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.
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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. 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. Williams Notches Third Triple-Double of Season 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. Photos and story by Joseph Barkoff: Edmonson County High School boys' basketball closed out their annual tournament in game three of Rafferty’s/Double Dogs Caveland Classic against visiting Owensboro Knights Christian Friday, December 22nd in Brownsville. Edmonson opened the tournament Wednesday Dec. 20th against the Bluegrass Blazers of Oakland, defeating them 78-59, shooting almost 55 percent from the field with four players in double figures for scoring and a total of 29 rebounds. On the second night, Thursday, Dec. 21st, Edmonson faced Owensboro Knights Christian. They defeated the home school team 85-63 with six players in double figures for scoring. Edmonson shot just below 43 percent from the field and hauled in 43 rebounds. Night three, in the final game of the tournament, Bethlehem came out pushing the pace, and seemed to keep the Wildcats off their style of a more controlled game. Due to the pace and handful of turnovers, the first quarter ended with Bethlehem on top 22-13 over host Edmonson County. “We gotta play better defense to start out the game,” Edmonson head coach Trey Tinsley said after the game. “I felt like it always takes us a quarter to play defense.” At 11 games in, they need to start better defensively and stop committing “silly” turnovers,” he said. “Against quality teams, you can’t put yourself in a hole,” Tinsley said. Despite being behind in double digits most of the quarter, Edmonson was able to claw back to within 6 points by the end of the first half. Edmonson was losing the rebound war 17-8, and while both teams were shooting around 45 percent from the field, Bethlehem was taking more shots. If they want to win big games, Tinsley said, they have to rebound it and get off to better starts defensively. “We had a good tournament,” he said. “I would’ve loved to get the third one there to win our Classic.” They have won two of three now in the couple previous weeks, including this week, and Tinsley said he is ready for them to win three out of three next week. “We’re learning stuff and we’re getting better,” he said. The second half, Edmonson came out playing their style of more cerebral play and continued their momentum, taking Bethlehem’s lead down to 2 points around 4 minutes left in the third quarter. Two three-pointers from Bethlehem and the lead was back to 8 points, 44-36 in favor of Bethlehem. With just under a minute-and-a-half left in the third, Edmonson trailed again in the double digits, 47-36. With a classic up-and-in, rebound, shoot, score from Edmonson County junior power forward Wyatt Gravil as the buzzer sounded, the Wildcats trailed back in single digits, 49-40 with 8 minutes left in the tournament. Edmonson was not able to find the solution for shutting down Bethlehem and getting within 6 points during the final minutes was as close as they would get. The final score was 68-56 in favor of Bethlehem of Edmonson. “We started off really slow,” senior shooting guard Will Alexander said after the game. “I feel like we’ve been starting off slow and we can get to that point where we start off games how we finish them, I feel like we can win these games.” Alexander had 16 points and 1 rebound, Gravil had 10 points and 3 rebounds, senior power forward Layne Ashley had 9 points and four rebounds and junior power forward Joshua Decker with 4 points and 5 rebounds, according to the unofficial stats by the Edmonson Voice Live Broadcast. “I was happy with how we played in the first two games,” Alexander said. “We obviously want to win everything, but 2 and 1, you can’t be too upset about it.”
The Wildcats travel to face Thomas Nelson at 7:30 p.m. January 2 in Bardstown. Lady Cats Perfect in Rafferty's/Double Dogs Caveland Classic; Defeat Glasgow 58-45 in Final Game12/23/2023 Photos and story by Joseph Barkoff: It was a long nine days for Edmonson County High School Lady Cats basketball. Six games in nine days, with the final three games on back-to-back-to-back nights in the 17th Rafferty’s/Double Dog Caveland Classic hosted by Edmonson County High School in Brownsville. The Lady Cats (11-1) went 5-1 on their busy week leading up to Christmas, suffering their first, and only loss so far in the season to a Franklin-Simpson team thought of as possibly the best in the state in their division. “I can live with that,” Edmonson head coach Jody Booth said of their one loss in the six-game stretch. In the final game of their six games in nine day stretched they faced Glasgow High School in the Rafferty’s/Double Dogs Caveland Classic Friday, December 22nd in Brownsville. “I feel like we played really good tonight,” Booth said after the game. “Last night we struggled closing the game out in the fourth quarter and that was the message going into tonight that we need to play for each other.” “They played free tonight,” he said. If a mistake was made, his team didn’t dwell on it, and just moved onto the next play, Booth explained. “We hit our open teammates,” he said. “We set our teammates up.” The Lady Cats drew first blood with a bucket from freshman guard Shelby Sowders, but then the Lady Cats seemed to stall out as the Scotties went on a 9-point run. Perhaps the previous days’ events had taken their toll, with a handful of turnovers and effort minus their usual precision, the Lady Cats clawed back to within 1 point by the end of the first quarter. It was 13-12 in favor of the Scotties, but the Lady Cats were about to get another wind. “I don’t know what it is about the slow starts,” Booth said. But he doesn’t freak out when it happens either, he said, “because I trust my team.” The Scotties opened the second with the ball, but after one set of turnovers from each team, Sowders scored the first bucket of the new quarter, again. Taking the lead, again, to open the quarter, it was now with the score 14-13 in favor of the Lady Cats. Two plays later, Sowders, after crossing into her offensive zone, no