Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Magoffin County - vs.Ashland Blazer (at E.A. Diddle Arena, Bowling Green) 3/8
#1
Game 7

Magoffin County

Region: 15th

Record: 28-4

Enrollment: 660

Coach: Steve Miller (167-72), eighth year

Starters: Jamie Castle (so., 15.2 ppg); Madison Reed (so., 12.7); Morgan Arnett (jr., 8.0); Nichole Fletcher (sr., 8.0); Morgan Connelley (jr., 6.3)

Top reserves: Jassmine Howard (8th, 7.8); Leslee Howard (8th, 1.4); Kelsey Bentley (sr., 0.5).

Against Sweet Sixteen teams: 0-0

Sweet Sixteen history: Second trip, the other coming in 2006.

Road to the Sweet Sixteen: In district, beat Johnson Central 57-43, beat Paintsville 65-39; in region, beat Belfry 49-45, beat Shelby Valley 49-46, beat Paintsville 49-40.

Ashland Blazer

Region: 16th

Record: 29-6

Enrollment: 951

Coach: Bill Bradley (202-119), 11th year

Starters: Sydney Cullop (5-7, jr., 6.8 ppg); Mykal Farris (5-8, sr., 9.8); Kaylyn Gambill (5-6, jr., 11.7); Julia Heaberlin (5-11, sr., 10.1); Alexis Robinson (5-8, fr., 9.6)

Top reserves: Haley Sue Foutch (5-10, fr., 6.7); Madison Jones (5-9, jr., 3.8); Allie Slone (5-8, jr., 5.7)

Against Sweet Sixteen teams: 0-0

Sweet Sixteen history: 10th trip and first since 1997.

Road to the Sweet Sixteen: In district, beat Rose Hill Christian 91-22, beat Boyd Co. 70-41; in region, beat Raceland 81-48, beat Rowan Co. 53-40, beat Boyd Co. 55-44.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/06/20982...rylink=cpy
#2
MAGOFFIN COUNTY

Coach: Steve Miller.

Last trip to State: 2006 (lost to Elizabethtown 49-43 in first round).

What to look for: The Lady Hornets have given the region something to rally around after Salyersville was ravaged by a tornado on Friday. Miller said about 95 percent of the businesses on the main road in town were destroyed. Magoffin County is a relatively young team, with just one senior (Fletcher) among its top seven players. The Lady Hornets have won 15 in a row since losing to Owensboro Catholic 49-46 on Jan. 27 in the quarterfinals of the All “A” Classic.

Key player: She’s only 5 feet 2, but Castle plays big at point guard. “She’s surprisingly strong for her size, and she has a unique ability to get her shot off in traffic,” Miller said. “She shoots the ball pretty well from three, and probably her biggest attribute is that her motor runs all the time. She just never gives up.”

Coach-speak: “Right now we’re playing as well as we can possibly play,” Miller said.

Starters

11-Jamie Castle
5-2, So., 15.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg

15-Madison Reed
5-7, So., 12.6 ppg, 8 rpg

20-Nichole Fletcher
5-10, Sr., 7.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg

12-Morgan Connelley
5-7, Jr., 6.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg

5-Morgan Arnett
5-7, Jr., 7.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg

Key reserves

00-Jassmine Howard
5-4, 8th, 7.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg

31-Leslee Howard
5-5, 8th, 1.5 ppg


ASHLAND BLAZER

Coach: Bill Bradley.

Last trip to State: 1997 (lost to Elizabethtown 59-36 in quarterfinals).

What to look for: The Kittens beat Boyd County four times last season but lost the fifth meeting in the 16th Region final. With everyone back, they got revenge Saturday with a 55-44 victory for their first 16th Region crown since 1997. Seven players average between 5.7 and 11.7 points. Bradley believes regular-season games against top-20 teams Notre Dame, Newport Central Catholic and Madison Central — all losses — will have his team ready for the rigors of the Sweet 16.

Key player: Robinson, the freshman point guard, was the MVP of the regional tournament after scoring 15 points in the final. “Her skill level is off the charts,” Bradley said. “She’s really come to the forefront the last half of the season. She leads us in assists, blocked shots and steals. She’s one of those who can do it all.”

Coach-speak: “I think the best words to describe us are balance and depth and defense,” Bradley said.

