[thetribe]

They'll head to rival universities next fall, but for this girls' basketball season Adia Mathies and Ashley Rainey will battle for Kentucky's top high school honor.

Iroquois High School's Mathies and Warren East's Rainey are ranked 1-2, respectively, in The Courier-Journal's preseason poll of coaches and are considered the front-runners for Kentucky's Miss Basketball.

"They're both very talented athletes," Warren East coach Angie Anderson said. "I'd say Adia and Ashley are neck and neck."

Mathies, a 5-foot-9 forward who has signed with the University of Kentucky, received 35 of 77 first-place votes in the preseason poll. Rainey, a 6-2 post player who has signed with the University of Louisville, received 18 first-place votes.

Lexington Christian's Anna Martin, Manual's Avery Jones and Elizabethtown's Alex Jones also are ranked among the state's top seniors, but Mathies and Rainey appear to have a big head start on Miss Basketball consideration.

Full story can be found at http://www.courier-journal.com/article/2...002/SPORTS