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The Edmonson County Wildcats took a 7-5 lead early in the first quarter and remained in charge from that point on. They never trailed again as they cruised to a 58-42 win at ECHS on Friday night.

Led by senior Braden Wall with 25 points, the Wildcats consistently broke down the defense from Grayson County and were able to find points on dribble-drives and easy layups, while also shooting 6 of 15 from behind the three-point line.

The Cats led 14-8 after the first quarter and had extended their lead to 29-15 at halftime. Grayson County tried to put a dent into things through the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth, but the Wildcats kept their composure and responded to Grayson's offense with more of their own. The Cats led by as much as 20 late in the game.

Edmonson shot 54% from the field on 28 of 52 shooting and held Grayson County to the Cougars' second-lowest point total on their season. The Wildcats also won the rebounding battle.

Braxton Highbaugh had 15 points and 11 rebounds, Will Alexander had 9 points, Zander Bass had 4, Boden Bates had 3, and Caden Mills added 2.

The Wildcats improve to 12-9 on the season and are 3-1 in district play, which is currently the best record. Both Trinity and Butler County are tied at 2-2 and Grayson County is 1-3, with their only district win coming from an upset against Trinity at home last week. Edmonson lost to Trinity on the road with the Raiders cruising to a 58-42 win on January 13th.

Edmonson County is scheduled to play next on Tuesday, January 31st at home against Breckinridge County (8-12) in a JV/V match beginning at 5:30PM.

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The Lady Cats dominated the Lady Cougars of Grayson County in every way last night in a 38-14 Edmonson County at ECHS.

They out-rebounded Grayson County 27-13, shot 43% from the field on 13 of 30 shooting, made all 8 of their free throws, and held Grayson County to a season low 14 points and 16% shooting from the field. The Lady Cougars made only 5 field goals all night and were held completely scoreless in the third quarter.

The Lady Cats jumped out to an 11-2 lead after the first, led 20-7 at the half, and 26-7 after three.

They were led by freshman Cariann Williams who scored 15 and grabbed 8 rebounds. Callie Webb and Riley Roy each scored 5, Emma White, Jenna Cook, and Kennadi Swihart each had 3, and Annie Kiper and Lily Jayne Vincent had 2 points each.

Edmonson County improves to 14-6 on the season and 3-1 in district play. Their one loss comes from Butler County, who will be the other contender for the number one seed. The Lady Cats have two more district games remaining: one against Butler County on the road and Trinity at home. They must win both to have a chance at the top seed. With two wins and a Butler County loss, Edmonson and Butler will be tied 5-1 in the district. A coin toss would determine the number one seed.

Their next game is scheduled on the road at North Hardin on January 31st.

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With a nearly packed-out gym at Edmonson County High School for the 2023 basketball homecoming, the Wildcats took the floor with authority, as they jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back in a 69-64 win over district rival Butler County.

Facing Butler County's offensive threats Ty Price, a sophomore guard that averages 30 points per game, and Lawson Rice, a sophomore forward good for 19 points per game, Edmonson County's game plan was to focus on fundamental basketball and not get caught up in a big game atmosphere, or who is scoring what.

The Wildcats did just that with solid defense and rebounding. They held the Bears' scoring stars to 25 and 14, respectively. While 39 points is still plenty of offense for two players, it's ten points lower than their combined averages, which could've been the difference in the game.

"They have two great players and we just wanted Price to work for everything he got--kind of 'kill the legs' and make him work for it," said Head Coach Brad Johnson. "I feel like we did that. If a guy makes a fade away in your face with you hand up, you know, good shot, man, and go the other way. We handled late-game situations better, but still threw it away a little bit. I told them before the game--what an atmosphere. One month from now in the district tournament, we're going to play better than we play tonight, but let's play better than we play tonight. We haven't played our best game yet."

Coach Johnson said free throw shooting must improve in order to be a late-season quality team and the Wildcats missed several opportunities late in the game. It allowed Butler County to close the scoring gap in the final minute, which made the game much closer than it actually was throughout the contest. The Cats shot only 44% from the line on 11 of 25 shooting.

From the field, shooting was a different story for the Cats. They shot 62% from the floor on 26 of 42 shooting and made 6 out of 12 from behind the arc (50%). They out-rebounded the Bears and took advantage of beating them down the floor in transition for several easy layups. While Price still put up 25 points for Butler County, they were spread out and relatively quiet for the game.

The Wildcats committed 17 turnovers, but Coach Johnson said that while that looks bad on paper, it's not as bad as it seems.

