OK, today in the second half of the first round of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association girls’ basketball tournament, we are rolling with the 27-7 Pikeville Lady Panthers vs. the 31-4 Barren County Trojanettes. Neither has ever won the state championship, so I am rooting for both of them.
But I’ve spent most of my life closer to Barren County than I have Pikeville, so I guess I’m rooting more for the Trojanettes.
Here’s a picture I took in Pikeville somewhere between 25 and 30 years ago.
And now here are a bunch of pictures I took while on vacation at Barren River State Resort Park in Lucas, an unincorporated communtiy in Barren County.
Turning to sports, I've been derelict in figuring out what's happening in the state high-school basketball tournaments. We're deep into regionals in both the boys' and girls' tournaments.
The biggest news out of the district and regional rounds thus far came Wednesday: As previously reported, unranked Edgewood Dixie Heights over state-No. 1 Hebron Conner in the Ninth Region girls' tournament. That presumably leaves No. 2 Scott County as the new #khsgbk favorite. Here have been the Cardinals' scores in he 42nd District and 11th Region tournaments so far: 99-59, 88-57 and 71-35. Up next for Scott County is Franklin County in an regional semi Sunday evening at Eastern Kentucky University.
But maybe No. 3 Boyd County should be considered the team to beat. The Lady Lions were a semifinalist in the state tournament last year, and they were No. 3 in the final state Associated Press poll this season--neither 2018 champ Mercer County nor runner-up Louisville Mercy received votes for this year's last poll. Boyd opens play in the 16th Region tournament at Morehead State University tomorrow.
The only girls' game tonight involving a team in the AP top 10 actually involves two of them: No. 7 Louisville Sacred Heart and No. 10 Louisville Male are going at it--right now, I think--in a Seventh Region tilt at Bellarmine University.
The boys' tournaments are where most of the action is tonight and tomorrow:
-- No. 1 Elizabethtown John Hardin vs. Marion County in the Fifth Region at Hart County High at 7:45 Eastern tonight
-- No. 2. Scott County vs. No. 8 Lexington Henry Clay in the 11th Region championship at Eastern Kentucky University at 8 Eastern tonight
-- No. 3. Hopkinsville University Heights just finished blitzing Caldwell County High in a Second Region semifinal at Madisonville-North Hopkins High, 96-60
-- No. 4 Louisville Trinity vs. Louisville Ballard in the Seventh Region championship at Louisville Valley High at 7 Eastern Saturday
-- No. 6. Covington Catholic vs. Newport in the Ninth Region at BB&T Arena at Northern Kentucky University at 8 Eastern tonight
-- No. 7 Campbell County won, 74-51, at Mason County High in the 10th Region earlier this evening
-- No. 9 London South Laurel vs. London North Laurel in the 13th Region at Corbin Arena, which was scheduled to tip at 7:30 p.m. Eastern tonight
-- No. 10 McCracken County vs. Murray in the First Region at Murray State University, which was scheduled to tip at 6:30 tonight
No. 5 Louisville Waggener is the only member of the last AP top 10 to be eliminated. Ballard beat the Wildcats in the Seventh tournament, subverting what would've been a 4/5 matchup with Trinity in tomorrow's regional final.
Back to Campbell County's win at Mason County tonight, it was the last broadcast for Danny Weddle of a game involving the home team (and his alma mater) on Maysville's WFTM. Last week, they honored Weddle before a game--noting that over the last 40 years he did the radio play-by-play on all 15 of Mason County's 10th Region championships and both state championships, playing over the public-address system recordings of several local coaches saying nice things about him and then bringing Weddle's wife and three daughters out to meet him at midcourt. Then they unveiled a freshly painted spot along media row:
DANNY WEDDLE
1979 2019
VOICE OF THE ROYALS
A big radio microphone appears between the two years.
"It's been a blast. It's been a blessing," he said as he signed off from tonight's Royals' loss (and WFTM rolled right back into "Head Over Heals" by Tears for Fears). Congratulations, Danny Weddle, and way to go, Mason County High!
