The boys and girls basketball teams split a win and a loss last night at the 2021 Rafferty's/Double Dogs Caveland Classic as the girls fell to Logan County, 51-41 and the boys won over Monroe County, 68-63.

The girls got things off to a good start with an early lead, which was exactly what Coach Bart Weaver had planned. The Lady Cats led 10-7 but Logan County's TyKiah Mason nailed a three at the first quarter buzzer to tie it at 10-10.

Logan County was able to take the lead in the second with the help of second chance points on offensive rebounds. Edmonson County also failed to capitalize on several easy baskets in the paint. The Lady Cougars beat the Lady Cats on the boards 33-20 for the game. Logan led 28-15 at the half and they never trailed again, despite a decent third quarter effort from Edmonson County.

Edmonson was led in scoring by Paige Wolfe with 11, Lily J. Vincent, Emma White, and Leah Ballance each had 7 points, Hallie Cassady had 6, Cariann Willams had 2, and Jaedlyn Simon added one point.

Edmonson's girls are now 3-5 on the season and will take on Monroe County tonight at 5:15PM in the final night of the Caveland Classic.

Wildcats 68, Falcons 63

The Wildcats were looking for a bounce-back game after poor shooting hindered them against the more athletic Todd County Central on Monday night. Edmonson County looked sharp early as they attacked the basket, but Monroe County was red hot behind the three-point line, knocking down 12 for the game. The threes from the Falcons helped them grab a 27-22 lead with time winding down as the Wildcats held for the last shot of the half. Braden Wall missed a three with seconds left, it was rebounded by Cole Saling, who then missed another three, then Braxton Highbaugh grabbed the rebound and put it back as the buzzer sounded. It appeared he didn't beat the clock at first, but his basket counted and the Cats trailed 24-27 at the half.

Senior Evan Stice nailed a three at the top of the key to tie the score at 27 as they began the third, but the Wildcats were still playing catch-up throughout the quarter as Monroe was able to stay a basket or two ahead. The Cats trailed 40-44 heading into the final quarter.

A three-pointer in the corner gave Monroe County their largest lead of the game at 50-42 with 6:44 left to play but Edmonson County went on a 10-2 run over the next two minutes to take their first lead since 2:54 in the first quarter at 11-9. Trace Taylor picked the pocket of Monroe County's Brison Nuckols near half court as the Falcon point guard was in the midst of running the offense. Taylor's breakaway layup gave the Wildcats a 54-52 lead and they never trailed again.

Key free throws were hit by both Taylor and junior Braxton Highbaugh down the stretch. Edmonson County was an impressive 15 of 18 from the free throw line for 83% shooting. They shot 43% from the field.

Four Wildcats landed in double figures, led by Trace Taylor's 18pts and 3 rebounds, Tyler Anderson added 16pts and 4 rbs, Highbaugh had 12pts and 7 rbs, Braden Wall had 11pts and 7 rebounds, Evan Stice had 9pts and 2rbs, and Cole Saling added 2pts and 2rbs.

The Wildcats improved to 5-4 on the season and the win snapped a two-game losing streak. They are scheduled to take on Glasgow tonight at 7PM in the final night of the Raffery's/Double Dogs Caveland Classic.

Darren Doyle, story: Madison Doyle, photos:
The Wildcats faltered in the second half after a solid performance in the first half against Todd County Central in the Rafferty's/Double Dogs Caveland Classic at Edmonson County High School on Monday night.

Edmonson County led 22-21 at the half with help from Trace Taylor's 13 first half points and Braden Wall's ten, first half rebounds. However, the Wildcats didn't do well against increased pressure from the Rebels in the third quarter, as Todd Central started the third with a 9-0 run. They outscored the Cats 18-9 in the quarter, which was enough to keep the lead for good, as they went on to win 58-40.

Edmonson County was uncharacteristically 1-13 from the three point line (7%), which hurt them tremendously against the quicker, more athletic Rebels.

Led by Trace Taylor's 21 points and 4 rebounds, the Cats only had 5 turnovers at the half; however, they had that many more in the third quarter alone, which helped the Rebels in their early second half run.

Braden Wall finished with 9 points and 12 rebounds, Braxton Highbaugh added 3 points and 6 rebounds, Zander Bass had 3 points, and Tyler Anderson, and Cole Saling each added 2 points.

Coach Brad Johnson said he was obviously surprised at the poor three-point shooting effort from his team.

"We can't beat a quick, athletic team shooting 1 for 13," he said. "We drive it, then we cut, and that has to leave a three open, and we gotta knock some of those in. If we just shoot a normal, say, 5 of 13 from threes, then we have 15 more points, and it's a different game. But give them (Todd) credit, they're very well coached, well schooled, and played hard."

Coach Johnson said he was proud of the Wildcat effort; however, the execution fell just short of the goal.

