Thoroughbreds re-claim 36th district crown

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

NEWPORT – The games in this rivalry are always physical.

That’s especially the case near the rim. The winner of the annual 36th District girls basketball title game between the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds and Highlands Ladybirds fought through the contact and finished better near the hoop.

It turned out to be the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds by a 55-45 count over the Highlands Ladybirds on Thursday. The Thoroughbreds have won five of the last six 36th District contests. Highlands won it last year.

“We’re at our best when we have a lot of people scoring,” said George Stoll, NewCath Head Coach. “It was a little bit tough to get into a groove. They switched man and zone when Nikki (Kiernan) went out (with foul trouble in the first half). Both teams played well.”

Neither team shot exceptionally well. But NewCath (26-4) managed .98 point per possession to .81 for the visitors.

Highlands (22-7) also scored 45 points in the regular season match-up on Jan. 3. The Ladybirds won that game also played on The Hill, 45-40 to earn the top seed in the tournament. That marked their first win on The Hill since 1999.

Both teams grabbed 35 rebounds each. But NewCath had 14 offensive rebounds to 12 for Highlands. The Thoroughbreds had 16 second-chance points to 11 for the Ladybirds.

“We told the girls we missed a lot of lay-ups that we’d been making,” said Jaime Walz-Richey, Highlands Head Coach. “We also gave up a lot of offensive rebounds and that was the difference in the game. They executed when they needed to.”

NewCath made 18-of-49 shots for 37 percent, including 2-of-9 from three-point land for 22 percent. The Thoroughbreds also made 17-of-31 free throws for 55 percent.

Highlands made 15-of-44 shots for 34 percent, including 2-of-6 three-pointers for 33 percent. But the Ladybirds made an uncharacteristic 13-of-24 free-throw tries for 54 percent. Highlands had 22 fouls to 19 for NewCath.

“I thought there were a lot of fouls not called, but you have to adjust,” Richey said. “We were going in thinking we were going to get fouled instead of going in and scoring. We have to be able to do that better.”

Nikki Kiernan led NewCath with a double-double of 16 points and 14 rebounds to go with one blocked shot. She had several crucial offensive put-backs to help the Thoroughbreds to the win.

Seven different Thoroughbreds scored in the contest. Michaela Ware followed Kiernan with 10 points scoring some tough points in the paint.

“In the past few games, I’d been struggling finishing at the room so I knew I had to go to the basket strong because every possession counts,” Ware said. “I know (posts) are taller than me so I focus on finishing and not worrying about getting fouled.”

Eight different Highlands players scored. Haley Coffey led the way with 12 and Lydia Graves had nine.

Both teams put a lot of pressure on the ball trapping at different spots. NewCath had eight turnovers and four steals with Highlands turning the ball over 11 times and making five steals. Zoie Barth led Highlands with three thefts with Ware and Kiernan recording two each for the Thoroughbreds.

The first quarter stayed close. NewCath led 7-2 before Highlands used a 6-0 run to go up 8-7. Alexus Mayes had a three-point play with 44.3 seconds to put the Thoroughbreds up 12-10 after that quarter.

Graves made two free throws to tie the game at 12. But Sarah Neace put NewCath up for good at 15-12 with a three-pointer from the right corner. Neace made both Thoroughbred triples.

“You just find the open spot on the wing,” Neace said. “You just have to believe in yourself and it will go in.”

NewCath used a 5-0 run to go up 27-16 with 1:22 left in the game following an Ansley Davenport offensive putback. Following a Tomi Blanton score, Chelsea Schack scored just more the first-half horn to give NewCath a 29-19 halftime advantage.

NewCath took its biggest lead at 15 twice in the third quarter. Kiernan scored with 3:27 left to put the Thoroughbres up 40-25.

But the Bluebirds finished the quarter on a 10-0 run to trim the margin to 40-35 entering the fourth quarter. McKenzie Leigh sparked it with seven points.

“They just got hot there for a second,” Stoll said. “They’re a good team. I told the girls, ‘They had their run. Let’s go finish it.’ We just had to contain it, then we had a run of our own to end the game.”

Highlands cut it down to three at 41-38 with 6:23 left in the game following a Coffey three-pointer. But Davenport hit a jumper and made a free throw to put NewCath back up 44-38.

Highlands cut it down to four with 4:19 remaining following a Graves score. But NewCath made 7-of-10 free throws down the stretch to pull away.

The region tournament starts Monday at the Bank of Kentucky Center at Northern Kentucky University. The drawing takes place Saturday.