Lady Cat Spring Festival This Saturday: Disney Princesses, Super Heroes, Fun and Games for All3/14/2024
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Darren Doyle, story and photo:
Today, Edmonson County senior Will Alexander signed a letter of intent to play basketball for Alice Lloyd College, located in Pippa Passes, KY. Will was joined by his father, Brian Alexander, his mother, Tyra Alexander, and Alice Lloyd recruiter Brian Tackett in the ECHS auditorium for the signing. ECHS Athletic Director Kyle Pierce welcomed everyone to today's event and spoke of Will. "I can still remember Will as a little-bitty guy, coming around the courts and the ball fields. It seems he always had a ball in his hand and was playing something sports-related," Pierce said. "I'm thankful that he's grown up not only to be a good athlete, but a good student." Coach Pierce then introduced ECHS Wildcat Head Coach Trey Tinsley to speak of Will. "Looking at Will's high school career the last two years, he's hit 135 threes and close to 40% from three," Tinsley said. "The best thing about Will in the big game, he wasn't scared to shoot the big shot." Tinsley recapped some of the big games where Will delivered and then introduced former head coach Brad Johnson. "He played his best when it mattered the most," Johnson said of Will. "All players aren't like that. A lot of players are kind of scared of the moment, but Will was not scared of the moment." Alice Lloyd recruiter Brian Tackett discussed Will's work ethic, his character, and other attributes, as well as the community pride shown and felt in Edmonson County. He also delivered a statement from Scott Cornett, head basketball coach who also serves at head baseball coach, who was unable to attend. "We are excited to have Will in our program," Coach Cornett's statement read. "We love having great kids that come from wonderful families that play basketball at a high level. He'll be a great addition to our program and I can't wait to coach him." Will then took the podium and thanked everyone for their support. "I want to thank God for giving me all the opportunities I've had in my life," he said. He then thanked his parents, coaches, and friends. He then signed his letter of intent to play for the Eagles. Will finished the season with an average of 12ppg and 3rpg. Joseph Barkoff, story and photos: No one expects the Spanish Inquisition. They may not have expected Owensboro Catholic Aces to stomp effortlessly Edmonson County Wildcats in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Region 3 Tournament first round at the Owensboro Sport Center Wednesday March 6 in Owensboro. In their past 10 meetings, the Aces have been victorious in eight of those meetings, with the Wildcats only having two wins, according to stat curator and guru WildcatsLive Edmonson Voice broadcaster Jamie Carnes before the game. Under the principles of March Madness and the ever-present cliché of “anything can happen in March,” plus the similar season stats, on paper. Both teams averaged 62 points, 33 percent 3-point shooting and 68 percent free-throws, while Aces with 47 percent from the field versus 46 percent from Wildcats, according to stat curator Wildcats Live Edmonson Voice Darren Doyle said before the game. The Wildcats average rebounds exceeded the Aces, 31-28, too, Doyle said. Anything can happen and it did. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, it did not play out as well, or evenly, as the stats on paper matched. The Wildcats (14-16) end a sub .500 season, losing to the Aces (22-9) 87-55 on the road. For first year head coach Trey Tinsley, it was a positive accomplishment to take his young Wildcats to the District Championship. Long, lobbing, desperation passes under pressure are never what the coach, in any sport, draws up for the team. With only two seniors finishing the year with the team, they could be considered young, but with five seniors, six juniors and two sophomores to be next year, their time in the Regional and District Tournaments, plus the rapport that grows between players and coaches, means next year the potential to extend their play is increased exponentially. “I am a positive thinker,” Tinsley said before. The Wildcats do not have a potential Division 1 caliber starting player at their disposal so they will have to rely on each other as a team to achieve. Folks thought they would only win maybe eight games this year, Tinsley said in the Wildcats Live Postgame. While they didn’t double expectations, with 14 wins he is proud of his team. “I didn’t feel like we laid down,” Tinsley said. “We kept fighting.” Owensboro Catholic is a really good team, he said. He expects to look up and see them in the finals. The aces shot 64 percent from the field for the game, and at half time had shot 75 percent beyond the 3-point line, connecting on six 3-pointers in a row at one point. “I’m just proud of our bunch,” Tinsley said. “We’re going to continue this summer and keep working.” For two young men though, two seniors, it was their last time on the hardwood for their high school. “Those guys are fighters,” Tinsley said about seniors shooting guard Will Alexander and power forward Layne Ashley. “I mean it’s tough,” Alexander said in the locker room after the game. “It’s the end of a chapter. It’s the end of my basketball career here, but I still have more to play. But I am going to miss these guys.” “It’s been fun,” he said. “It’s been a good year.” It is bittersweet, he said. But he is excited for the next step. “Playing with the guys is always fun, but a tough loss,” Alexander said. “We’ll beat ‘em next year.” Alexander plans to attend and play basketball at Alice Lloyd College, a private college in Pippa Passes in eastern Kentucky. Layne has an offer to play at JV level with Alice Lloyd as well, said Tinsley. “I am just proud of both of them,” Tinsley said. “I love ‘em both. I think they both have bright futures ahead of them. I’m not even gonna talk about sports, just them as people. They’re just two great young men.” “It’s defeating, for sure,” junior power forward Wyatt Gravil said after the game. “But we can come out here, do it again next year, hopefully, and you know, have a better result next year. It’s all we can hope for.” They are going to put the work in during their off season, for sure, he said. He enjoyed playing with the two seniors “all season long,” he said. “They were our leaders,” Gravil said. “You hate to see them gone next year because we will always have connections with them.” On the evening, Wildcats leading scorer was Alexander with 21 points and 3 rebounds. Wildcats junior center Joshua Decker had 20 points with 6 rebounds, and Wyatt Gravil had 6 points with 5 rebounds. They shot 35 percent from the field on the evening, and