Crittenden County Basketball

Former Lady Rocket talks about today's game

Kayla Bebout, a three-time participant in the All A Classic during her career, talks about what it's like to be on this stage.

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Thursday, January 26, 2017

Brock is catalyst for Lady Dragons; Friday's opponent

If Lady Rocket basketball fans need to know just one thing about Harlan, Friday’s opponent in the state quarterfinals, it is that the 17-5 Lady Dragons are led by one of the state’s best players.

Senior guard Jordan Brock has already signed to play collegiate basketball at Tennessee Tech, which is not too far from her home in the mountains of southeast Kentucky.

Brock has amassed a number of accolades and honors during her storied career but the most remarkable achievement is the way she leads Harlan’s team. Brock is the top three-point shooter in Kentucky, making 37 percent of her shots and scoring more than three treys a game.

Brock, a 5-foot-7 guard, can light it up from anywhere. She scored 39 in an All A Classic State Tournament game last year and put up 48 once before in a game. She is the state’s top foul shooter and ranks among Kentucky’s top scorers at 23 points per game. She scored 41 points in a January win over Pineville, but junior McKenzie King, a 5-foot-9 forward, adds another 13 points a game to the Dragon attack. Senior Emma Bianchi, a 5-11 forward, scores 6 points and gets 7 rebounds a game.

Harlan won both the KHSAA and All A 13th Region championships last year under Brock’s leadership and got to the Classic semifinals before losing to Owensboro Catholic. As a junior, Brock was listed as the 25th best player in Kentucky by the Lexington newspaper. This is the Lady Dragons’ fourth straight trip to the small-school state tournament.

Crittenden’s coaching staff knows that Brock and the Dragons will be formidable opponents.

“She is what they do. She runs everything,” surmised Lady Rocket coach Shannon Hodge after seeing Harlan defeat 19-2 Paintsville in the game just before Crittenden’s game Wednesday at Frankfort.

“We’re going to have to try to keep her out of the paint as much as possible and try to prevent second shots because they have a couple of big bodies underneath,” Hodge added.

Tickets are $10 and available
only at the door for Friday's
game. There is plenty of seating.

Crittenden has a right to believe it can keep Brock in check, however. The Lady Rockets have one of the best defenses in Kentucky, which became clear to Sayre coach Charles Thomas during the opening round game. He said Crittenden’s defense around the basket was partly to blame for his team’s undoing.

Crittenden County’s girls are 8th in the state in team defenses, giving up just 37 points a game. Much of that has to do with the dogged tenaciousness of senior Cassidy Moss, who regularly is assigned to the opposing team’s best player. But the blanket coverage is more diverse than just her. Kiana Nesbitt has become a heralded post defender and the length of Madison Champion and Amanda Lynch is key to Crittenden’s ability to slow down nearly anyone it encounters. Beyond that, junior Mauri Collins is a pesky perimeter watchdog and senior Meredith Evans is a strong physical presence in the post when she comes off the bench.

In the state tournament opener, Coach Hodge played only those six. In fact, the rotation has become quite predicable over recent games, with perhaps only spot appearances by one other player – eighth-grade center Nahla Woodward – unless it’s late and the outcome is clear.

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Wednesday, January 25, 2017

More than 100 photos from state tournament win

PODCAST: Post Game comments from the two coaches

Post Game Podcast following win Wednesday

in All A Classic Opening Round

- Interview includes Coach Hodge and Sayre Coach Thomas -

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Post-Game Interview with Lady Rockets

That's a Winner! Lady Rockets going to Final 8

Coach Hodge makes a point during timeout in OT

Senior Cassidy Moss played an incredible game defensively, scored 18 points and was a determined bull down the stretch as Crittenden County beat Sayre 45-42 in the All A Classic State Tournament at Frankfort.

Crittenden had been to the state All A tournament five times previous but had never won a game. That all changed with an overtime victory capped by tenacious defense, a patient offense, good foul shooting and ball handling in the waning seconds.