one from Glasgow stepped up to defend her so she dropped a three-pointer from the top left. The next play, Edmonson junior guard Kennadi Swihart sank a three from the deep left corner and it was now 20-13 in favor of the Lady Cats. It was a 16-point run on Glasgow for Edmonson before the Scotties would move the score board in their favor again. By then, there was just over a minute remaining in the first half with Edmonson up 27-15. Edmonson outscored Glasgow 18 to 3 in the second quarter and the half ended with Edmonson up 30-15 over Glasgow. It was 48-27 by the end of the third quarter and while the Scotties got within 13 points by the final buzzer, Edmonson County held on, handily, for the win 58-45. In the fourth quarter Booth acknowledged their lead they had built caused them to get “a little sloppy,” he said. The unofficial stats curated by the Edmonson Voice Live Stream had Edmonson County sophomore center Cariann Williams with another double-double night scoring 16 points and hauling in 13 rebounds plus five or six blocked shots. Swihart had 15 points and 5 rebounds, Sowders had 9 points, 5 rebounds, junior guard Jenna Cook had 8 points and junior forward Julie Norris had 3 points with 6 rebounds. Edmonson shot 60 percent to Glasgow’s 41 percent from the field for the evening. Swihart feels the tournament went pretty well for both her and the team, she said. Not expecting to stall out and rest on their success so far, the team hopes to continue to improve with their short time off before they resume play next year and continue their momentum in January, Booth said. “This tournament has really helped us get back as team and get closer again,” Swihart said. There will be people who doubt them, she said. But they can’t get settled or get big heads about it. They just need to keep playing their game and prove to folks they are the team they say they are. “I’m really proud of our girls and how we’ve been doing and how our season has gone so far,” she said. “No one thought we was going to do this good and we have proved so many people wrong.” Edmonson defeated Todd County Central High School 55-52 in the first game of the tournament on Wednesday Dec. 20 after a battle, holding on at the end.
On day two of the tournament, Thurs. Dec. 21, they defeated Apollo E-Gals 53-39. Edmonson County (11-1) takes the court again in the new year January 2nd at home in Brownsville at 6PM against Muhlenberg County (1-7). Wednesday, December 20th Through Friday, December 22nd The annual Caveland Classic basketball tournament, sponsored by Rafferty's/Double Dogs, is returning to Edmonson County High School this week.
Both boys and girls teams will play daily/nightly from Wednesday, December 20th at 11AM until Friday night at 7:45PM. The Edmonson County boys will begin play on Weds. at 11AM against the Bluegrass Blazers home school league, with the Lady Cats taking on Todd County Central afterwards at 12:45PM. Both the Lady Cats and Wildcats will play at 6PM and 7:45PM respectively, on Thursday and Friday night. All ECHS games will be broadcast on the Edmonson Voice. Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff: Edmonson County Lady Cats took the floor against a bigger, stronger more experienced Franklin-Simpson team in the Kentucky Division 2A Girls' Sectionals tournament Saturday, December 16th at Warren East High School in Bowling Green. Edmonson suffered their first loss of the season and were outscored 70-33. “It’s tough,” Edmonson County head coach Jody Booth said after the game. “I mean, any time you lose like that it’s tough. Franklin-Simpson is a top-three team in the 4th Region for a reason.” Sticker shock aside, Edmonson County did not lay down or show frustration over the course of the game. They drew first blood after 40 seconds with a three-pointer from junior guard Jenna Cook. With a couple quick lead changes, Edmonson took an early lead, 5-4, but then Franklin-Simpson went on an 8-point run until a smooth three-pointer, this time from Edmonson junior forward Julie Norris put them back in the hunt. With just a few seconds left in the first quarter, the score 14-10 in favor of Franklin-Simpson, Edmonson sophomore center Cariann Williams posted up and dropped a bucket off the glass left-handed to move back within 2 points. “We knew it was going to be a battle,” Booth said. In the second quarter, Franklin-Simpson started to pull away, holding on to a 9-point lead for most of the quarter until just over 2:30 remaining in the half when they began to create some real distance. Slowly at first, but by the end of the half, the score was 33-16 with Edmonson down. They have had the same coach for a few years, and players who have bought into the system and “you’ve got two bigs that are almost unstoppable,” that’s what they do, Booth said. “They are so aggressive and we just haven’t seen that,” Booth said. “That’s what’s going to make us better though. We are gonna keep our heads up, stay positive, use it as a learning tool and just know we have to get stronger with the ball. Fundamental stuff. We’ll be fine.” He was proud of his team for not getting visibly frustrated during the game, he said. “We are sitting at 7-1, just played in the 2A Championship against a really good team, and we we’re sitting as a (predicted) maybe 8,9,10 in our region, we’re not frustrated, we’re gonna move on, use it to learn,” Booth said. They have a busy week next week so they can’t put their heads down and worry, he said. The unofficial stats according to the Edmonson Voice Live broadcast had Williams with a double-double, hoisting 17 points and reeling in 11 rebounds. Freshman guard Shelby Sowders had 5 points and three rebounds, junior guard Kennadi Swihart fouled out with 4 points and three rebounds, and Cook had 3 points and four rebounds. The Lady Cats shot an unusually low amount of attempts, going 12-32 from the field at 37.5% while Franklin-Simpson shot 46% at 27 for 59. Next week the Lady Cats return to action for the Rafferty’s/Double Dogs Caveland Classic hosted at Edmonson County High School Wednesday Dec. 20 at 12:45 p.m. in Brownsville. All ECHS games will be broadcast on the Voice. |
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