it was noted it might be especially difficult to beat a good team who then shoots 64 percent from the filed in a high intensity “win or go home” type game. Like Alexander said, it is the end of a chapter. Though often times we are lucky, and the end of one chapter means the beginning of a new one. Life is a cliff hanger, and the Edmonson Voice will broadcast live views from them, including next season’s hardwood from both near and far. Stay tuned. Darren Doyle, story and photos: I’d like to take this opportunity to discuss another great season of sports broadcasting for Edmonson County High School from the Edmonson Voice. We've seen so many different scenarios over the years. Some good, some bad, some ugly, but it's overwhelmingly positive for both the Voice and for our community. WildcatsLive came from humble beginnings and started in the red. We just completed our ninth season of covering sports for ECHS. We were first contacted by the high school in 2015 after the company they had hired to handle their broadcasts failed to deliver on what they said they would do. I was asked if the newly-founded Edmonson Voice could handle it. Not having a clue as to how to run a sports broadcast, I blindly accepted, and submitted a bid to the school to perform all the broadcasting duties. Not only did I lose my shirt in the deal, but I also lost a hat, two pairs of pants, and a sock…It was later discovered that the shirt was somewhere in Texas, but that’s an inside story of which only three people were made aware… Anyway, relying heavily on old friends with some recent radio experience, I began working on the school’s first-ever, locally produced high school internet audio-only broadcast. I invested in the best equipment I could afford and came up with a risky plan to keep the broadcast local. I chose not to profit from the venture. Yes, you read correctly. I felt if the school handled all the sponsorship money and kept profit for their programs, everyone would win as long as the Voice’s expenses were covered. I grossly underestimated the expense to do the venture that first year, but the school was more than happy to rework the deal the following year. After 9 seasons of multiple sports, a dozen broadcasters and crew members, multiple guest hosts, thousands of miles, seven district championships, and too many late night drive-thru meals, we’re already looking at how the broadcast can be improved for next year. There's a lot going on behind the scenes on game day. The prep for a game is much more involved than most would consider. One person has to do game preview tasks that include gathering previous game info for both ECHS and their opponent. Rosters, stats, and general team info has to be reviewed, printed, and prepared for the next game, and no one gets paid for this. The equipment has to be checked and must be repaired, replaced, duct taped, or wired together in the event of a problem. Many homework assignments from student crew members have been completed inside the Voicemobile on the way to and from games. Again, all done on personal time. Not all schools play well with others. Above all, the most important aspect of the broadcast is available internet at whatever venue from which we work. Trust me, this is most stressful and frustrating part of the job. We don’t simply show up and hope it works. We contact the principal and athletic director of each school and make a request for internet access, usually the day before or even earlier. Sometimes we don’t even get a response. Our school normally has very reliable internet for us, although we’ve had a few issues this season that no one could seem to diagnose, and our school is also very generous in helping other school broadcasts when they visit. That’s not the same with other schools when we travel. The vast majority don’t care whether our broadcast works or not. They will ignore our internet requests, flat out lie to us, or simply play dumb. We’ve had multiple ADs tell us they actually don’t know whether or not their school has wifi. Really? Granted, some of the opposing ADs I’ve dealt with are a special kind of dumb, but I’d rather a school just tell us straight up “we don’t like you and don’t want you to stream.” At least we’d know. We also ask about reliability for major cell providers, and we pay for multiple carriers for this purpose. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes not, and other times what works great in a gym parking lot doesn’t work at all inside the building. We've also been sabotaged on multiple occasions. We have been told that internet would be available by one person at a school but after arriving, finding out differently and that the person we originally spoke with is nowhere to be found. We've also been connected to internet at a school and suddenly it just stops working. Hmmmm.... Recently, we were at a visiting school and the AD told us that since we had been disrespectful in the past, they weren't sure if they would even allow us to broadcast. Huh? Ok. After a brief discussion and seemingly having things worked out, they agreed to give us wifi access and an ethernet connection. The ethernet connection didn't work at all and while we connected to their wifi, their network did not have internet. Hmmmmm... On the other hand, some schools are great to work with and internet is becoming more available each year. Just a couple weeks ago, Grayson County, our rival of all rivals, did a fantastic job of accommodating us with our setup and made sure we had a great connection for the district tournament. It was the one of the best internet accesses we had all season. Many schools are accommodating and most try to help even when they can't offer much. So many schools filter their internet connections for safety reasons and most sites are blocked, which keeps us from using their internet for our stream. We monitor our streams in real time and we can see how much bandwidth is available and how much we use at any moment. Yes, we know when the stream stinks and we can’t simply move a set of rabbit ears or stand on one leg to make it better. Trust me—we’ve tried it. That's normally when we start getting messages and comments like "this stream sucks!" "you guys used to be better than this," or "you guys need to fix the internet!" Thanks for that...we already know this, and your input doesn't help. There ain't JACK we can do about it. Until all schools provide this service for media, there will always be hiccups and frustrations. Wake up, school systems, this is 2024. Limiting internet access or filtering sites is just plain silly for media outlets, but please know we do everything in our control to make it work. You probably didn't realize it, but during last night's region game, while our video stream was super strong, Jamie had to stop and start the audio stream three different times--all while not missing a beat calling the game. The good, the bad, and the ugly:
With our current setup, we have a chain of more than 30 different devices and hookups that not only must work individually, but also with each other. If one link in that chain doesn’t work, all the others are in some sort of jeopardy. If that happens, we have to troubleshoot and solve asap—while we’re also calling the game and keeping the game stats. We also have to watch out for someone spilling something on us, unplugging a cable, knocking a plug loose, cussing from the stands that’s picked up in our mics, or actually cussing at us. We also have to deal with friendly fans who feel the need to start a random conversation with us—while we’re on the air…We love you, but if we are wearing headsets, please wait until the game ends before we have a conversation. We've also heard this: "Why don't you just do what ______County's broadcast does? They just have one guy with a cell phone." Well, _______ County's guy has the same trouble with the internet, plus, his broadcast is terrible. You wouldn't want to watch it if someone paid you. On top of a quality stream, we also strive to bring you a good play-by-play and commentary, and I am positive that our guys are the best out of any surrounding school broadcast. Check out some of the other schools if you don't believe me. Some of these folks sound like your pappaw mouth-breathing into the mic, some squealing robot, or just a dummy. Our guys are pros and we have great rapports with each other that make for a great stream. Lots of schools have one camera that doesn't move with no sound. You can't even see what's happening. What is the point? A broadcast usually adds an additional full day of work on top of our regular daily jobs. For a road game, we normally put in about 8 more hours for each game day. It’s common to actually work 16-20hrs on some broadcast days when it’s all added up. With all that being said, the good outweighs the bad, by a long shot. We get to bring the joy of our kids, our school pride, and a little piece of our county to more people than ever before. I couldn’t imagine having this type of coverage and access when I played 30 yrs ago. Out of all the years I played sports, I have ONE—only ONE photo of me in action. Our kids today have multiple, high quality photos from nearly EACH GAME, thanks to our coverage. We give you the full game, the full story, and access to our head coaches—for which we are truly grateful. Our coaches don’t have to give us the time they do—but they do. That’s really tough to do after a bitter loss, but they make the effort to share themselves and their teams with us, so we can share them with you. Our school system is supportive in our efforts and their partnership allows us to bring games to literally thousands of people that would NEVER attend a game in person. This only strengthens our school, community, our programs, student-athletes, and our sponsors. Those that attend games in person have not changed: moms, dads, grands, siblings, friends, family, students, and the local fans. They are all still buying tickets—PLUS—they can go back and watch the games later. ECHS has approximately 2500 seats and our game streams reach an additional 3000 viewers per game. The idea that live streams hurt attendance is not only wrong, it’s ridiculous, and we can prove it with our numbers. WildcatsLive is a three-way partnership between the Edmonson Voice, ECHS, and our sponsors, who are crucial to what we do. These are the local folks that make it possible. While the school covers our costs, ECHS is in charge of gathering those sponsors, building those relationships, and allowing us run the show and set the broadcast schedule. The school entrusts us to handle the job efficiently and professionally, and we trust them to handle things on their end. We are all working together to help each other, which in turn, helps our kids. Please pay attention to those sponsors and support them. They put their dollars back into our community, and again, our kids. Finally, we get to highlight our kids. We're proud of them and our programs. We love our school, we always root for them to win and for our opponents to lose. Always. Yes, we're biased. We don't wish good luck to the other team and we hope our kids win each game by at least 50, however, we always do our best to stay professional. Sometimes staying positive is harder to do when our teams struggle, but we strive to lift up our kids as much as possible. Sports don't last forever but photos and videos will last much longer. Thanks to the 2023-24 Lady Cats and Wildcats. We appreciate you and wish the best to our seniors, Chaney Browning, Layne Ashley, and Will Alexander. So for the 9th consecutive year, thank you to our broadcasters, Jamie Carnes, Scott Lindsey, Granville Meredith, and our camera crew, Preston Doyle on video and Joseph Barkoff, photographer, Madison Doyle and Alyssa Doyle for their camera work, our school, our sponsors, our teams, coaches, parents, viewers, and most importantly, our kids. Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat. Joseph Barkoff, story and photos: Just because they call it a game, does not make it easy by any stretch of the imagination. The Edmonson County Wildcats knew what they were up against in the District 12 finals last night against one of the top teams in the region. The tournament was hosted at Grayson County High School. Three nights ago, it all came together when the Wildcats defeated the Grayson County Cougars to advance to the Championship. Friday was different. Edmonson County was still the underdog, that hadn’t changed, and facing a team who had beaten them twice already in regular season play wasn’t any different either. The stands were even more packed than the previous games, with Butler County fans outnumbering Edmonson County at a glance. Both sides cheered their hearts, and in some cases, voices out during the contest. What else was different was the Wildcats were facing the second-ranked team in KHSAA Region 3 in a 20-8 overall, 12-0 in Region, and 8-0 District record Butler County Bears. “We went from playing our best game of the year to playing our worst game,” Wildcats head coach Trey Tinsley said after the game on the Edmonson Voice Wildcats Live Post Game Show. “But this is the good news, I’m just a positive thinker, we got next week Regional Tournament and we got a chance to do something, you know we haven’t done since 1993 I think.” Three nights ago on Tuesday, they kept level heads and didn’t try to force passes, remembering they had a game plan to stick to. “I don’t know if it was nerves,” Tinsley said. “We just didn’t play well tonight.” Friday, Edmonson