Edmonson County is now 4-4 on the season and is scheduled to take on Monroe County tonight in the second night of the Caveland Classic at ECHS, which is scheduled for a 7PM tip off.

Darren Doyle, story: Madison Doyle, photos:
It wasn't the prettiest at times, but it was a win for the Lady Cats last night at the 2021 Rafferty's/Double Dogs Caveland Classic, hosted by Edmonson County, as they defeated the Green County Dragons 39-27.

With Green County out-rebounding the Lady Cats 33-30 and with 17 turnovers for EC, Coach Bart Weaver credited his team's defense last night as the difference maker in this contest, as the Dragons were held to only 18% shooting, on 9-49 from the field.

"At this point, we just needed a win in the worst kind of way" he said. "If we can cut our turnovers down and hit some more shots, our defense is solid," he said. "It keeps us in the game."

Edmonson County led 8-7 after the first quarter and after Green County took a lead in the second, the Lady Cats were able to tie the score at 15 at the half after Vincent's two free throws. Edmonson County was able to efficiently disrupt the Dragon offense in the third as they grabbed a 26-19 lead going into the fourth and never trailed again.

Edmonson County was led in scoring by Lily Jayne Vincent with 11 points and 4 rebounds. Paige Wolfe added 10 points and 5 rebounds and Cariann Williams scored 9 points, added 6 rebounds, 6 blocked shots, and 3 assists. Hallie Cassady also impressed with 10 rebounds and 2 points.

The Lady Cats were without Callie Webb, who is dealing with a knee injury, and Jaedlyn Simon was out of the lineup due to illness.

Emma White added 3 points, while Leah Ballance and Jenna Cook each added two points.

Edmonson County is now 3-4 on the season and will face Logan County (6-2) tonight at 5:15PM. The game will be live streamed by the Edmonson Voice.

Edmonson Voice Sports:
The annual Rafferty's/Double Dogs Caveland Classic will return to Edmonson County High School next week after last year's event was skipped due to the pandemic.

The event is scheduled for Monday, December 20th through Wednesday, December 22nd with games beginning at noon each day and ending with boys basketball each night with the final games starting at 7PM.

This year will feature girls teams Monroe, Green, and Logan County, and boys teams from Monroe, Green, Todd, Ohio County, and Glasgow.

Daily admission is $8 per person and good for all games that day, or $20 per-person passes are available that include all games throughout the event. Edmonson County season tickets will be honored for all games.

The Lady Cats will play nightly at 5:15PM and the Wildcats will follow each night at 7PM. All ECHS games will be broadcast by the WildcatsLive crew on the Edmonson Voice.

Darren Doyle, story:
The girls and boys basketball teams split a win and a loss last night on the road in a doubleheader at Allen County-Scottsville with the girls falling 43-39 and the boys winning 73-48.

The Lady Cats were down 22-16 at halftime. They were able to stay within one or two points away throughout the third until senior Paige Wolfe's three-pointer with 14 seconds left in the quarter gave them a 31-29 advantage heading into the final quarter.

Led by Lily Jayne Vincent's 18 points and 9 rebounds, the Lady Cats and Lady Patriots went back-and-forth throughout the final quarter.

With the score tied at 37, eighth grader Cariann Williams was fouled as she went for a shot with 1:59 to go. She hit both free throws to give the Lady Cats a 39-37 lead; however, those would be the final points scored for Edmonson County.

ACS's Jayleigh Steenburgen nailed a three-pointer in the corner with 1:09 left to put the Lady Patriots up 40-39.

It would be untimely turnovers that would keep the Lady Cats from regaining the lead. Edmonson County had the ball with 28 seconds left and threw the ball away. They were forced to foul ACS's Chloe Cook with 14.3 seconds on the clock and she hit both free throws to extend the lead to 42-39.

Edmonson County squandered their final possession with another turnover with 3.4 seconds remaining, which forced EC to foul again with 2.2 seconds. ACS hit one more foul shot and the Lady Patriots held on for a 43-39 win.

Williams added 8 points and 4 rebounds off the bench for Edmonson County and Paige Wolfe added 8 points and 5 rebounds. Jaedlyn Simon scored three points.

The Lady Cats are now 2-3 on the season.

It was a different situation with the boys game as the Wildcats took an early lead and rolled over the Patriots in a big way, earning their first true road win of the season with a 73-48 victory.

All 17 Wildcats on the varsity roster saw playing time in the team effort with 12 of them making their way into the scorebook.

Edmonson County led 34-22 at halftime and a big 24-13 quarter from the Cats gave them a commanding 59-35 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats were led by junior Braden Wall's 14 points  and 9 rebounds with Trace Taylor adding 14 points and a rebound, along with Evan Stice's 10 points and 2 rebounds.

