Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff:
The ​Edmonson County Wildcats lost by 30 on the road in a makeup game against the Butler County Bears on Monday, January 29th in Morgantown.
 
The final score was 80-30 in favor of the Bears over the Wildcats.
 
The first few minutes of the game belonged to the Wildcats, as they scored first. It was 4-0 in favor of the visiting Wildcats, then 4-3 after a three-pointer. As 2:40 had ticked off the clock, and host Bears sunk another three-pointer, the lead was now in favor of the host Bears 6-4.
 
After the first quarter, the visiting Wildcats had battled back to tie the game twice, but the Bears started to slowly pull away and the score was 17-11 in favor of the Bears after eight minutes.

​A few times in the second quarter Butler would increase their lead to double digits, but the Wildcats would claw their way back to an almost manageable single digit deficit, if there is such a thing, before Butler would pull away a little more each time.
 
By halftime the Wildcats were almost doubled up 40-23 and at the end of the third quarter it was 56-34 in favor of the home team.
 
Edmonson junior power forward Joshua Decker scored 13 points and had 9 rebounds and junior power forward Wyatt Gravil also scored in double digits with 11 points while hauling in 6 rebounds on the evening.
 
Wildcats head coach Trey Tinsley was unavailable after the game for comment.

On a positive, albeit confounding note, the Wildcats out rebounded their opponents 33-20 in team rebounds.
 
Next, the Wildcats are scheduled to travel to face Trinity on February 2nd at 7 p.m. in Whitesville.

Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff:
The Edmonson County Lady Cats lost on the road by three in a make-up game against the Butler County Lady Bears Monday, January 29th in Morgantown.
 
The final score was 39-36. 
 
There was aggressive play, but not quite a full court press by both teams from tip off to the final buzzer. The aggressive, sometimes overplay by both squads made for a host of turnovers with what seemed more fast breaks heading away from the Lady Cats than to their bucket.
 
There were 20 Lady Cat turnovers alone, according to stats curated during the Edmonson Live broadcast.
 
The often scramble, swiping, double and triple-teaming scrums led both teams to shoot well below 40 percent from the field, with the Lady Cats shooting 30 percent and the Lady Bears marginally better with 35 percent from the field.
 
It wasn’t so much the Lady Cats weren’t getting shots to fall when there was good off-ball movement, and despite the aggression and mayhem trying to break the man-to-man coverage with each team wearing their opponent like another jersey. It was that the Lady Bears seemed to have a few more fall.
 
Lady Cats sophomore center Cariann Williams often wore two or three extra jerseys and arms while earning her third triple-double of the season with 15 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocks on the night. Junior guard Jenna Cook was also in double digits scoring with 10 points and 3 rebounds.
 
Lady Cats junior guard Kennadi Swihart was in street clothes with a brace on her leg and crutches to assist mobility and could only offer support from the bench. She is due for an MRI later in the week.

​In the first quarter there were four lead changes, over a half dozen team turnovers and Williams had all seven of the Lady Cats points with the lead 7-6 after the first eight minutes.
 
By the end of the first half the score was 17-16 in favor of the host Lady Bears after two more ties and two more lead changes.
 
Williams had 9 of her 15 points and 10 rebounds already with the Lady Cats out-rebounding the Lady Bears 17 to 5 in team rebounds, according to Edmonson Voice Live stats.
 
Early in the third quarter, after the Lady Cats tied it back up at one point briefly, but the Lady Bears then went ahead 3 points and held on. They inched their lead to 6 points briefly and the Lady Cats clawed back to within 5 when the third quarter ended with the Lady Bears in front of the Lady Cats 29-24.
 
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Cats came within 1 point with around 1:30 left, down 37-36, but could not get the ball to fall where Butler then could, and without getting off a final shot, the buzzer sounded with the score 39-36 in favor of host Butler County.

​“It got us tonight, they were the tougher team,” Lady Cats head coach Jody Booth said after the game on the Edmonson Live broadcast.
 
Booth acknowledged turnovers were a huge issue on the night and despite making kids run or do extra exercise for committing them, telling, asking, pleading with the kids to take better care of the ball only gets one so far. 
 
Sometimes it’s up to the kids.
 
Next, the Lady Cats travel Friday February 2 to face Trinity at 6 p.m. in Whitesville.

Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff:
Despite a slow start, Edmonson County Wildcats ended up beating the visiting Trinity (Whitesville) Raiders 65-37 in a rescheduled game Saturday, January 13th in Brownsville.
 
The game was originally scheduled for the previous evening on Jan. 12th but cancelled due to weather and then played the following day.
 
Both teams seemed to have what was best described as “early game jitters,” Darren Doyle said in the Edmonson Voice Live broadcast. It wasn’t until a minute and thirty seconds had elapsed before the first points were scored from two Raider free throws.
 
Trinity would hold tightly onto their lead, leading by as much as seven points, and by the end of the first quarter it was Trinity in the lead by five, 20-15 against host Edmonson.
 
The second quarter was a different story.

​“I thought we woke up in the second quarter,” Edmonson County head coach Trey Tinsley said after the game.
 