turned over the ball 19 times versus Butler’s 5. They also only shot 34 percent to Butler's 50 percent on shooting from the field. Both teams did not shoot free throws well with Edmonson leading in the stat with 6-14 for 43 percent versus Butler's 2-6 for 33 percent. There were positives on the night though, despite the final score of 79-40 in favor of the Bears over the Wildcats Edmonson County outscored Butler County 15-13 in the second quarter, but the damage had been done and the score at half time was 38-22 in favor of Butler County. “I think that we were ready to come out and play, we just got off to a slow start,” junior power forward Joshua Decker said after the game. “But they’re a really good team.” There other positives are in the future too. Next week in the future. “The good thing is, we have Regionals next week,” Tinsley said. “So, we got another chance to play.” As well a chance to accomplish something not seen in Edmonson County in over 30 years with a win in the Regional Tournament. “District finals are great, we want to win the game next week,” Tinsley said. They have to forget about the game and he hopes to get a good draw for the tournament next week, he said. “We got to forget about it, and just go to the Regional Tournament, let’s see if we get a good draw and let’s go win a game,” Tinsley said. The draw for teams was held Saturday morning and put the Wildcats against Owensboro Catholic next week. Edmonson County still has some fight left in them and the team knows it can learn from its mistakes. “Every game is a learning opportunity,” junior power forward Wyatt Gravil said after the game. “We learn a little from each game. Today we learned that through the Tournament we can compete with anybody on any day, they just came out and they played well. They sped us up a little bit.” They just have to keep it together and go to Regions, he said. “We’re gonna get us a win at Regions,” Gravil said. “We’re gonna fight hard. We know we can do that.” They can fight indeed. Despite the rivalries and hard-fought games, the harsh rhetoric often only emits from the stands, and in contrast the players play hard and intentional, but not malicious, and even exchange hugs with off-season neighbors after games. Gravil said he loved both being the underdog and beating rival Grayson. They will get another chance to be the underdog again. Decker said he loved the atmosphere surrounding the games during the tournament, “Especially District,” Decker said. “Rivalries, I love it.” “Anything can happen,” many people have said in specific relation to Edmonson County’s chances next week in the Regional Tournament and in general relation to basketball played specifically in March. Madness, they call it. March madness. And Edmonson County is headed to the KHSAA Regional Tournament to play Owensboro Catholic on Wednesday, March 6th at 7:45PM at the Owensboro Sports Center in Owensboro. The Edmonson Voice will have the live video stream available that night. Four different team members of the 2024 Edmonson County Lady Cat basketball team earned special awards at this year's District 12 Finals, held last night in Grayson County.
Senior Chaney Browning was awarded All Academic, Jenna Cook and Julie Norris earned All Tournament awards, and the All Season awards went to Cariann Williams and Shelby Sowders. The Lady Cats fell to Butler County 44-41 on Monday night. Their season ended with a record of 21-8, which was the first year for head coach Jody Booth. Joseph Barkoff, story and photos: It has been noted in athletic seasons how a team can mature, but more importantly is the ability for those teams to take their learning, often in hard knocks, and then begin to peak. The Edmonson County Wildcats could not have picked a better time to begin that peak and show maturity, than when facing District 12 rival Grayson County in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Boys’ Basketball District Tournament on the road at host Grayson County High School, Tuesday, February 27th in Leitchfield. It was the first game this year the Wildcats have played well from wire to wire against an opponent with a winning record, as was noted by Wildcats Live Edmonson Voice broadcaster Darren Doyle in the pregame show. The replay of the game can be seen on this Edmonson Voice Facebook page. The mood in the broadcast booth may have been all “Lady and the Tramp,” the spaghetti sought was to be found on the court in the form of a controlled swirling melee of aggressive, but reasonably clean basketball play from two hungry teams. Over the past ten meetings between the Wildcats and Cougars, each team had notched five wins, and this was the third meeting for the two neighbors this season. The two previous matches saw the Cougars win both games, including a 15-0 run to open the game in their meeting a month ago on January 26th in Leitchfield. To be successful, they would need to slow the game tempo down, and stay away from playing into Grayson’s game plan, including a goal of keeping the Cougars at no more than 60 points, Wildcats head coach Trey Tinsley told Doyle before the game. The Wildcats did just that in holding on to defeat the Cougars 61-53 in the KHSAA 12th District round one. “I’m really proud of our guys,” Tinsley said on the Wildcats Live Postgame. “That’s a heck of a win, you know.” Indeed, and yes. The Cougars recently beat the number one team in the region, they are coached well and with a lot of young players they have a bright future ahead of them, Tinsley said. “That’s a good team, but I am proud of our guys,” he said. “We handled the ball, we had our poise and we kept it under 60 tonight.” Edmonson handled the rebounds too, out-rebounding Grayson 29 to 19. They out-shot them as well from the field. The Wildcats shot 52 percent for the night as the Cougars shot 38 percent. “We slowed down the game just enough and hit our free throws late, so I am proud of every single one of ‘em,” Tinsley said. The Cougars average around 70 points a game, he said, so to win they would need to play Edmonson's game, he said. “It’s hard to beat a team three times in a row,” junior power forward Wyatt Gravil said after the game outside the locker room. “It really is. We went out there and we had a great game plan, great coaching stuff set up the perfect game plan to get the win tonight.” One of Kollin Doyle’s 3-pointers, (banked in) giving the team the extra push to get out ahead was his favorite moment on the evening, other than the fans rushing the court, Gravil said. Doyle on the night had 17 points and 4 rebounds with three 3-pointers. Also in double-digit scoring was sophomore shooting guard junior power forward Tyler Wilson and Joshua Decker with 12 points with 3 rebounds and 11 points and 8 rebounds respectively. Senior