After the final horn sounded at the Ninth Region girls' basketball tournament, after filling out her all-tournament ballot, Boone County coach Nell Fookes returned to her bench to address her team. She looked up and saw a sea of powder-blue-clad women cheering the outcome.
"All my former players," she ordered, "stand up."
The former players - plenty of standouts and regional champions among them - stood and applauded and welcomed a new team to their illustrious ranks.
The Rebels, who started the season as an afterthought on the Ninth Region scene, Saturday night capped their Northern Kentucky schedule with a 46-35 regional championship victory over Newport Central Catholic at The Bank of Kentucky Center. With the win, they advanced to this week's state tournament in Bowling Green.
It marked the seventh title of Fookes' 24-year career at the school.
"You've got to enjoy it, right?" Fookes said. "That's one thing I've learned over the 30 years I've been a basketball coach: try to enjoy it. ... I'm just proud as **** of my basketball team."
Boone County, buoyed by 14 fourth-quarter points from tournament MVP Jacy Bradley, pulled away for the victory.
NewCath tied the score at 29-29 with 6:17 remaining on a Courtney Sandfoss free throw. Then, Bradley, a senior point guard, converted a 3-point play to spark the rally. The Rebels went on an 11-1 run - Bradley scored all the points - to take a 10-point lead with a minute to play.
"That's what we needed," Fookes said. "And she did it."
NewCath never led in the game.
Although Bradley handled the majority of Boone County's scoring responsibilities - she tallied a game-high 21 points - the Rebels got a spark from backup guard Stacie Shrout during two key stretches.
She hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in the second quarter to give Boone County a 16-11 halftime lead. Then, after NewCath tied the score 26-2 with 1:12 left in the third quarter, Shrout gave the Rebels a 29-26 lead heading into the fourth quarter with another 3-pointer.
NewCath struggled offensively in the fourth quarter, scoring just nine points and missing several layups.
"We were right there," NewCath coach Ron Dawn said. "... We really wanted to get the ball back with the lead one time. Then I thought we could make them come after us a little bit. When they got the lead at the end and we had to chase them, it was awfully tough."
Boone County was 17-of-21 from the free-throw line and made 11 of 13 foul shots in the fourth quarter
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