Starters

32-Alexis Robinson
5-8, Fr., 9.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg

20-Kaylyn Gambill
5-6, Jr., 11.7 ppg, 1.6 rpg

44-Julia Heaberlin
5-11, Sr., 10.1 ppg, 9 rpg

23-Mykal Farris
5-8, Sr.. 9.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg

15-Sydney Cullop
5-7, Jr., 6.8 ppg, 3.7 rpg

Key reserves

00-Haley Sue Foutch
5-10, Fr., 6.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg

3-Allie Slone
5-8, Jr., 5.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg

4-Madison Jones
5-9, Jr., 3.8 ppg

http://saxo.highschoolsports.net/section...le?site=B2
#3
Blazer
#4
Ashland by 6
#5
you just randomly pick and I guarantee you never seen either team play.You picked against Magoffin agaisnst Shelby Valley also good call there !!!
#6
SALYERSVILLE — For Kentucky high school basketball players, there are many emotions — elation, anticipation, nervousness — that go with boarding a bus to travel to play in the Sweet Sixteen.

Guilt is not normally among them.

But since last Friday's tornado outbreak that devastated several areas of Kentucky and inflicted massive property damage in and around Salyersville, nothing has been normal for the 15th Region champion Magoffin County Lady Hornets.

Boarding the team bus Wednesday to go to Bowling Green for Thursday's 6:30 p.m. matchup with 16th Region champ Ashland in the Houchens Industries KHSAA Girls State Basketball Tournament brought complex feelings.

"It's so bittersweet," said Magoffin senior Nichole Fletcher. "We're mourning with our community, with so many people who've lost so much. In a way, I almost feel guilty to be going to play basketball when so many people are hurting at home. Part of me, I feel like I should be there to help. Yet, we're so excited to be going to state."

Not a single one of the 14 girls who will dress out for Magoffin County in the E.A. Diddle Arena on Thursday lost their homes to the destruction caused by last Friday's storms. But like everyone else in Magoffin County, they have searing stories of riding the storm out.

Junior Morgan Arnett and family live about a mile outside Salyersville. When word came early Friday evening that Magoffin County was on the verge of a direct hit from the tornadoes that had already wreaked havoc in other Kentucky towns, she and her family gathered pillows and blankets and took refuge in a closet beneath a stairwell.

"There were six or seven of us (in the closet)," she said. "It was pretty crammed."

Magoffin head coach Steve Miller and his wife, Mary Ann, were at home when word came that their basement-less house appeared to be in the exact path of the tornado.

They rushed to their car to make a fast break to someplace with a basement. The storm hit with the couple near the road that leads to Magoffin County High School. They pulled off and tried to wait the storm out.

Their car rocked violently back and forth. At one point, Miller said he saw something large and white pass overhead. "I can only assume it was a refrigerator, a washer or dryer or something like that," he said.

Eventually, there came "almost an eerie calm," Miller said. "That's when we drove away."

'We've already had a miracle'

If you've only seen pictures of the impact caused by last Friday's storm, they do not convey the full scope. On Tuesday, I visited Sal yersville. The damage in and around the Mountain Parkway town was almost apocalyptic.

Large trees were snapped off like No. 2 pencils. Trees still standing were strewn with fiberglass insulation and other debris. Light poles were twisted into grotesque angles. Where once there had been houses, in many cases, there were now only shells.

I saw one older gentleman sitting atop a wooden post (where I'm guessing a mail box had once been) outside a destroyed house looking drained and just shaking his head.

Salyersville's downtown business sector was spared, but the "fast-food row" outside town was mostly smashed. The Subway store was flattened. The Advance Auto Parts is now just parts.

At least two schools, the Salyersville Grade School and the Herald Whitaker Middle School, have substantial damage. A sign on the middle school door commanded 'Do Not Enter By Order of the State Fire Marshal.'

Magoffin County Superintendent Joe Hunley was touring the middle school with insurance agents late Tuesday afternoon.

Whenever school begins again, the Magoffin County High School — which has some roof damage but is structurally unharmed — will probably have to serve the middle school students, too, Hunley said. Students from the damaged elementary will likely be fanned out to other grade schools in the county, he added.

"This is not going to be easy for anybody," Hunley said of what's ahead. "It's not going to be easy for the students, the faculty, the parents."

The Magoffin County High football field, a facility that had recently been upgraded at considerable cost, is a shambles.

Asked if it was retrievable, head coach Chester McCoy shook his head. "I'm not sure I see much that looks retrievable," he said.

When you see all the property damage in Magoffin County, it's hard to fathom that there were no storm-related fatalities in the county.

"We were in a staff meeting and somebody said we needed a miracle," Hunley said. "I said, 'We've already had a miracle — nobody here got killed.'"