power forward Layne Ashley contributed 9 points with 11 rebounds and senior shooting guard Will Alexander tossed in 7 points with 3 rebounds. “Spencer (Langdon) and Jack (Logsdon) are their two best players and the first time we played em, they hurt us pretty bad,” Will Alexander said after the game in the locker room. “Coming into this game we knew that they would underestimate us, and once we came out strong and got on top of them, we won. We shut them two down pretty much and couldn’t be happier.” It was win or go home. The Wildcats won, so now what? This Friday, in two or three days, depending on count start, on March 1st on the road, back at District 12 host Grayson County in Leitchfield at 7 p.m. the Wildcats will face off against the number two in the region Butler County Bears (19-8 season, 11-0 region, 7-0 district), although many argue they should be number one. Butler County defeated Trinity last night 100-50. “Friday we are going to be playing a tough Butler County school, if we can do things right and slow it down a little bit, we can stick there with ‘em,” Alexander said. “So, I’m excited, it’s gonna be a fun ride.” It is a nice drive, but the work is not over yet. “We gotta get ready for Butler County,” Tinsley said. “Enjoy the heck outta this one tonight and we gotta get ready tomorrow.” Joseph Barkoff, story and photos: It was their third meeting, third contest, third battle in less than 30 days when Edmonson County Lady Cat basketball traveled to host Grayson County High School to face District 12 rival Butler County Lady Bears in the first round of the Kentucky High School State Athletic Association Girls District 12 Tournament February 26th in Leitchfield. The rubber match for the season. Butler County won their first meeting, Edmonson the second. Both games were decided by a 3 point margin. Now, the winner moves on to the District Tournament Finals and ultimately the Regional Tournament. Loser goes home, their season over. In the first of two meetings on January 29, the Lady Bears(17-13, 4-4 in district play) were victorious 39-36 against the visiting Lady Cats. The second meeting, on Feb. 9 Edmonson County Lady Cats(21-8, 4-3 in district play) defeated the Lady Bears 43-40 at home. Despite a sea of red in the stands from Edmonson County fans to cheer, the Lady Cats fell to the Lady Bears by another 3-point margin for a second time and the third decided by the same sum. The final score was 44-41. The game can be viewed on the Edmonson Voice Facebook page and on their YouTube Channel. “I told them in the locker room, if they had to play a seven-game series, it would go to seven games,” said Edmonson County head coach Jody Booth after the game. “That’s how close we were. They had an injury, we had an injury. We had kids that can do things, they had kids that can do things. Lexie’s [Belcher] a good coach. They had a good game plan, and I think we had a good game plan.” Both teams came out aggressive on defense and it took almost a minute before the first score of the game. The series of events began when sophomore center Cariann Williams ripped the ball out of an opponent’s hands to start a fast break to junior guard Jenna Cook. After Cook flew up the court, the ball was passed around once and when it ended back in the hands of Williams she made a move from the top of the key with one dribble into four collapsing defenders and banked in a left-hander for a bucket. “It went back and forth and that’s all you can ask for, especially this time of year,” Booth said. “That’s tournament time and that’s a District game. It’s part of it,” There were six lead changes in the first quarter and Lady Bears were in the lead 16-10 against the Lady Cats. The Lady Bears lead by as much as 10 points before Lady Cat freshman point guard Shelby Sowders sank a 3-pointer to put the Lady Cats deficit back in single digits. The next offensive possession, Lady Cat junior forward Julie Norris also sank a 3-pointer from the right corner, battling back against the Lady Bear lead. After the first half the score was in favor of Butler County 25 to Edmonson County’s 21. In the second half of the game the Lady Cats would battle back and take the lead but lose it again and fall to the Lady Bears by 3 points, for a second time. According to the unofficial stats curated by Edmonson Voice Darren Doyle both teams shot 39 percent from the field on the evening. Cook had 11 points with 7 rebounds, both Sowders and Norris had 10 points each with 6 and 3 rebounds, respectively. Williams had 8 points, 9 rebounds and a handful of each blocks and steals. One key in the loss was Butler County’s 8-11 from the free throw line versus Edmonson County 4-8. While there were only 12 turnovers by Edmonson to Butler’s 14. Butler made Edmonson pay for theirs more it seemed, noted Doyle in the post game. “Sometimes you win ‘em, sometimes you lose em, but at the end of the day our girls played hard,” Booth said. “There’s nothing negative I can say about them and we had doubters all year long. And we won 21 games. That’s something to be proud of with just one returning starter.” Edmonson County doesn't often have 20-game winning seasons, in any sport, which is a notable achievement for Booth's first year as head coach. “A lot of offensive production graduated but those girls just stuck with it, came to work every day and we got better.” Indeed. Though the Lady Cats’ season ends not on the note they would have liked, 21-8 overall on the season, 9-4 in Region 3 and 4-3 in District 12 play is nothing at which to scoff. With only one senior graduating this year, next year will have four new seniors from juniors, and two sophomores into juniors and three freshman into sophomores. What does it mean? It means next year they will no longer be considered a young and inexperienced team with a lot of good moments from the previous year to look back and learn from, and even enjoy. “I texted the girls the other night and told them my favorite moment was watching them smile,” Booth said. “Every time that we won or something good happened, and seeing their smiles, it makes it worth it. That’s a whole lot better than wins and losses.” There are more smiles to come. For sure. Probably a few wins too. Madison Doyle, story and photos: Edmonson County High School honored four seniors from the Wildcat basketball team Tuesday, February 20, 2024. This year the Wildcats will say goodbye to seniors Chandler Browning, Levi Minton, Will Alexander, and Layne Ashley. Joseph Barkoff, story and photos: It was a milestone night at Edmonson County High School Friday February 16 in Brownsville. Out of the last 11 meetings between the Russellville Lady Panthers and the Edmonson County Lady Cats, it was the 10th defeat for Russellville with Edmonson County outscoring