"When I used to press and play up and down the whole game, a reporter said to me once, "coach, you turned it over 17 times," but I said, "did you see how many times the game went up and down the floor?" There were so many possessions in that game that there's opportunities to make turnovers. But I get it, we can't make that many, and heck, we got caught up in the action and threw the ball over our heads a couple of times. So there's stuff to clean up. When you get a win, you can watch the negative stuff, you don't have to pound 'em on the back and build 'em back up. When you win, you get to play out the negatives, so we'll fix it."

Coach said that there is no rest for the weary and their schedule is difficult for a reason, and that's for the purpose of playing their best basketball during the postseason.

"We should be built 'Ford-tough' by the end of the year with the gantlet we've been through, so hopefully, that's the way it's going to work out."

It was a team effort by the Wildcats, with four players in double figures and one with a double-double.

Will Alexander led with 15 points and 7 rebounds, Braden Wall had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Braxton Highbaugh had 12 points, Tyler Anderson had 10, Zander Bass had 8, Caden Mills had a big 7 points off the bench, and Boden Bates had 3.

Edmonson County is now 11-8 on the season and 2-1 in District 12 play. They are scheduled to travel to Todd County Central on Monday for a JV/V match beginning at 6PM.

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While their defense kept them in the game and limited Butler County to a season-low 25 points, the Lady Cats' offense couldn't get going, which resulted in only 21 points of offense, also a season-low.

"When you hold somebody to 25 points, you're supposed to win," said Head Coach Bart Weaver. "We just couldn't put it in the hole. I don't know, but I bet we missed about 10 layups."

While turnovers were lower than average (10), out-rebounding the Lady Bears, and being able to considerably slow down the pace of the game, the slow offense wouldn't allow the Lady Cats to gain any momentum, playing catch up for the majority of the contest.

Scoring was led by Annie Kiper and Jenna Cook with 5 points each, Riley Roy added 4, and Lily Jayne Vincent, Cariann Williams, Callie Webb, and Kennadi Swihart added 2 points each.

"We just gotta regroup," Weaver said. "Listen, the rest of our schedule is set up, it's winnable--every game, and it's also lose-able every game. If you look at our schedule, from now on, it's pretty tough and you can win 'em or lose 'em. So we've got to have a mindset next week of playing Clinton (County) and getting that momentum back for the Grayson game on Friday."

The Lady Cats are now 12-6 on the season and 2-1 in district play, with wins over Grayson County and Trinity. They are scheduled to travel to Clinton County on January 24th and another district match next Friday as they host Grayson County.

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Senior Margaux Lunot was named the Edmonson County 2023 Basketball Homecoming Queen during the ECHS girl/boy doubleheader against Butler County. Margaux, a foreign exchange student from France, is the daughter of Ricky and Kristen Jurisich, and was escorted by Timmy Johnson, son of Tim and Virginia Johnson.

The Freshman Princess was Lola Bolton, daughter of Andrew and Lindsay Bolton. She was escorted by Bladen Cook, son of Timmy and Dawnita Cook.

The Sophomore Princess was Mackenzie Baker, daughter of Jonathan and Tiffany Baker. She was escorted by Levi Minton, son of Kevin and Robin Minton.

The Junior Princess was Carly Burris, daughter of Brandy Burris. She was escorted by Haydn Burrell, son of Bobby and Andrea Burrell.

The Little Miss Wildcats and Mr. Wildcats from South Edmonson Elementary were Harper Deweese, daughter of Heather and Clay Deweese, escorted by Dean Beliles, son of Wesley and Callie Beliles. Also Charlotte Watt, daughter of Josh and Jordan Watt, escorted by Hayden Priddy, son of Jason and Amber Priddy.

Crowning the winners was last year's homecoming queen Hallie Cassady, daughter of Staffane and Kyle Cassady, escorted by Trace Taylor, son of Nathan Taylor and Heather Alexander.

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After the Wildcats took a 19-18 lead in the second quarter, the Trinity Raiders went on a 23-2 scoring spree that put the game out of reach for Edmonson County last night in Whitesville, as the Cats fell 58-42.

Eight consecutive scoring trips for the Raiders that included 6 straight three-pointers throughout the end of the half and the beginning of the third quarter had the Cats on their heels. The Raiders shot 16 of 30 from the field for 53% shooting and 9 of 19 from behind the arc for 47%.

Head Coach Brad Johnson was obviously unhappy with the loss and took the blame upon himself.