The Lady Rockets struggled at times around the basket in front of 6-foot-1 Sayre center Kaya Davis and her two 5-foot-11 running mates. But in the end, the Lady Rockets were unguarded and at the line for 7 of their final 13 points.

Davis blocked 4 shots in the contest and her 5-foot-11 teammates knocked down 2 more.

Junior Madison Champion continues to be a key offensive cog. She put in a dozen against Sayre. Champion dropped in 3 of 10 from the floor and 5 of 8 at the foul line. She and Kiana Nesbitt each had five rebounds and Nesbitt scored a key basket after gathering in a loose ball late in overtime.

Sophomore Mauri Collins kept Crittenden on pace early with 8 of the team's first 10 points. She finished with 9.

Moss had 7 rebounds as Crittenden, somewhat surprisingly, beat the taller Lady Spartans 24-18 on the boards.

Sayre coach Charles Thomas said his team committed some costly turnovers late in the game, but praised Moss for keeping pressure on Davis, who came in averaging 18 points and 12 rebounds. She got 16 points and 8 rebounds.

Hodge agreed that Moss's defense was key to the victory. She said Champion's offensive contributions continue to be central to Crittenden's recent success, which includes four wins in the All A Classic tournament series and eight straight victories.

The Lady Rockets are now 17-3.

GAME SUMMARY

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Double down on this GE pair from Johnson's

Lady Rockets lead by two at half

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with Coach Shannon Hodge and Senior Cassidy Moss

Son of legendary Tolu player Harry Hardin at All A Classic

Rocket boys' head coach Denis Hodge visits
with Stan Hardin at the Frankfort Convention Center
where the Lady Rockets were getting ready to play.

Meet Stan Hardin, whose father Harry Hardin, played on the renown 1931 Tolu basketball team that won the Class B state title before losing to DuPont Manual 34-23 in the combined championship game.

Stan Hardin is a member of the All A Classic Board of Directors and was selling State Tournament T-shirts just off the edge of the court during Wednesday’s opening round All A games where Crittenden County is playing.

He is a former high school basketball coach, winning two KHSAA state championships at Louisville Fairdale in 1990 and 1991.

Hardin’s father was among the famous Tolu boys who defied all odds and ended up on the state’s largest stage 86 years ago. Much has been made about the legendary Tolu team and there is a popular story that the boys got sick eating bananas while in Lexington for the state tournament and lost the combined championship game because of bellyaches.

“My dad say that’s not true. He said (Dupont) was just better,” Stan Hardin said.

Harry Hardin played at Western Kentucky and went on to become a successful high school coach for almost 20 years at Drakesboro, Fairdale and Louisville Southern. He was later principal at Fairdale where he had coached from 1938 to 1950. Harry Hardin was an all conference player at Western during his collegiate playing career.

In adulthood, Stan has never gone back to Tolu, but wants to visit there and take his daughter.

“I think I was there when I was really little,” said the 78-year-old.

Hardin was proud to see Crittenden County in the tournament at Frankfort. Before Wednesday, his last brush with Rocket athletics was 2009 when he was Athletic Director at Louisville Holy Cross. Crittenden's football team went to Holy Cross that season and won a playoff football game.

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Johnson's Motto: Play Hard, but Keep it Clean

PODCAST: Pre-Game Interviews From Frankfort

PRE-GAME PODCAST

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Lady Rockets lead region in All A berths

Lady Rockets on bus traveling to Frankfort

Crittenden County is playing in its sixth girls’ All A Classic State Tournament. That is the most for a Second Region team. Webster County, formerly a Class A school before consolidation with Providence, also went six times.

The Lady Rockets have never won a game in the All A Classic. Louisville Holy Cross has been there 18 times, most of any school. Lyon County, the team Crittenden beat in the Second Region championship last weekend, has gone twice. Sayre, Crittenden’s first round opponent in today’s tournament, has been there twice and never won a game.

