It will have to wait a week, but there’s potential for an All-NKY boys and girls final in the All ” A” state tournament.
The Walton-Verona and Newport boys and the Bishop Brossart and Holy Cross girls took care of business in the quarterfinals on Friday to advance to next week’s semifinals, postponed a week due to the impending winter storm set to hit this weekend. All four are on opposite sides of the bracket setting up the potential for two title tilts between NKY schools. The semifinals will be played Feb. 1 with the championship games later in the day back at the Owensboro Sportscenter.
The Feb. 1 schedule is as follows:
Updated Schedule – Sunday, February 1 (Central Time) –
Girls’ Semifinals
Owensboro Catholic (15-5) vs Bishop Brossart (20-1), 8:00 a.m.
Lexington Christian Academy (15-5) vs Holy Cross (16-2), 9:30 a.m.
Boys’ Semifinals
Caverna (14-5) vs Walton-Verona (13-7), 11:00 a.m.
Newport (13-4) vs Lyon County (15-5), 12:30 p.m.
Girls’ Championship: 3:00 p.m.
Boys’ Championship: 4:30 p.m.
BOYS
Walton-Verona 66, Martin County 59
The Bearcats knocked down 12 three-pointers as they took down the Cardinals in Friday’s quarterfinal.
Clay Shearer (20 points), Adam Gutman (18 points) and Wyatt Shearer (17 points) combined for 55 points in the victory as the team distributed the ball with 16 assists on 26 made baskets. Wyatt Shearer led with eight assists, adding 11 rebounds along with Tatum Thornberry. Cole Dryden pulled down nine rebounds, Clay Shearer with eight as they dominated the rebounding battle 42-22.
Walton-Verona (13-7) held Martin County standout Braxton Keathley to 9-of-23 shooting from the field with 22 points.
The Bearcats overcame another slow start, trailing by 10 in the first and fell behind 18-12 after one. They regrouped quickly to trail 32-31 at the half before taking a 48-43 lead into the fourth. Walton-Verona led by as much as 11 in the fourth before closing the contest out despite going 2-of-11 from the free throw line on the night.
Newport 55, Harlan 54
The cardiac ‘Cats were back at it again on Friday as they pulled out another one-possession victory in overtime against Harlan.
Trailing by six with under three minutes remaining, Newport (13-4) answered with an 8-0 run to get the game to overtime where they survived with a one-point victory. It comes a day after Amontae Lowe beat the buzzer in a first round win over Lexington Christian and also follows a three-point victory over Holy Cross in the 9th Region All “A” championship game.
Irvan Nichols led Newport with 15 points and seven rebounds, hitting 7-of-9 shots from the field. Amontae Lowe followed with 12 points while Keegan Farrell and DeMarco Jackson added nine, Davae Andrews-Glover rounding out the balanced attack with eight points.
Newport won the rebounding battle 36-27 and a 18-6 edge in second chance points. The Wildcats started strong with a 11-6 lead after one and 21-14 by halftime. Harlan rallied in the third to trim the deficit to 33-30 after three and took a 44-38 lead late into the fourth before the Wildcats comeback.
GIRLS
Holy Cross 59, Lyon County 47
Holy Cross used a 29-0 run from the first into the second quarter to build a comfortable lead and advance to next week’s semifinals.
Jai Johnson led the way with 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals while Alyssa Arlinghaus and Riley Eberhard also stuffed the stat sheet. Arlinghaus had 17 points with five rebounds and two assists while Eberhard had 13 points to go with seven rebounds and three steals.
Lyon County opened with the game’s first four points before the mammoth Holy Cross run and eventually taking a 39-24 lead into the half. Lyon County got within 10 in the third, but could inch no closer from there.
Holy Cross had 14 assists on 19 made baskets.
Bishop Brossart 63, Danville Christian 34
The Lady ‘Stangs raced out to a 36-19 halftime lead and never looked back in picking up their 20th win of the season (20-1).
They eventually got the game to a running clock in the fourth as they were paced by Kylie Smith’s 21 point, seven steal effort. Greylee Kramer added 20 points as she hit 4-of-6 attempts from deep while Hadley Eviston added 15 points with five rebounds. Lilee Meyers and Rachel Shewmaker combined for 12 assists.
Brossart held a 27-3 advantage in points off turnovers and outscored DCA 30-10 in the paint.