Newport and Walton-Verona on the boys side and Holy Cross and Bishop Brossart on the girls side will make the long drive to Owensboro over the next 24 hours for the All “A” state tournament set to begin on Wednesday.
The eight first round girls games will be played on Wednesday, the boys first round games played on Thursday. All games will take place at the Owensboro Sportscenter.
Quarterfinals are Friday, semifinals Saturday with the championship to be played Sunday.
Northern Kentucky has fared well not only in recent years, but the history of the tournament. Since the inception of the tournament in 1990 started by NKY’s own Stan Steidel, 10 boys teams have won an All “A” state title starting with Newport Central Catholic in 2000. The Thoroughbreds also won from 2013-15, St. Henry won titles in 2003, 2020 and 2021, Bishop Brossart won in 2007, Holy Cross won one in 2012 and Newport in 2024.
Six girls teams have claimed a title starting with Bishop Brossart in 1999, Newport Central Catholic in 2010, Walton-Verona in 2012 and Holy Cross in 2015, 2023 and 2024.
Here’s the outlook for each NKY team headed to Owensboro:
BOYS
Newport (11-4, vs Lexington Christian Academy, Thursday, 5 p.m. CST)
The 2024 All “A” state champs enter the tournament healthy, something that hasn’t really happened much this year.
As they’ve navigated through ankle injuries, concussions and illness, the Wildcats have won four in a row and may have surprised quite a few with their regional championship win over Holy Cross.
“We’re just playing freely,” Wildcats coach Rod Snapp said. “We’ve felt relaxed and comfortable. That hasn’t always been the case with us in these tournaments.”
Their floor leader Amontae Lowe has steadied things, putting up 22 points per game and doing so efficiently by hitting 42% of his 3-point attempts and 75% from the free throw line. From there it’s been someone different every night as complimentary pieces.
Irvan Nichols, Davae Andrews-Glover, DeMarco Jackson, Sean Hurry, Keegan Farrell, Dontae Holder and Logen Petty have all had their key moments throughout the season and help round out the rotation.
“It helps make it unpredictable,” Snapp said. “I press them all to go get an offensive rebound or a steal early to help get them going. That means they’re playing hard and anticipating.”
Whenever Newport struggles on the offensive end, and it happens, they can certainly rely on their defense. They allow just 49.2 points per game and hope the defense travels well for them.
The Wildcats open up with Lexington Christian Academy on Thursday at 5 p.m. CST.
Walton-Verona (11-7, vs Somerset, Thursday, 11:30 a.m. CST)
The Bearcats return to Owensboro and will get to see a familiar face in doing so as they’ll practice at University of Evansville on Wednesday and pay a visit to current Purple Ace Aaron Gutman, Walton-Verona’s all-time leading scorer.
They’ll then get set to face Somerset in the first round on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. CST.
Making the Bearcats a dangerous team in this thing is their balance, four of their five starters average at least 10.3 points per game led by Wyatt Shearer’s 12.9 points per game. Cole Dryden (12.4), Adam Gutman (11.4) and Tatum Thornberry (10.3) aren’t too far behind.
“When we can get all those guys going collectively we have a chance to be pretty good,” Bearcats coach Mike Hester said. “We saw a glimpse of what that looks like against Owen County (in the 8th Region All “A” championship).”
Walton-Verona feels they’ve battle-tested themselves enough through the first half of the season to be prepared for this tournament. They’ve taken on the likes of big schools Covington Catholic, South Oldham, Dixie Heights, Henry Clay and Collins.
“We do that to try and give us a variety of different looks because we don’t know what we’ll see when we get down there,” Hester said.
They’re making their 11th trip to the All “A” state tournament, still in search of their first state title. They made the finals once in 2018.
GIRLS
Holy Cross (14-2, vs Kentucky Country Day, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. CST)
When D’Myah Williams went down with a season ending knee injury on Dec. 22 in an overtime loss to Campbell County, Indians coach Ted Arlinghaus told his team they could do one of two things.
“We had a conversation and we told them the season goes in one or two directions… we either feel sorry for ourself or make our own run,” Arlinghaus said. “We still feel we have three All-Region caliber players and are capable of playing good ball, just a little different style.”
Fast forward nearly a month and Holy Cross hasn’t lost since, heading into Wednesday’s first round matchup against Kentucky Country Day with a 14-2 record and a seven-game winning streak.
The Indians are literally a play or two away from coming into the tournament undefeated as the lone two losses have come in overtime to Notre Dame and the Camels.
With the loss of Williams, the team’s leading scorer at the time with just over 16 points per game, others have stepped up like Jai Johnson, Alyssa Arlinghaus and Riley Eberhard. Johnson puts up 13.3 points per game and was named the MVP of the 9th Region All “A” tournament. Arlinghaus is at 12.7 points per game and leads the team in rebounding (5.5 rebounds per game) and assists with just over five per game.
Alyssa Arlinghaus (3) helps the Indians attack as she leads the team in rebounds and assists. Photo provided | Charles Bolton
“They’ve really shouldered a lot of the responsibility,” Arlinghaus said. “Jai with her scoring, Alyssa with her rebounding and assists and just doing a lot of things you don’t see in the box score.”
Eberhard provides 8.1 points and 4.8 rebounds a contest while Avery Sturgeon (7.2 points per game) and Paige Arlinghaus (4.2 ppg) have also helped chip in. Johnson, Arlinghaus and Sturgeon provide the perimter threat, combining to hit on 83 three-pointers this season.
Holy Cross will look for their third All “A” state title in four years and enter the tournament as the highest ranked team in the field, Bishop Brossart just one spot below them at 15th and 16th, respectively, in the most recent statewide media poll.
They open with 7th Region champion Kentucky Country Day.
If Holy Cross can cut down the nets on Sunday, they’d be the first program in All “A” history to do so four times.
Bishop Brossart (18-1, vs Green County, Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. CST)
Travel is nothing new to this Bishop Brossart team. On the road again they go to Owensboro looking for their first All “A” state title since 1999.
After having six of their first nine games at home to start the season, they’ve had just one home game over the last month with trips to Allen County-Scottsville and Bracken County four times.
“It’s been a hectic few weeks,” Lady ‘Stangs head coach Aaron Stamm said. “But this is an experienced group and they make my job easy. I’m just the backseat driver to all this.”
As far as the front seat drivers, Stamm can turn to his starting five as the captains. It starts with Kylie Smith and her 18.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game as she showcases an all-around game on a nightly basis. Then there’s others who specialize in their roles, like Greylee Kramer and her 12.2 points per game thanks to 39 made 3-pointers this season.
Rachel Shewmaker does a lot of the dirty work, averaging 8.3 points and 7.4 rebounds while Shewmaker and Hadley Eviston consistently hound the paint, Eviston pulling down 4.6 rebounds to go with her 8.1 points per game. Lilee Meyers was key in the 10th Region All “A” tournament, making the All-Tournament team and coming in averaging 7.1 points per game.
Stamm said he had a conversation with his team prior to the season and this was one of their top goals. Not only to make the All “A” state tournament, but win it. Not only do they believe, but Stamm felt like he saw it in this group going back to the fall.
“I could tell when they were on the soccer field,” Stamm said. “We have three starters (Smith, Shewmaker, Eviston) from that team and they’re just a group that gets it. No moment is too big for them.”
They’ll start the tournament off with Green County on Wednesday, champions out of the 5th Region, who took down state runner-up Bethlehem on their way here.