"I'll take the blame, I didn't have us ready," he said. "I didn't have us ready for their half court traps and that's what we expected.

He said it was simply a bad night on all accounts for his team.

"They kind of disrespected us. I mean they stay out here and dance instead of going in at halftime and making any adjustments, they didn't tell us they didn't have any water for us over here, but that's not why we lost. It's just a complete bad night in every way it could be a bad night. I couldn't even talk in the dressing room for listening to them celebrate, so I just hope it burns us to our soul and we remember that the next time it comes around. But hey, credit them. They played great and made shots, made plays, and we didn't make plays."

Leading the scoring for the Wildcats was Braxton Highbaugh with 14 points. Braden Wall finished with 10 points, Will Alexander and Zander Bass each scored 6, Caden Mills added 2, and Boden Bates had 1.

Edmonson County is now 9-7 on the season and are 1-1 in district play. They are scheduled to take on Apollo at home tonight.

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It was a sloppy first half for the Lady Cats last night as they traveled to Whitesville to take on district foe Trinity High School,  but they girls made enough adjustments in the second half to take a lead and keep it for their eleventh win of the season and to keep a perfect record in district play.

The Lady Raiders, who are winless on the season (0-14), held the Lady Cats to only 5 points in the first quarter and Trinity led 17-16 at the half.

Coach Bart Weaver said his girls were too passive during the first half.

"I had a pretty animated speech at the half because I had a couple girls that were 'me, me, me,'" he said. "Well I'm not getting the ball--they're not passing it to me, So I blew that up quick...It's we, we, we, not me, me, me. That's not how this team is, and that's not how it's ever been."

Edmonson County tightened up their defensive pressure and cut down on their turnovers in the second half, taking a 31-23 lead after the third. They extended their lead to as much as 20 in the fourth and went on to win 50-32.

Lily Jayne Vincent led the Lady Cats in scoring with 13 and pulled 8 rebounds. Riley Roy scored 12 off the bench and Annie Kiper and Jenna Cook each added 5 points. Cariann Williams, Emma White, and Callie Webb each scored 4 points.

Edmonson County improved to 11-5 on the season and are 2-0 in district play. They are scheduled to travel to Green County on January 16th for a JV/V match beginning at 5:30.

The full game is available for viewing on the Edmonson Voice YouTube Channel. The Edmonson Voice is proud to be the exclusive video stream provider for Edmonson County High School Sports since 2016.

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It wasn't the prettiest win, but bonus points for appearances aren't given in win/loss records, and the Lady Cats added another "W" to their list last night in a 38-36 win over South Warren.

The Lady Cats were out-rebounded 29-18 last night, which doesn't happen often. When it does, they usually lose. They also committed 19 turnovers, which is another stat line that usually results in a loss, and they also scored less than 40 points, which is the first win they've notched while doing so.

So how did they win?

Their defensive pressure helped result in 22 turnovers for the Lady Spartans and held them to 29% shooting for the game. They were also able to make free throws--something that has caused some issues in past games. They hit 16 of 21 from the line for 76% shooting, making key shots down the stretch.

Head Coach Bart Weaver said while the rebounding and turnovers weren't pretty, the Lady Cats overcame that with their defense and by hitting shots when they needed them.

"Sometimes you see in a lot of our losses, you'll see all those turnovers, and then we'll still shoot bad from the field, and shoot bad from the free throw line," Coach Weaver said. "But I've always told them, and I guess when they're 35 years old they'll still remember it, but if we can defend and rebound we'll give ourselves a chance. We didn't rebound tonight but when you look at the stat sheet, we shot well from the free throw line and we shot well from the field, so you know, if you do those things, it will take care of itself."

Cariann Williams led the Lady Cats in scoring with 13 points, including 7 of 8 from the free throw line. Annie Kiper finished with 11, Lily Jayne Vincent had 5, Callie Webb added 4, Riley Roy had 3, and Emma White had 2.

Edmonson County is now 10-5 on the season and are scheduled to travel to Whitesville to take on Trinity High School in a girl/boy district match up this Friday beginning at 6PM.

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Wildcat Head Coach Brad Johnson said in a pregame interview that he saw the Central Hardin Bruins (9-7) as the best team they would face so far in the season. With talented guard Brett Decker averaging 25ppg, guard Ace Jaggers scoring 16 per game, and 6'7" Jakob Frederickson scoring 10 points and 8 rebounds per game, it definitely appeared as though the Cats would have their hands full in Glendale last night.