The All A Classic is a statewide basketball tournament for the smallest 131 high schools in Kentucky based on student enrollment for the grades 9-12. Each of the 16 basketball regions across the state, according to KHSAA alignment, send a representative champion to the state tournament. The All A Classic is not a KHSAA event. See Complete 2017 Girls' All A Bracket

HISTORY OF THE CLASSIC

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Groundwork for the Kentucky All A Classic was formed in 1980 through the efforts of coaches like Stan Steidel of Dayton, Father Ed Heile of Covington Latin, Bill Frey of Covington Holy Cross and others.

The inception of a small-school basketball tournament began in 1980 and included only a handful of boys’ teams from central Kentucky. The first tournament was held at Holy Cross High School with eight teams. In 1981, it moved to Bellevue and included 10 teams, all from northern Kentucky.

From 1982 to 1989 the Classic was still just for boys and it became an invitational tournament. In those years, six at-large Class A schools from around the state were invited to compete with the 10 northern Kentucky schools.

In 1990 the All A Classic became a true small-school statewide championship tournament with 16 boys' regional tournament winners competing in Lexington. In 1991 the Classic expanded to include a limited number of girls basketball teams and in 1993 girls basketball became a full-fledged partner with 16 regional champions represented.

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Tuesday, January 24, 2017

CCHS's All Opponent Sayre : At a Glance

Sayre Basketball Team

SAYRE is a private school in Lexington.
This year's record: 12-4 record
Affiliation: 11th Region, 42nd District
Last year's record: 19-7

Coach Charles Thomas (first year)
Sayre’s coach is a former Kentucky Mr. Basketball. He won the award in 1995 as a senior guard at Harlan. He played collegiately at Minnesota and was on the Golden Gopher 1997 team that lost 78-69 in overtime to the University of Kentucky in the NCAA semifinals. Thomas also played collegiately at Eastern Kentucky University.

ROAD TO FRANKFORT
Sayre beat 6-12 Lexington Christian 54-30 to open the All A Classic at Berea. The Lady Spartans then dispatched 6-13 Model Laboratory School of Richmond 52-33 before knocking off Berea in the championship game 60-55 at EKU Alumni Coliseum

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PLAYERS TO WATCH
Sophomore Kaya Davis is a 6-foot-1 forward who joined the team just this year. She is a big presence in the post and is averaging 18 point and 12 rebounds a game. She shoots right at 50 percent from the floor and gets about a dozen points a game on the floor. The rest come at the foul line where Davis is 49-of-80 (61%).

Junior guard Dee Dee Wheeler was honorable mention on last year’s All-Lexington team. She averages 11 points and 3 rebounds per game. She has a high basketball IQ, according to reports. Wheeler is the team’s best 3-pointer shooter, making 30 percent of her long-range shots.

Senior guard Ellie Alford joins Wheeler in the backcourt, giving the Lady Spartans two very solid ball handlers. She’s fast and athletic. Alford averages 10 points and 3 rebounds a game.

Junior forward Isabelle Pergande is 5-foot-11 and averages 9 points and 4 rebounds. She is probably the team’s best outside shooter. She has made 32 percent of her three-pointers and has the squad’s highest field goal shooting percentage.

Junior center Lainie Tew is also 5-foot-11, giving the Lady Spartans a formidable frontline. She averages 5.2 points and 4 rebounds and is one of the team’s best free throw shooters at 65%.

Emma Bilberry and Mia Pulliam are seniors who come off the bench. Neither provides much offense.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

State tournament tickets on sale Monday at CCHS

Tickets to the Lady Rockets' opening round game in the All A Classic State Tournament at Frankfort's Convention Center will go on sale at noon Monday at Crittenden County High School front office.

Advanced tickets are $8. Tickets at the door at $10.

Second Region champion Crittenden (16-3) will play 11th Region champion Sayre (12-4) at 5:30pm CST Wednesday.

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