Six Wins in Three Days for Highlands Volleyball

Bluebirds Fend off Lady Warriors for Tournament Title

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. The Highlands volleyball team celebrates after winning the September Slam at Scott High on Saturday. The Bluebirds are 10-1 on the season.

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. From left, Highlands sophomores CC Shick, Lauren Buemi and junior Laura Winkler set up in the front row before senior Casey Dunn sets to serve. In the back row are setter Audrey Graves (left) and senior defensive specialist Rylee Kirschenbaum (red jersey).

It came down to one last burst playing as much volleyball as the Highlands Bluebirds (10-1 overall) did over a three-day period.

Highlands found itself back in the championship game of the September Slam hosted by Scott after capping off pool play with two wins Saturday morning. The last opponent of the three-day stretch proved to be solid.

The Southwestern Lady Warriors located about two and a half hours away just outside the Pulaski County county seat of Somerset near Lake Cumberland came into the game with a sparkling 10-2 record. Southwestern's only losses came to host Lexington Lafayette and Station Camp (from the Nashville, Tennessee suburb of Gallatin) in the Bluegrass Invitational a little more than a week ago.

Southwestern has won the 12th Region a number of times over the years including last year. The Lady Warriors beat Paintsville in the state tournament before losing to Campbell County in the state quarterfinals. But Highland had beaten the Lady Warriors in each of the past two September Slam Tournaments.

The Lady Warriors came out the aggressors in the first game building a 10-1 lead. But once sophomore CC Shick landed a hard kill, the vaunted, fast-paced Highlands attack took off. Highlands rallied to win the best-of-three set, 26-24 then 24-19 to win its first September Slam title since 2008 when current Highlands assistant coach Molly Wehage-Maxwell was a senior.

NCC boys win AIT; Girls down Southwestern

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds boys basketball team needed to beat the tournament hosts to achieve a major accomplishment this season.

The Thoroughbreds came through with a convincing 80-61 victory over the Ashland Blazer Tomcats (9-3) Saturday to win the 58th Annual Ashland Invitational Tournament at James A. Anderson Gym. NewCath stayed unbeaten at 11-0 as a result.

“Going down here in a different environment was a good experience for us,” said Grant Brannen, NewCath head coach. “It was pretty much everybody against us. We had to take on that mentality and the kids responded. We played really well. We shared the ball and did what we were supposed to do.”

The Thoroughbred guards did most of the damage in this game. Tournament Most Valuable Player Michael Bueter and Zack Pangallo burned the Tomcat full-court press consistently to tally 19 and 17 points on the evening.

The NewCath posts also came up big. Sophomore Drew McDonald finished with 19 points and five rebounds. Jake Schulte and Nick Seibert followed with 11 and 10 points respectively.

Pangallo keyed a crucial 12-0 run in the second quarter to help NewCath turn a five-point deficit into a seven-point advantage. The Thoroughbreds forced 15 Tomcats in the first half and led 39-32 at halftime.

NewCath pulled away in the third quarter. The Thoroughbreds led 61-43 entering the fourth quarter.

Ashland’s three-point shooting kept the game within striking distance. The Tomcats made 10-of-18 three-pointers for 55 percent. Nick Miller finished with a team-high 15 points for Ashland.

“(Ashland) is somewhat like us,” Brannen said. “They have a solid core group. They rotate five guys in and out. They shot the heck out of the three. So for us to win by 19 was a great accomplishment.”

The Thoroughbreds saw four players make the All-Tournament Team. McDonald, Pangallo and Jake Schulte joined Bueter on the squad.

NewCath does not play again until Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. when the in-town rival Newport Wildcats (8-3) come up the hill.

NCC girls 73, Southwestern 63

The Thoroughbreds (9-3) finished fifth in the Second Annual State Farm Classic with a win Saturday over the Lady Warriors (8-6).

Junior Nikki Kiernan once again controlled the paint with her fourth double-double of the tournament of 28 points and 14 rebounds to go with eight blocked shots. Kiernan made 6-of-7 free throws and eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career.

Kiernan had plenty of help. Teammates Michaela Ware and Alexus Mayes followed with 14 and 12 points respectively. Mayes made two three-pointers.

Both teams made 14 free throws. But Southwestern shot a better percentage attempting 22 for 63 percent and NewCath attempted 26 for just 54 percent.

Addison Corder kept Southwestern within striking range. She finished with 23 points.