Not sure how to 'celebrate'

Amid all the stress since Friday's storm, the Magoffin County girls' basketball team played its two most important games of the season. No coach in the history of Kentucky basketball may have been dealing with more uncertainty than Miller was before Magoffin's rescheduled 15th Region semifinal game against Shelby Valley on Sunday.

Because phone service was problematic after the storms, Miller did not know for sure how many of his players got his text telling them to meet the team bus at 4 p.m. for the trip to Pikeville's Eastern Kentucky Exposition Center.

Only 10 of the team's 14 players showed up to catch the bus. The other four, it turned out, were staying out of the county and came to the game in Pikeville on their own.

The bus ride from Magoffin County to Pike County took the team through some of the most severely storm damaged areas in the state.

"A lot of us were crying," said Fletcher. "It was really emotional, first off, for all of us to see each other again after the tornado, to know that our teammates were OK. But then, to see all the damage, it was a hard trip."

For some of the Magoffin players, their arrival at the Pikeville arena brought a bonus. "It was the first electricity some of us had seen in awhile," Fletcher said. "In the locker room we were like 'Running water! Wash your hands!'"

When it came time for a pre-game talk, Miller said he told his players that, given the circumstances, as long as they gave all the effort they could, they would be winners whatever the scoreboard said. "But I also told them that, if we could go out and win, we could be a part of bringing some joy to our community at a time when it was really needed," he said.

Magoffin won its semifinal 49-46, then came back the following night and beat Paintsville (49-40) to earn a Sweet Sixteen berth.

In 2006, after the Lady Hornets won their first regional title, Salyersville threw a celebration for the ages. The line of cars that followed the team bus home literally stretched for miles. School officials opened up the gym, then bought pizza for a crowd of some 750. Each player was introduced.

On Monday night, with so many in the county hurting, no one knew for sure how to "celebrate."

Said Miller: "Finally, I just went into the locker room and asked the girls what they wanted to do. They said, 'Coach, let's just go home.'"

In 2006, signs celebrating the regional champs were all over Salyersville.

On Tuesday, I found one.

Outside the Prater Memorial Methodist Church, in between the signs for free food and free water for those displaced by the tornado, was a banner saying Congratulations Lady Hornets.

While straightening the Lady Hornets sign, Valerie Patrick explained why it was important to have it up now.

"With everything this town has been through," she said, "those girls have been our ray of sunshine."

Over at Dyer's Downtown Barber Shop, Evan Dyer said, "It's still pretty big, them going to the state. It gives us something to look forward to."

So, no guilt. In earning the right to get on that bus Wednesday to travel to the state tourney, it seems the Magoffin County Lady Hornets are helping their damaged community in the best way they could.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/07/20998...rylink=cpy
#7
[Image: http://media.kentucky.com/smedia/2012/03...uSt.79.jpg]

Magoffin County's Morgan Connelley, left, hugged teammate Nichole Fletcher following their win Monday in the 15th Region final at the Eastern Kentucky Exposition Center in Pikeville. "In a way, I almost feel guilty to be going to play basketball when so many people are hurting at home," Fletcher said later. "Part of me, I feel like I should be there to help. Yet, we're so excited to be going to state."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/07/20998...rylink=cpy
#8
I think this should be a heck of a first round game.

Blazer is good but I can't go against Magoffin and Pup.

MC by 2
#9
Go Lady Hornets!!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

“Relax, all right? Don’t try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they’re fascist. Throw some ground balls – it’s more democratic.”

Crash Davis
#10
I think this one could go either way, but its not going to be a pretty game. Look for a low scoring affair with alot fouls and turnovers. Team with best freethrow percentag wins this one.
#11
Would love to see Magoffin win this one, but I will go with Ashland by 8.

Sucks the 15th and 16th meet up in the first game.
#12
If Ashland plays team ball they win by 20, if they play selfish Ashland by 8
#13
recruiter Wrote:If Ashland plays team ball they win by 20, if they play selfish Ashland by 8

So basically you are saying that they play however they want and still beat these poor little scrubs from Magoffin County.
#14
No not at all, Mcgoffin has a good team, IMO I feel Ashland may be a little better with a deep bench. I could b wrong, that's why we all have opinions.
#15
recruiter Wrote:If Ashland plays team ball they win by 20, if they play selfish Ashland by 8

Magoffin County 63 Ashland 59 What was the third option?
#16
LOL All I can say is congrats and you deserve it. You gals played great. Good luck and we will be cheering for you.

Since you asked my third option would be to let the Ashland starters play a little more or sub one at a time and not have 4 starters on the bench for long periods of time.:insane:

Forum Jump:

Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)