The remaining scoring for the Cats was Bass 6, Highbaugh 6, Saling 5, Prunty 5, Anderson 3, Alexander 3, Parsley 3, Clemmons 2, Mills 2.

The Wildcats are now 4-2 on the season. The next scheduled games are this Friday at Todd County Central, where the girls tip is scheduled for 6PM and the boys immediately following.

The Edmonson Voice will stream the audio broadcast for both games.

Darren Doyle story, Madison Doyle, photos:
The momentum built by Grayson County in the second half was a bit too much for Edmonson County to match last night at ECHS as the Wildcats fell 65-52 in each team's first district game of the season.

The Wildcats trailed 13-9 after the first quarter but tied it on Cole Saling's layup with 24 seconds left in the half. The score was 23-23 at halftime.

Edmonson County had some unforced turnovers in the third and Grayson capitalized. The Cougars were able to build a double-digit lead and they kept the Cats at arm's length for the remainder of the contest for an Edmonson County 65-52 loss.

"We didn't want to make excuses, but the truth of the matter is, we had guys in spots for the very first time, we were nervous," said Coach Brad Johnson. "I told them at the half, daggone, if we make our free throws in the first half, we've got the half time lead. Just a decent percentage. We didn't come for a moral victory or anything like that. You know, we want to win and we're 0-1 in the district, so we felt like we were right there. They made good adjustments against our defense. We tried a little matchup zone, we got 'em doing what we wanted for a little while but then we lost some people. We got tired. I played Braden too long. Brayden's been sick this week and you fall in love with his offensive talent and the things he can do and he's our best passer, but I think I've got a mad group in there right now over how they played. I think they'll bounce back. The great thing is, we get to turn around and play again in the morning, that bad thing is, they're a daggone good team, so there's no rest for the weary."

There were no official stats available at the time of this article.

The Wildcats are now 2-2 on the season. They are scheduled to play Campbellsville today at the Don Franklin Hoops Classic at Barren County. Their next game will be Tuesday on the road at Allen County-Scottsville in a G/B doubleheader with girls beginning at 6pm.

Darren Doyle, story: Madison Doyle, photos:
The Lady Cats bounced back from a big loss to Logan County on Tuesday to beat the Grayson County Cougars at ECHS last night in the first District 12 game of the year, 35-26.

Led by senior Paige Wolfe's 16 points and 5 rebounds, Edmonson County was more efficient with their defense than earlier in the week.

The girls got off to an 11-8 lead and led 19-15 at the half.

Edmonson County shot 33% from the field on 14 of 42 shooting but struggled at the line, making only 3/11 (27%).

They were slightly edged in rebounding by the Lady Cougars 26-24 but they held Grayson County to only 22% shooting on the night.

Coach Weaver said the team had some tough practices this week, which he said paid off.

"They were just as aggressive as the other team was tonight, and that's the way we've got to play," he said. "We're blue collar. We've got to play that way. I was proud of them for diving everywhere tonight and just being physical."

Carian Williams had 8 points off the bench. Callie Webb had 4 points and 2 rebounds, Lily Jayne Vincent had 3 points and 7 rebounds, Hallie Cassady had 2 points and 8 rebounds, and Jaedlyn Simon had 2 points.

The Lady Cats are now 2-2 on the season and 1-0 in district play. They are scheduled to travel to Allen County-Scottsville on Tuesday for a G/B doubleheader starting at 6pm.

Darren Doyle, story:
There were dozens of Wildcats that had smiles on their faces last night in Edmonson County's big 69-45 win over Logan County in "Wildcat Hall," or what's currently known as the Edmonson County 5/6 Center. Those Wildcats ranged from those being part of ECHS athletics more than 50 years ago to the eleven Cats that made their way into the game last night.

Former coaches Pete Clemmons, who served as boys coach in Wildcat Hall in 1968-79, 1971,72 and Gerald Meredith as assistant coach during those years as well as the first head coach of girls basketball in 1974, were both honored at halftime. Clemmons was the first coach in the "new" gym in 1968, after the Tandie McIntire era, from 1941-1967.

The first Wildcat starting lineup in that gym consisted of Carlton Alexander, Tommy Houchin, Lonzo Stewart, Keith Madison, and Barry Wood. Houchin is credited with the first points ever scored in the historic gym.

The Wildcats got off to a solid start against the Cougars, grabbing an early 17-5 lead in the first quarter. Stellar defense from Edmonson County caused all sorts of problems for the Cougars, which forced 27 turnovers.

Logan County hung in there for a bit, outscoring the Cats 16-13 in the second quarter and cutting the lead to 30-21 at the half.

A turnover from Edmonson County as they started the third and a three-pointer from Logan cut the lead to 30-24 but the Cats would go on a 20-4 run that would seal the Cougars' doom. Edmonson County was able to allow everyone on the roster some playing time as nine players entered the scoring book with eleven players recording at least one rebound.

