Newport Central Catholic 51, Green County 37

**Stardust** · 01-27-2012, 02:09 PM

Newport Central Catholic 51, Green County 37: The Thoroughbreds maintained throughout the fourth quarter and advanced to Saturdayâs 10 a.m. semifinals of the All âAâ Classic.

Nicole Kiernan, a 5-foot-10 sophomore, led NewCath with 22 points, 17 rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals, all while committing only one turnover.

Micah Jones totaled 24 points, seven boards and four steals to lead Green County.

**Stardust** · 01-27-2012, 02:09 PM

[Image: http://media.kentucky.com/smedia/2012/01...uSt.79.JPG]

**Stardust** · 01-27-2012, 10:32 PM

FRANKFORT – Usually it is full court pressure that fuels the defense for the Newport Central Catholic girls’ basketball team, but Friday morning it was its half court defense, especially the rare use of a zone, that made the difference.

That zone helped NewCath hold Green County to just two field goals over a 14-minute stretch of the second and third quarters leading to a 24-6 run in that span as the Thoroughbreds rallied for a 51-37 victory in a quarterfinal game of the Touchstone Energy All ‘A’ Classic in Frankfort Convention Center.

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• More prep coverage NewCath (13-4), which won the Ninth Region championship and is participating in its sixth straight All ‘A’ Classic State Tournament, advances to Saturday’s 10 a.m. semifinal against 10th Region champ Bishop Brossart, which defeated Louisville Holy Cross, 49-43, in a quarterfinal game on Friday. Brossart beat NewCath, 48-45, just eight days ago.

NewCath fell behind 12-6 after one quarter as it had a hard time guarding Green County standout senior guard Micah Jones, a Western Kentucky University signee who scored eight of her game-high 24 points in the quarter. The Thoroughbreds saw the deficit grow to 14-6 less than a minute into the second quarter before their defense took control. They didn’t allow a field goal over the final 7:12 of the first half to rally within 15-14 by halftime, then after Jones made a three-pointer and another basket in the first 1:07 of the second half, held Green County (16-6) without a point over the next almost six minutes by which time they had taken a 30-20 lead.

“They were getting into a little rhythm against the man so we just wanted to change it up a little bit (with the zone),” said NewCath coach Ron Dawn. “Then we were doing so well in it we said we might as well just stay in it and then try to deny Jones as much as possible and whichever way she goes we can kind of look for her.”

Jones, who finished with 21 points, had scored 32 in Green County’s 60-44 win over Lexington Christian in the first round of the tournament.

With Jones’ touches and good looks limited by the zone and the extra attention paid to her, Green County’s other players struggled shooting the ball. Aside from Jones, who was 8 of 16 from the field in the game, the rest of Green County’s team was just 5 of 33 from the field.

“We know (Jones) is a really good guard and she’s hard to guard off the dribble,” said NewCath senior forward Aubrey Muench. “I think (the zone) got us kind of going and made them take long shots and they weren’t a very good shooting team.”

**Stardust** · 01-27-2012, 11:09 PM

1/27/2012
Newport Central Catholic 51
Green Co. 37
Newport Central Catholic 6 8 18 19 51
Green Co. 12 3 8 14 37
All "A" Classic at Frankfort
Newport Central Catholic (13-4) -- Huber 8, Ware 2, Muench 10, Kiernan 22, Mayes 7, Kohls 2.
Green Co. (16-6) -- Jones 24, Marr 9, Bale 2, Ingram 2, Hedgespeth 0.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/11/23/15374...rylink=cpy