Harvest at Dixie Heights, Pernell knocked down her 238th career 3-pointer. Pernell hit 3-of-4 attempts in the game.
With another year to go, Pernell will shatter the record and should finish well over 300 career 3-pointers made. As far as the state record? She’s almost halfway to Highlands’ Jaime Walz record of 539 three-pointers made for the Bluebirds from 1991-96. Walz’s record is now in its 30th season.
Davie nets triple-double in Camels first game
In Campbell County’s season-opening victory over Dixie Heights, Camels sophomore Austin Davie netted a triple double of 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Davie is coming off a freshman year where he led the Camels in scoring with 17.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Expect big things ahead for the Camels sophomore.
Finn Louden hits 1k
Conner senior Finn Louden entered the season 39 points shy of 1,000 for his career and didn’t waste any time hitting the milestone. After scoring 32 in the season-opening win over Simon Kenton, he scored 25 in the Cougars second game, an 80-70 victory over St. Henry.
Louden missed the Cougars third game with an injury, a loss to Holy Cross. The Cougars play two games this week, at home against Campbell County on Tuesday and in the John Turner Classic at Newport on Saturday against Elder at 1:45 p.m.
Walker gets 100th victory at Lloyd
Lloyd Memorial boys basketball coach Mike Walker entered the season needing a win for the 100th of his career and did so on opening night against Pendleton County.
Walker enters his sixth season of the program and has completely turned things around in Erlanger. After a 7-11 season his first year, they’ve won 92 games the past four seasons which included three straight district championships, four straight trips to the region semifinals and a region championship appearance last year, their first since 1996.
The Juggernauts are off to a 2-1 start with road games at Ryle and Boone County this week on Wednesday and Saturday.
Smith on Birds staff
Remember the name LaBradford Smith? He played in college at Louisville and was a first round pick for the Washington Bullets in 1991.
He had a 10-year professional career with the Bullets, Sacramento Kings and overseas. His claim to fame is he dropped 37 points against Michael Jordan and the Bulls in a game. He’s now in Fort Thomas and an assistant coach with the Highlands girls basketball team.
Hoops 4 Harvest
It was a high quality basketball day at Dixie Heights on Saturday at Hoops 4 Harvest. Dixie Heights, Campbell County, Simon Kenton, Ryle and Cooper took on top teams from Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky in the eight-game slate.
Cooper battled against the No. 1 ranked team in Indiana, Lawrence Central, falling just short in a 51-49 defeat. Cooper trailed 42-32 after three quarters and mounted a comeback, outscoring Central 17-9 in the fourth. Alivia Scott led Cooper with 20 points and nine rebounds.
Example Academy out of Illinois, took down Dixie Heights, 52-44 in the second game of the day. Asia Carner led Dixie with 19 points.
After George Rogers Clark dismantled West Jessamine in the third, game, Ryle lost a tight one to Lawrence Central (Indiana) playing their second game of the day. Central won 46-45. Jaelyn Jones led Ryle with 17 points.
The final two games were Frederick Douglass vs Campbell County and Simon Kenton vs Mercy. The Camels battled a tough Broncos team, losing 61-52. Isabella Jayasuriya had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead Campbell.
Simon Kenton disposed of Mercy, 73-32. Haylie Webb had 25 points and nine rebounds to pace the Lady Pioneers.
College scene
Miami (Ohio) is off to an 8-0 start and Covington Catholic grad Evan Ipsaro is a big reason why. He leads the Redhawks in scoring with 14.8 points per game. He’s shooting 61% from the field, 43% from three and 86% from the free throw line. He has a better than 3/1 assist to turnover ratio and 13 steals on the season.
Cooper grad Whitney Lind has missed the past five games and it’s unfortunate because she was off to a strong start in her junior year. She opened the season with 26 points against Cincinnati and scored 54 points in the first four games. She also posted five rebounds a contest. Her last game played was November 15 against Vermont.
Hoosier Gym
Many teams in Northern Kentucky have been able to take part in the Hoosier Gym experience, the gym in Knightstown, Indiana where the famed movie “Hoosiers” took place. Four more NKY teams will take in the gym on Saturday as St. Henry will play Newport Central Catholic. The girls game starts at 4 p.m., the boys game will take place at 6 p.m.
Looking ahead
While there’s several big games on the docket this week, none of them carry more meaning than Holy Cross girls playing at Notre Dame on Wednesday. It’s an early district game for the two expected to battle for the 35th District title come late February. They’ve faced one another in the district championship the past seven seasons, Notre Dame having won six of those seven meetings. Holy Cross has won two of the last three regular season meetings. Notre Dame enters with a 2-0 record, Holy Cross at 3-0.
New team in Independence
Did you know there’s a new high school basketball team in Independence? Community Christian Academy is a K-12 school with a total of 237 students. They don’t have a roster on the KHSAA website, but opened the season with a 74-53 loss to Newport last week.
They have seven games on the KHSAA website schedule, playing Taft (Ohio), Scott, Campbell County and Flyght Academy (Ohio).