them 69-43. It was win number 20 for Lady Cats head coach Jody Booth. An accomplishment only achieved nine other times. It is his first year as head coach. Sophomore center Cariann Williams broke her own personal best game scoring achievement with 33 points, including 16 rebounds and a handful of blocks in her double-double night. Williams was honored before the game for scoring 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. As well, the laundry list of Hall of Fame inductees and their family-sized shopping list of achievements disseminated at halftime, can be found on the Edmonson Voice sports page. The Lady Cats drew first blood on the night and it took the Lady Panthers almost three minutes before they would score their first points on free throws. The Lady Panthers would not score again until 1:14 was left in the first quarter, but by then it was 15 to 4 in favor of the Lady Cats. Freshman point guard Shelby Sowders pulled in a rebound and put the ball back in off the glass with 10.4 seconds left in the first, and the quarter would end 17-4 in favor of the Lady Cats. The second quarter was more of the same. The Lady Cats continued their aggressive play, leading by 23 points with 2:00 remaining in the first half, and as much as 27 points with less than a minute to play. The Lady Cats took their 27-point lead into the half ahead of the Lady Panthers 37-10. In the second half, Russellville made some adjustments, but mostly tried to bully the Lady Cats bench while they were giving starters like Williams, Sowders, junior guard Jenna Cook, junior forward Julie Norris and senior guard Chaney Browning some time to rest with a comfortable lead. It only worked to some degree, as the bench players gained their confidence, realizing perhaps, the starters were not going to save them. They began to help themselves. Freshman guard Tayla Wilhite had 2 points and muscled in for three rebounds, junior forward Maggie Cassady sank a 3-pointer, and 7th grader Hayley Sanders added 2 points. “The big message to tell the kids at halftime was, we can’t come out and create bad habits because we gotta finish the season next week against an Ohio County team at their place,” Edmonson County head coach Jody Booth said after the game on the Edmonson Voice Live broadcast. “And it’s gonna be a tough game.” On the night, Cook had 11 points with 3 rebounds, Sowders scored 6 and hauled in 8, Norris scored 6 and grabbed 5 and Browning had 5 points and 5 rebounds. Looking ahead to the district and regional tournaments he doesn’t want the bad habits to be carried over into final season play, he said. Into the second half he wanted his girls to come out with energy, be there for teammates, do the right things, defensive rotations, moving the ball on offense and still being aggressive, Booth said. “When you have a big lead it’s easy to let up a little bit,” Booth said. He feels they did let up, to some degree, and feels they aren’t the first team to ever do it, but he also feels the girls kept at it and gave a good effort, he said. Booth thinks his team continues to improve and hopes to continue to get better “until the last day,” he said. “I hope it’s a while from now,” Booth said. Booth said he knows Williams has room to improve and knows she will put the extra time on to increase the areas she needs to work on. “It’s a huge accomplishment for her to reach those milestones,” Booth said. “Super proud of her. I’m Super proud to be her coach. It’s a blessing to be her coach.” The final game of the 2023-24 season for the Wildcats is on the road at Ohio County Thursday Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Hartford. Stay tuned to the Edmonson Voice for post season coverage. Boys Basketball Senior Night Postponed Madison Doyle, story and photos: Edmonson County High School honored many seniors tonight, February 16, 2024 at the Lady Cat basketball game. Seniors from Archery, Band, Cheer, and Girls Basketball were recognized. The boys' game was postponed due to possible severe weather conditions, and those seniors will be honored at their game on Tuesday against Russellville. Below is a slideshow of those who were honored tonight alongside their families. Edmonson Voice Sports:
The Edmonson County Athletic Recognition Committee has announced the first group of nominees that will be inducted into the newly-created Edmonson County Athletic Hall of Fame. The group showcases a variety of sports across several decades. Individuals were nominated by the public for the committee’s consideration and selected according to its guidelines. The EC Athletics HOF Class of 2024 are as follows:
The inductees and their invited guests will attend a private reception in the Edmonson County Middle School cafeteria prior to the girl/boy basketball double-header at ECHS on Friday, February 16, 2024 (5:30 P.M.). During halftime of the boys’ game that evening, the newest Athletics Hall of Fame Class will also be recognized in Wildcat Alley. Joseph Barkoff, story and photos: They had just met previously the first time this season, 11 days ago to be exact, and the first game one team would be without a key player to them. Region and District rival Butler County Lady Bears traveled to Brownsville face host Edmonson County Lady Cats Friday February, 9th in a rematch of a 3-point loss for the Lady Cats just 11 days ago. Their first in a set of two losses for the Lady Cats after losing team leader, by example, Kennadi Swihart. Swihart isn’t the point scorer, though she does have great nights. She doesn’t get the stats sophomore center Cariann Williams puts up, like a double-double almost every game, (her average) but her laissez-faire demeanor in the face of adversity is contagious. Swihart charged forward and her teammates would never let her go alone. Now without, players like freshman, newly converted point guard, Shelby Sowders helps shoulder more of the charge forward. The conversion is now complete, Lady Cats head coach Jody Booth said of freshman, then, three guard to the point guard player Sowders is now. In the game Friday, Lady Bears would draw first blood on the Lady Cats, but the next series Williams, who might be the worst person to foul for an opponent, is fouled while dropping her shot and converts the 3-point play with her first of 11 free throws on the evening. Williams converted 10-11 free throws in her double-double of more than half the Lady Cats total points with 22 including, 16 rebounds. “She was clutch,” Lady Cats head coach Jody Booth said after the game on the Edmonson Voice Live broadcast. “That’s what your best player does. I mean that’s many minutes and hours and everything and days she spends her time in the gym when nobody’s watching, and it pays off.” We never folded and attributed it to their toughness