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It was a tough night for the Wildcats as they faltered in their game plan and fell to the Ohio County Eagles on the road, 78-59.

In a game where Edmonson County needed to out-rebound the Eagles while keeping a hand in the face of three-point shooters, they did neither and as a result, were easily beaten by Ohio County.

The Wildcats gave OC all they could handle during the first quarter with a 14-12 lead; however, Ohio County began crashing the offensive boards and getting 2, 3, sometimes even more extra shots on one possession. 

The Eagles outscored the Wildcats 26-13 in the second quarter, took a 38-27 lead at the half, and they were never in danger of losing the lead again. 

Dalton Decker led the Wildcats with 16 points and 7 rebounds, Chaz Wilson notched 15 points and 10 rebounds (right at his season average), Griffin Spainhoward added 10 points, Nick Clemmons scored 8, and both Eli Booker and Isaiah Johnson scored 3 each. 

Edmonson County is now 11-14 on the season and is scheduled to take on McLean County on the road on Tuesday night. You can listen and watch both the girls and boys games here on the Edmonson Voice. 

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​Lady Cat Head Coach Bart Weaver knew that in order to beat Ohio County (20-8) on the road, Edmonson County would have to win the rebounding battle, shoot well from the free throw line, and crank their defense up a notch. Whatever he said in the locker room prior to the Lady Cats taking the floor must have been just the thing, as Edmonson's girls did all three as planned and grabbed a big road win, 51-41, despite 21 turnovers.

"This team amazes me because we can be deficient in one area but we'll make it up in others," Weaver said. "The two constants that these girls do every night is defense and rebounding. A lot of times it has to overcome our poor shooting, tonight it was us throwing the ball away 21 times."

Weaver said he thought his team played defense in the second half really well, especially the third quarter. Edmonson County held the Lady Eagles to only 7 points in the third.

The first half was close the entire way as the score was tied 9-9 after one. Several ties and lead changes later, a late three-pointer put Ohio County on top at the break, 24-22. The third quarter is where the Lady Cats began to take control. They were stingy with Ohio County second-chance points and four EC players had at least 5 rebounds or more. 

Edmonson County ran their lead up to seven as time began to wind down. They spread the floor and ran some clock as the Lady Eagles were forced to begin fouling. Edmonson County hit their free throws, hitting 18 of 24 for 75% as a team, and held on for the tough win.

Leading the way for Edmonson was Katie Lindsey with 22 points and 6 rebounds, followed by Emma Vincent with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 blocked shots. Lauren Ballance added 8 points and 3 rebounds, Chanley Logsdon scored 5 while grabbing 8 rebounds, Mia Goad had 4 points and 2 rebounds, and Madison Harrison added 2 points and 6 rebounds.

On an 8-game winning streak, Edmonson County improves to 20-7 on the season, which is currently the second-best record in Region 3. They are scheduled to take on McLean County on the road on Tuesday in a G/B double header beginning at 6pm.

Darren Doyle, story: Madison Doyle, photos:
It was a big night for Wildcat fans after Edmonson County's 71-66 win over the Caverna Colonels, but for none bigger than EC's manager/fan/player extraordinaire, senior Nick Johnson. Nick, arguably the biggest Wildcat fan in school history, started tonight in place of Chaz Wilson.

Nick, a basketball team manager and former football manager, suffered a stroke while in the womb. Doctors said he'd never walk nor talk. His mother, Elysia, said she and her husband Mickey, weren't satisfied with that diagnosis so they got a second opinion. Another group of doctors said otherwise and Nick began physical and speech therapy at around 8 months of age. 

​Nick's right side is weakened somewhat and he has occasional trouble lifting certain objects with his right hand, but that didn't seem to cause him any problems tonight as he attempted a shot on the Wildcats' first possession of the game. Fans went crazy when Johnson fired a three-pointer on the right side and buried it for his first career varsity points. 

That was actually the bright spot for the Cats for a while as the Colonels (1-20 on the season) took a 31-29 lead at the break. That lead grew to 8 in the third quarter but the comeback Cats chipped away and took the 59-57 lead with under three minutes to go and Caverna would never tie or take the lead from there on.

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While the game was a win, Coach Mike McClintic discussed what he liked and didn't like; however, he said he was just as proud as how the community, fans, and schools responded, as he was the win.