The Thoroughbreds do not play again until a matchup at 36th District arch-rival Highlands (10-4) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Highlands bests Boone County, Southwestern

 

G. Michael Graham Photo. Highlands guard Ava Abner (22) drives to the hole against Southwestern's Allie Venable (2) in Friday's contest. Highlands won both games in the State Farm Holiday Classic to move to 9-4 on the season. The Bluebirds face Pleasure Ridge Park for the tournament championship at 4:15 p.m. today at Conner.

 

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

HEBRON – The thought may be scary for opponents.

The Highlands Bluebirds girls basketball team knocked off two more good opponents in the State Farm Holiday Classic on Friday to improve to 9-4. Highlands beat the Boone County Lady Rebels, 46-40 in overtime and 12th Region contender Southwestern Lady Warriors, 51-37. The Bluebirds will face 12-2 Pleasure Ridge Park for the classic championship at 4:15 p.m. this afternoon.

Highlands had not beaten Boone County (7-5) since Jan. 13, 2009 by a 54-43 count in Florence. The Lady Rebels have won three of the last four 9th Region titles and have had the same head coach in Nell Fookes since the 1985-86 season.

“The seniors had not beaten (Boone County) in high school,” said Jaime Walz-Richey, Highlands head coach. “We talked about that before the game. We needed to play our game and we almost gave it to them. We know we can play much better than we have.”

Highlands once again had balanced scoring. Vanessa Fisse led the way with 15 points and Brianna Adler had 12 making 10-of-12 free throws. Fisse made 3-of-6 three-point attempts.

Highlands sees different players rise up in different games. Sophomore Alex Combs followed Adler and Fisse with eight points and four rebounds.

The difference in the game came at the free-throw line. Highlands made 11-of-15 free throws for 73 percent and Boone County made 7-of-13 for 54 percent. Highlands also hit 15-of-47 shots for 31 percent and 5-of-15 three-pointers for 33 percent. Boone County made 13-of-50 shots for 26 percent including 7-of-23 three-point attempts for 30 percent.

Highlands played a zone and held Lady Rebel standout guard Jessica Jones to six points. The Tennessee Tech signee did grab nine rebounds before fouling out.

Dallis Knotts led Boone County with 13 points and Alexis Switzer followed with 11. Switzer added four rebounds.

Highlands led 18-14 at halftime and 26-20 entering the fourth quarter. But Boone County won the fourth quarter, 18-12 to force overtime.

Highlands won the rebounding battle, 39-36. Senior Jesse “Dirt” Daley led all rebounders with 10 for the Bluebirds.

“You can tell we’re progressing and that we haven’t hit our peek yet,” said Ava Abner, Highlands guard. “We still can get better. I think that our defensive rebounding will get us where we need to go.”

Highlands had been playing without injured seniors Leah Schaefer and Emilie Parton. Schaefer made her return Thursday and played in both games Friday. Parton did not play in either contest Friday.

“We’re not completely healthy,” Richey said. “Leah and Emilie are not 100 percent. (Parton) played a little (Thursday). We’re not going to be 100 percent until the end of January. But my younger girls are gaining confidence. We can be a dangerous team when we’re clicking together. They trust in one another.”

Schaefer scored just four points against Boone County but erupted for 14 against Southwestern as Highlands won all three Pool B contests. The Xavier signee made 6-of-7 free throws to go with three rebounds and a blocked shot.

Fisse put together another stellar game with 12 points. She did not hit any three-pointers but did make all five two-point attempts. Daley added 10 points.

Highlands once again saw many other player do small things to help record the victory. Lydia Graves made two crucial three-pointers and Adler had three steals with Abner and Fisse recording two each.

“It’s good that we have different people we can rely on,” Combs said. “When we had Leah (Schaefer) out, we had other people step up. That’s made our team stronger.”

Highlands led 24-19 at halftime and 38-30 entering the fourth quarter. That lead let the Bluebirds spread the court and attack the rim from different directions.

“We feel we have great guards,” Richey said. “If we do a spread, we can take care of the ball and also take girls off the dribble like we did.”

Highlands hit 19-of-36 shots for 53 percent, including 3-of-9 from three-point range for 33 percent compared to 13-of-34 for 38 percent, including 6-of-22 from three-point range for Southwestern (8-5).

The Bluebirds also made 10-of-12 free throws for 83 percent. Southwestern made 5-of-9 free throws for 56 percent.

Adison Corder and Samantha Fitzgerald kept the Lady Warriors in striking range. Corder made 5-of-9 three-point attempts on her way to 19 points. Fitzgerald added 12.