With a game plan set on limiting Decker, spreading the floor on offense, and being patient with the ball, the Wildcats showed early that they were focused on taking care of business. Being without senior forward Braden Wall for the last two games and without senior guard Tyler Anderson for another two games a couple weeks ago (the Cats lost all four), Edmonson County appeared to be back at full strength last night.

It was Edmonson County's defense that was most noticeable early. A wide and active zone defense kept the Bruins out of the paint and forced contested long range shots. Central Hardin, who attempts around 20 three-point shots per game and hits almost nine of them, struggled from behind the line, thanks to the defensive play of the Wildcats. They also held Central Hardin's Decker, who scored 38 against them last year, to only 2 points at the half and 7 points for the game.

On offense, Edmonson County found success in driving the lane, making the extra pass, and simple ball fakes to put points on the board. They controlled the pace of the game for the most part, holding the Bruins to 5 points under their average.

The Wildcats also out-rebounded Central Hardin 25-24, holding them below their average of 30rpg.

Neither team ever led by more than 5. Edmonson County saw an odd turn of events with seconds winding down in the first half with a 5-point lead as the Bruins hit a three with an official calling a foul away from the ball. They counted the basket and then awarded Central Hardin with a one-and-one. The Bruins made both free throws and tied the score at 27 on a 5-point trip. The score would remain tied at 27 at halftime.

The third quarter was much of the same with both teams trading punches throughout. Wall's three-point play helped the Cats hang onto a 44-43 lead going into the 4th quarter. With the score tied at 52 in the fourth, Wil Alexander hit a big three on the left side to give the Cats a 55-52 lead and they never trailed again. Edmonson County also hit 10 of 11 free throws for the game.

Coach Johnson discussed the gritty performance of his team.

"We've been trying to mix it up with man-to-man and zone on defense, but what you're playing is not as important to how you're playing, playing with a lot of effort," he said. "We've really grown up, though. What I really like about us, is I feel like we're still getting better. These guys have only played with Braxton Highbaugh a year-and-a-half now, and hopefully some of the other teams have peaked out a little bit, but hopefully our best ball is still ahead."

Johnson also bragged on the toughness of the Wildcats during the final couple minutes of the game where they have faltered some this season.

"We didn't come for a moral victory. The team is starting to believe in each other a little bit, playing together, and sharing. So I told them to enjoy it and celebrate like crazy, and it's just too bad the Whistle Stop wasn't open tonight."

Scoring for Edmonson County was led by Braden Wall with 16, Highbaugh and Bates each had 10, Anderson had 9, Bass had 8, and Alexander had 7.

The win is now the Wildcats' second in a row after losing 5 straight. They are now 8-6 on the season and are scheduled to take on Metcalfe County on Thursday night at home in a JV/V match that starts at 6pm.

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The Edmonson County Lady Cats followed their game plan last night, according to Head Coach Bart Weaver, but a couple of big shots and some free throws down the stretch proved to be all Hancock would need to hang on and win the All A Region 3 Championship last night, hosted at Cloverport High School.

The Lady Cats worked hard to slow down the tempo, holding the Lady Hornets, who average 50 points per game to only 37. Overall, they defended well against the three-point shooting of Hancock County, but some timely, very contested shots by Hancock shifted the momentum from a big second quarter from Edmonson County.

The Lady Cats were held only to 4 points in the first quarter but outscored the Lady Hornets 10-2 in the second, for a 14-9 Edmonson County lead at halftime. Strong defense held Hancock to 1-12 shooting from the three-point line in the first half; however, the Lady Hornets buried back-to-back threes to start the third and that's where things began to change.

Hancock County hit a long three at the buzzer to end the third to take a 24-21 lead going into the fourth.  As time began to wind down with Hancock in the lead, they held the ball, which forced the Lady Cats to come out of their zone defense, to man-to-man. The Lady Cats were forced to foul and Hancock County went 11-12 from the foul line down the stretch. Edmonson County struggled with free throws, hitting only 6 of 13 for 46%.

The Lady Cats also struggled from the field, shooting only 26% from the field on 10 of 38 and they were 0-13 from behind the arc.

Freshman Cariann Williams led the Lady Cats in scoring with 10 points and 9 rebounds. Annie Kiper added 7 points and 3 rebounds. Lily Jayne Vincent had 4 points and 6 rebounds, Callie Webb had 3 points, and Jenna Cook added 2.

The Lady Cats are now 9-5 on the season and are scheduled to take on South Warren at home on Tuesday, January 10th at 6PM.