"Nick's one of my top assistant coaches," Coach Mac said with a smile. "If you don't believe me, just ask him. But this whole community, this whole school has always been great. I've been in a lot of schools and this place has just always been awesome with the way people are. I'm sure there are some doubters of me, which that's just part of coaching, and the coaching job. But you guys, the enthusiasm, the crowd, the kids, and my team--I can't say enough about my team. I wish I could play all of them, but in the game of basketball, in a varsity game, you can't do it a lot of times. But I want to thank the fans, everyone that watches you guys, listens to you guys, it means a lot to us. It does.

Johnson finished with three points. Leading the Cats was Chaz Wilson, who was big down the stretch; hitting 14 of 16 free throws on the night. He finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Dalton Decker had 9 points, Eli Booker finished with 8, Nick Clemmons had 7, Griffin Spainhoward had 6, Jon Smith had 6, Daniel Woosley had 4, and both Mason Pierce and Trent Taylor finished with 2 each.

The team also shot 25/30 from the stripe (83%).

The team improved to 11-12 on the season and is scheduled to take on a very tough Allen County-Scottsville team Tuesday night at home in a JV/V match beginning at 6pm with JV action. You can listen to the audio live on the Edmonson Voice. ​

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A 17-0 Lady Cat run in the first quarter established Edmonson County's presence early against Caverna on Monday night as the Lady Colonels fell 59-47 in Brownsville, despite a scrappy second half and a second half run from Caverna.

The Lady Colonels began with a 4-0 lead, but they wouldn't score again until the score was 20-6. Early hot three-point shooting and impressive defense from Edmonson County allowed them to amass a 38-13 lead at the half.

Caverna made some adjustments and started causing some problems for Edmonson County in the third. They upped their defense and Edmonson began to commit turnovers. An 18-9 Lady Colonels run cut their deficit 47-31 going into the fourth quarter.  Caverna cut Edmonson's lead to as little as 12 with just over 4 minutes to go, but the Lady Cats held on for their 7th win in a row.

Katie Lindsey led the Lady Cats with 16 points and 4 rebounds and senior Chanley added 15 points, all on three-pointers and pulled 6 rebounds. Mia Goad scored 11 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, Madison Harrison had 8 points and 2 rebounds, Lauren Ballance had 7 points and 6 rebounds, and Emma Vincent had 2 points and 5 rebounds. 

Edmonson County shot 48% from the field for the game and hit 40% from behind the arc. They also shot 87.5% from the free throw line (7/8). They are now 19-7 on the season.

They are scheduled to take on Ohio County on the road this Friday in a G/B double header beginning at 6pm. You can listen to the live audio only on the Edmonson Voice.

Darren Doyle, story: Madison Doyle, photos:
Losing to a district rival on the road is tough, doing that on a last-second shot is tougher, and that was the case in Grayson County as a three-pointer at the buzzer by the Cougars broke a 30-30 tie to give Grayson the win in the final regular season district match of the year.

Edmonson County started the game cold but an 8-0 run put them on top at the end of the first quarter 8-6. Both teams battled back-and-forth but Grayson County hit a three-pointer at the end of the second quarter to tie the score at 17 at halftime.

Edmonson County clung to a 24-23 lead going into the fourth quarter and the game came down to the wire as Grayson County set up their next possession after the Wildcats tied the score at 30 on Chaz Wilson's layup with one minute to go. The Cougars spread the floor and wound the clock down to 17.8 seconds when they called a timeout to set up their final play. Grayson sophomore Jaxson Higdon hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for the win.

Edmonson County was led by Dalton Decker's 11 points. Wilson added 9 points and 9 rebounds. Spainhoward added 7 points, Mason Pierce scored 2, and Trent Taylor had 1.

Wildcat starter Eli Booker was out with the flu. 

The Wildcats are now 10-12 on the season with Edmonson currently tied with Butler County for the best District 12 record (3-3); however, Trinity (2-3) is scheduled to play at Grayson County (3-2) next week. A Trinity win would create a four-way tie in the district standings, which would require a draw for district 12 tournament seeding.  A Grayson win next week would change the seeding entirely and would put Grayson at no. 1 (4-2), Edmonson and Butler would be tied for 2nd (3-3), and Trinity would take the fourth seed with a record of 2-4.

Best case scenario for Edmonson: Trinity wins against Grayson next week and EC gets the luck of the draw and grabs a one seed. Worst case scenario for EC: Grayson defeats Trinity next week and Edmonson will play Butler (2 and 3 seeds are basically equal). Bottom line: all four teams have similar records and have played equally as good and bad against each other all season long, and the entire district 12 tournament is a toss-up.

Edmonson County is set to take on Caverna at home in a G/B match on Monday night. Audio and video will be brought to you only on the Edmonson Voice.