they have shown since Kennadi Swihart went down, he said. “I am proud of all the girls,” Booth said. There were at least six lead changes in the first quarter and Edmonson County would hold a 2-point lead heading into the second with the score 13-11 in favor of the Lady Cats over the visiting Lady Bears. The Lady Bears would not go quietly and battled back to take a 4-point lead around two minutes of play in the second. Like a tug-of-war between similarly powered opponents, the Lady Cats would claw back to within 2, to see it fall again away and grow. With 3:07 left in the first half, Butler County was up by their largest lead yet, 7 points. It was 22-15 in favor of the Lady Bears. On the next series, junior forward Julie Norris dropped a 3-pointer from the left side and suddenly, the Lady Cats’ deficit was back down to only 4 points. The next defensive set, Lady Cats denied Lady Bears a score and brought the ball back down to give Sowders 2 points on the left baseline. Now, the Lady Cats were only down by 2, 22-20 and just over a minute in the first half. After a jump-ball, and possession to Lady Cats, they would tie it up and defend well in the following set. Tied at 22, Sowders charged into her offensive zone, the lane, she shoots. It went off the glass and into the hands of Williams, where Williams with :04.7 shoots a short jumper off her rebound for a score as time ran out in the first half. The Lady Cats were ahead 24-22 at the half against visiting Butler County Lady Bears. The lead would change again in favor of the Lady Bears and reach as much as 4 points with just under four minutes left in the third quarter, it was 28-24. After a spin move by junior forward Maggie Cassady on the baseline under the backboard, the Lady Bear lead was cut to 2 points with around 3:30 now left in the third quarter. By the end of the third quarter it was 30-28 in favor of the visiting Lady Bears, still. Eight minutes left in the game. The Lady Cats lost by 3 to the same opponent 11 days ago. The first points of the fourth were from Williams in the form of two free throws, and now the game was tied again. 30-30. Next, it would be Cassady with a 3-pointer from deep on the left and the Lady Cats went ahead with another lead change. The Lady Bears were not done yet and came back within 1, before Edmonson would pull away ever so slightly, again. It was 35-34 in favor of the home team with less than 3 minutes to play. With the Lady Cats ahead by 2 points with just over 20 seconds, the Lady Bears sunk a 3-pointer and took the lead. It was 40-39 in favor of Butler County with 13.4 seconds left and Booth calls a timeout to draw up an inbound play. Sowders gets the ball. She drives and is knocked out along with the ball, but Lady Cats retain possession. Williams gets the ball this time. She throws her own prayer but draws a foul with :04.5 seconds left. As Williams' teammates run up to her with words of encouragement, with the game on the line, she simply said to them, "I got this." Williams swished the first to tie the score and Butler County called a timeout to ice her down. Out of the timeout, Williams made the second one to give the Lady Cats the lead for good. Edmonson now ahead by 2, and Butler calls a timeout to discuss their inbound with four seconds. Butler would get the ball to their end but Williams intercepted the pass and as she crossed into the Lady Cats offensive area was fouled in the bonus with no time, :0.3 seconds. Williams hit both free throws and the game ended with the pendulum swung three points in favor over Butler. The Lady Cats won 43-40. “All the credit goes to them,” Booth said. “I’m just so proud of them. I don’t have many words right now.” He found words. Credit for the “unsung” he said naming a couple like junior forward Maggie Cassady and the only senior, guard Chaney Browning. “I’m really glad that we could come back and beat them after they beat us by 3 points at their place,” Browning said. “It was tough, but I am just glad we pulled it out, for sure.” The game was important, Browning said. For seeding in the upcoming District Tournament. “Whoever we end up drawing, we’ll just do our best and battle like we always do.” Next up for Edmonson County is away, Monday Feb. 12th in at 6 p.m. in Glasgow. Joseph Barkoff, story and photos: The Butler County Bears (15-7) are no joke at 7-0 in their Region and 5-0 in District play in Kentucky High School Athletic Association Boys Basketball and they brought their smooth, fast-paced style of play to Brownsville to meet their host Edmonson County Wildcats (10-13, 3-5, 2-4) Friday, February 9th. Butler County is not flashy. They are aggressive. They are fast. When they pull away it is almost like the Novocain reference from the movie “Remember the Titans” because it is so smooth and without flash. It was 11-0 in favor of the Bears by the time three minutes had almost ticked off the clock in the first quarter before Edmonson County senior shooting guard Will Alexander drove from his top right of the box through the paint with an underhanded scoop off the backboard for their first points of the game. The first quarter ended with freshman point guard Braden Wright getting the ball with :06 seconds left on the inbound. With a spin move reminiscent of Barry Sanders spinning off a tackler to gain momentum, he got to the 3-point line and shot with less than two seconds remaining. It bounced off the glass, but into the hands of a leaping Wildcats senior power forward Layne Ashley for a perfect put back as time expired. Wildcats were down 28-12. Despite battling back to within 10 points a handful of times, the Wildcats could not break the strangle hold the Bears applied and by the end of the half it was 50-32 in favor of the Bears. “To me that team is the best team in the region,” Wildcats head coach Trey Tinsley said after the game on the Edmonson Voice Live broadcast. Again, there was not an issue of Wildcats effort. They were shooting 56 percent from the field. Butler County was shooting 71 percent, creating a hill that turned out too difficult for the Wildcats to climb. “We know we got to cut down on turnovers and we gotta rebound the ball better, but man, they shot the ball well,” Tinsley said. The Bears are a “top 10 or top 15” team in Kentucky, Tinsley said. After 24 minutes of play, at the end of the third quarter it was 71-50 in favor of the Bears over the Wildcats. By the end of the fourth, despite a break of character in a single-minded pursuit of scoring into the triple digits, the Bears failed in their victory of 97-68 over host Wildcats. “We hope to see them down the road,” Tinsley said. “We just have to keep working, keep competing, keep getting better.” What do you tell your team after a loss like that, Edmonson Voice broadcaster