In the second quarter, Edmonson went on a 17-point run and Trinity was unable to score another point until there was only 1:47 left in the first half. It would not be enough and Trinity’s three points, all on free throws against Edmonson’s 20 points would see the score, and the lead, be in favor of Edmonson 35-20 at the end of the first half.
 
By the end of the third quarter it was 52-31 in favor of Edmonson. 
 
With an occasional full court press from Edmonson, Trinity seemed to lose their early game drive and would only score four more to the home team’s 13 points in the fourth quarter.
 
The final score was 65-37 in favor of Edmonson.

Tinsley acknowledged Trinity freshman guard Cale Boarman was faster in real life than he was on film and he felt they were able to better deal with Boarman in the following three quarters, he said.
 
“I am proud of our guys,” he said. “It’s our first district win.”
 
Next week against Butler is going to be a battle, and they are coming to do so, he said.
 
Edmonson shot for 53 percent from the field according to the unofficial stats reported by the Edmonson Voice Live Broadcast.
 
Edmonson County’s next two scheduled games are away. First in Owensboro, Jan. 16th against Owensboro Knights Christian, and then Edmonson Voice Live broadcasts the girl-boy double header against Butler County in Butler County Jan. 19th. The boys start at 7:30PM, both games.

Story and Photos by Joseph Barkoff:
​​The Edmonson County Lady Cats, coming off an overtime win on the road, ferociously doubled up the visiting Trinity (Whitesville) Lady Raiders 60-30 in the make-up game girls-boys-double header Saturday, January 13th in Brownsville.
 
Both games were originally scheduled for the previous night but cancelled due to inclement weather, and then rescheduled for the following afternoon at 2PM.
 
The Lady Cats came out purring and ready to pounce with a full-court press from the first defensive possession. 
 
“Why wait at the half court and let them be comfortable bringing ball up the floor, when we can speed ‘em up,” Lady Cats head coach Jody Booth said after the game.
 
"That’s just our mindset."
 
It’s not a new mindset, but signs the team is maturing and adding another level of play to their arsenal.
 
“It’s definitely, you know, a lot more work, but it’s more rewarding because we get more steals and stuff like that,” junior forward Julie Norris said after the game.
 
Booth thinks it brings more energy for his team, he said.
 
“We’ve got the quickness and the speed,” Booth said. “That’s what we are trying to do, is pick up more. Try to get more options out of our full court pressure.”
 
Going forward he would like to continue being more aggressive because he feels the team can show the district they are here, he said.
 
“We’ve got quick guards and then we’ve got Cariann (Williams) waiting there in the paint, so it helps out a whole lot,” Booth said.

​Both teams were slow to score early in the first quarter. Edmonson led 2-0 for the first couple minutes, then Trinity tied it up and Edmonson sprang into action going on a 6-0 run pushing the score to 8-2.
 
Trinity battled back and got within one point twice, but it would not be enough.
 
The Lady Cats went on an eight-point run to end the first quarter 17-9.
 
“I think it went pretty well,” Norris said. “We had a couple of rough moments, but we pulled it out in the end.”
 
Norris acknowledged it wasn’t as much a “rough moment” as it was maybe some lazy passing converted into steals and fast breaks early in the first quarter.
 
Because the second quarter opened with Lady Cats extending their run against visiting Lady Raiders and increasing the lead into double digits.
 
It wasn’t until 1:41 left in the first half where the Lady Raiders scored again, ending an unanswered 21-point run for the Lady Cats making the score 30-10.
 
The first half ended with Lady Cats in the lead 30-14 and by the end of the third quarter they had almost doubled them, 43-22.
 
The last few minutes of the game saw some of the younger players enjoying playing time and Lady Cats were able to hold on to the doubled-up score with a final score of 60-30.

​Some after game unofficial stats according to the live broadcast on Edmonson Voice are sophomore center Cariann Williams had another double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, junior guard Jenna Cook had 15 points and 7 rebounds, junior guard Kennadi Swihart had 3 points and 3 rebounds, freshman guard Shelby Sowders had 14 points and 7 rebounds, and Norris had 4 points on the night.
 
The next scheduled game for Lady Cats is home against Green County Monday, Jan. 15th at 5:30PM, though the weather may have a difference of opinion. The next scheduled broadcast, including photos and an article following will be another boy-girl double-header on the road Jan. 19th in Butler County starting at 6PM on Friday.

Edmonson Voice Sports:
Edmonson County has announced the 2024 Basketball Homecoming candidates, which include 16 girls.

Front Row: Seniors Hannah Coogle, Makenzie Treece, Chaney Browning, (not pictured Riley Monroe), 
Second Row: Juniors Emberlei Stevens, Addison Bullard, Maggie Cassady, Kenadi Swihart,
Third Row: Sophomores Peyton Weedman, Lola Ramsey, Lola Bolton, Sarah Lancaster
Back Row: Freshman Shelby Sowders, Kylee WIlliams, Avery Alexander (not pictured Lilly Webb). 

This year's basketball homecoming game is scheduled for Friday, January 12, 2024 vs. Whitesville Trinity and will feature a double header for both the Lady Cats and Wildcats.