Senior Evan Stice led the Cats with 13 points and 2 rebounds with two-three pointers. Tyler Anderson, Braden Wall, and Trace Taylor each had 9 points, Braxton Highbaugh added 7 points and 8 rebounds, and Cole Saling added 5 points and 6 rebounds with Noah Parsley adding 5 points as well.

The remaining box score was: Bates 3, Clemmons 2, Mills 2, Prunty 2, Meredith 1.

Editor's note: due to a technical issue, our photos were lost for this game against Logan County. We apologize to our readers for the issue.

Darren Doyle, story: Madison Doyle, photos:
There was plenty of reminiscing from former players, coaches, and fans last night on "Throwback Night" in the old ECHS Gym, better known as the former "Wildcat Hall," and currently known as the EC 5/6 Center; however, the memory of the first half play against Logan County is something the Lady Cats will want to soon forget.

Edmonson County struggled defensively last night as the Lady Cougars had little trouble getting to the basket and knocking down shots. EC's offense never got off the ground either, as they never got into any rhythm, which was much in part by a very effective half court defensive trap from Logan County.

The Lady Cougars held Edmonson County to an abysmal 5-first quarter points. To make things worse, the Lady Cats only found a way to score two points in the second quarter and trailed 24-7 at the half.

Coach Bart Weaver was not shy in expressing his thoughts on the performance of the Lady Cats.

"It embarrasses me to have this great thing tonight and our girls come out and play like that and for me to coach like that," he said. "I'm upset and I was really, really, really, upset with my defense in the first half, I mean, it was pathetic. We may, tomorrow, just have an all-defense-it's-going-to-be-ugly practice because that was horrible."

Edmonson County had 22 turnovers compared to only 13 for Logan County. The Lady Cats shot just 27% from the floor on 8 of 30 shooting.

The Lady Cats had a much better showing in the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Cougars 12-8, but the huge first half deficit was too much to overcome as Logan County won 39-22.

Leading the Lady Cats was eighth grader Cariann Williams with 6 points and 6 rebounds, Callie Webb had 5, Paige Wolfe, Hallie Cassady, and Leah Ballance each had 3, and Lily Jayne Vincent had 2.

The Lady Cats are now 1-2 on the season and are scheduled to take on Grayson County on Friday night at home in the first District 12 game of the season. It will be a girl-boy doubleheader beginning at 6PM.

Darren Doyle, story: Madison Doyle, photos:
Several questions surrounding a new season's Edmonson County Wildcats were answered last night as the Cats opened up the 2021-22 season at home against Nelson County.

Can they win? Yes. Will they play well together? Yes. Will they be fun to watch? At least according to what fans saw last night.

Prior to the game in a conversation with the Edmonson Voice, newly named Head Coach Brad Johnson laid out his expectations for this year's team, which included plenty of hustle, a fast pace, teamwork, and a team that will be competitive throughout the season. His expectations were met in the 10-point win over the Cardinals, led by seniors Trace Taylor (21pts, 5rbs) and Evan Stice (14pts on four 3-pointers).

Coach Johnson said the team was nervous before the game and thought they might have some trouble getting over the first-game jitters, but when the 3-pointers started falling (11 total for the game) the boys looked much more comfortable and he was pleased with the effort.

"We had guys gutting it out," he said. "We had guys rebounding against somebody taller and stronger then they were. I feel like that was really good and I'm proud of the kids."

Nelson County, a well-matched team against Edmonson, also had plenty of scrap, hustle, and hot shooting early. It was almost a mirror image of the Cats' play in the first half. Edmonson County edged them in most categories early except rebounding, and the Cardinals' opportunities for second-chance points kept the score close. Edmonson led 16-15 after the first and held a 27-22 lead at the half.

Twelve Cats saw playing time in last night's game and nine of them landed in the scorebook.

"All in all, it was a good win and we need that," said Johnson. "It gets the ship headed in the right direction and we have a tough test with Cumberland County. They've got everybody back and we played them this summer. We squeaked by them by one or two points."

Junior forward Braden Wall went down in the first half with an ankle injury and his availability is currently unknown.

"We don't know Braden's status. (Swelling) popped up on him pretty good there. We'll ice the heck out it, hopefully. I hate it for him because it means so much to him. Nobody was more anxious to get out here more than Braden tonight, but we say 'pick your teammate up,' and Braden gets a lot of rebounds so somebody else has to rebound above themselves a little bit."

The Cats out-rebounded the Cardinals 18-8 in the second half.

Other scoring for the Cats was: Will Alexander 6, Tyler Anderson 5, Cole Saling 4, Braxton Highbaugh 4, Braden Wall 3, Jarrett Prunty 3, Zander Bass 2.

The Wildcats are now 1-0 on the season and will take on Cumberland County at home on Saturday.