Darren Doyle asked Tinsley in the post-game show. Both coaches and announcers agreed there was no lack of effort on the Wildcats part. Focus on the positives, Tinsley said. He was proud of how they competed and thought they shot the ball well, he said. Looking forward to three of the last four games at home, they want to finish the season out strong, Tinsley said. Alexander had 25 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists while shooting 4 for 4 from the free-throw line and connecting on five 3-pointers. Also in double digits scoring was sophomore shooting guard Tyler Wilson with 10 points, junior power forward Wyatt Gravil had 10 points with 5 rebounds and junior shooting guard Kollin Doyle had 10 points with 3 rebounds. Next the Wildcats travel to play Marion County Tuesday Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. before beginning their final three-game, final games of the season stand Friday Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. against region rival Hancock County. Madison Doyle, story and photos: Edmonson County High School's annual Basketball Homecoming was tonight, February 9, 2024 against Butler County in a girl/boy doubleheader. Senior Chaney Browning, daughter of Brian and Heather Browning, was named 2024 Basketball Homecoming Queen. Ms. Browning was escorted by her brother, Chandler Browning. The Freshman Princess winner was Kylee Williams. Kylee is the daughter of Nick Williams, and was escorted by Owen Ruth, son of Lelia Jones and Adam Ruth. Lola Bolton, daughter of Andrew and Lindsey Bolton, was named Sophomore Princess. Lola was escorted by Joseph Decker. Joseph is the son of Leslie and Daniel Decker. Junior Princess winner was Emberlei Stevens, daughter of Jason Stevens and Nancy Hayes. Emberlei was escorted by Levi Meredith, son of Michael and Marsha Meredith. The attendants representing South Edmonson Elementary School were Cora Decker, daughter of Adam and Kelly Decker. Cora was escorted by James Grant Newkirk, son of Chris Newkirk and Melissa Sanders. Also representing SEES was Ella Ruth Lowe, daughter of Travis and Shannon Lowe. Ella Ruth was escorted by Elliot Parrigan, son of Caleb and Lauren Parrigan. Helping crown the winners was 2023 Football Queen Carly Burris, daughter of Brandy Burris. Carly was escorted by Caleb Smith, son of Stephen Smith and Tiffany Bell. Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff: Edmonson County Lady Cats traveled to Whitesville Friday, February 2nd to play host and district rival Trinity High School. It was their third game without multi-tool junior guard Kennadi Swihart. It was their first win without her. Swihart’s numbers may not reflect the leadership, but there is with simply her presence on the floor. Now, with Swihart on the bench cheering, her team is learning to do it without her. They will have to. Swihart’s MRI confirmed an ACL tear on the patella, and she will undergo surgery. She expects to return to being able to play in six months but in the meantime, she will try to take it easy, she said. Without her infectious confidence and hustle on the court it is a loss, but against the Lady Raiders the rest of the Lady Cats started their steps up. “That’s the main thing is we finally got the job done,” Edmonson County Lady Cats head coach Jody Booth said on the Edmonson Voice Live broadcast after the game. A key to winning any game is taking care of the basketball and with 18 turnovers in the first half Booth told his players in the locker room at half, the ball handle drills they did all the time in practice had to mean something, because he was tired of pushing it, he said. The girls came out in the third quarter and showed they agreed and started to take better care of the ball, Booth said. The Lady Cats outscored Lady Raiders 25-8 in the third quarter with their better ball control. “That’s the ball game,” Booth said. Sometimes you have to tell the girls, you fix it, and they did, he said. “I’m tired and it is up to y’all if you want to do this or not,” Booth told his team at the half. He is proud of them for how they stepped up, he said. Signs the Lady Cats had figured out how to move on without Swihart on the court showed with three Lady Cats being in double digits scoring, and it didn’t all have to rest on the shoulders of sophomore center Cariann Williams. On Monday's loss, Williams had a triple-double. Against the Lady Raiders, she had 18 points and 7 rebounds with a few blocked shots. Also, in double digits, scoring 11 points were junior guard Jenna Cook and freshman Shelby Sowders. They each had 7 and 6 rebounds respectively. “I am just proud of our girls, I love them to death and they’re just fun to be around,” Booth said. Due to schedule changes, the Edmonson Lady Cats, as of now, are not scheduled to play until this next Friday at 6 p.m. at home in Brownsville in a rematch of their first loss without Swihart against Butler County. They only lost by 3 points. Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff: Terminal velocity. Terminal velocity is “the constant speed that a freely falling object eventually reaches when the resistance of the medium through which it is falling prevents further acceleration,” as defined by Oxford Dictionary. There is no easier way to explain how Edmonson County Wildcats played on the road against district rival Trinity Raiders Friday, February 2nd in Whitesville. “It was a good team win,” Wildcats head coach Trey Tinsley said after the game on the Edmonson Voice Live broadcast. Edmonson started out slow and smooth, started building a lead, and really never looked back. The team goal was to not allow more than 50 points and the Raiders only scored 52, so that was good, he said. He thinks his team is as good as they are going to be going down the stretch and he likes their chances, Tinsley said. Five different Wildcats hit from deep for three-pointers on the evening. Junior shooting guard Ben Sanders, sophomore shooting guard Blayne Deweese, junior shooting guard Kollin Doyle, junior power forward Joshua Decker, and sophomore shooting guard Tyler Wilson all connected on three-pointers, with Doyle, Wilson, and Decker having more than one. “It just comes down to us hitting shots,” Tinsley said. The Wildcats are 10-11 on their season so far. They are 3-4 in their Region and 2-3 in their District. Now that it is over, it was the most important game of the year because they are a 3-seed with the win, instead of a 4 going into the end of regular season play, Tinsley said. “It’s a big win for us and we are ready for Metcalfe on Tuesday,” he said. Region 3 Edmonson County (11-10) travels to face Region 4 Metcalfe County (8-12) this Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6. |
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