[Stardust]

Pioneers too charitable
By Ryan Ernst • [email]rernst@enquirer.com[/email] • March 14, 2009


BOWLING GREEN - On the eve of their team's first state quarterfinal appearance in program history, Simon Kenton girls' basketball coaches ended their film study session with a simple instruction: don't send Casey to the free throw line.

Obviously, as everyone saw," said Simon Kenton coach Jeff Stowers, "that's exactly what we did tonight."

Casey County eliminated the Pioneers from the Sweet Sixteen on Friday, beating them 54-44 at Diddle Arena. The Rebels did most of their damage from the foul line, making 27-of-39 attempts. They shot took one more shot from the line than they did from the floor.


"That makes the game a lot easier for them," Stowers said. "You slow the clock down and you allow them to get points without any time going off the clock. And they get easy points."

The Rebels shot 20 free throws in the fourth quarter alone, as three Simon Kenton players fouled out of the game, which was physical throughout.

"It was rough out there," said Casey County guard Lauren Hatter.

Said Stowers: "There were some things going on out there that people get put in jail for. ... It could've been real ugly out there."

Senior guard Chelsea Tolliver led all scorers with 28 points. She scored seven straight points midway through the second quarter, putting the Pioneers into the lead. Behind 16 first-half points from Tolliver, they entered the locker room with a 28-25 advantage. Casey County coach Randy Salyers decided to rearrange his defense. Nicole Coffman guarded Tolliver in the second half and held her to 3-of-15 shooting.

"That was the main switch," Salyers said.

"... Tolliver is an outstanding basketball player. She really knows how to score and use her body. To be honest, we might have underestimated her talents. We had to work our tails off to keep her to 28."

In the second half, the Rebels held Simon Kenton without a field goal for 10 minutes. Before that span, Simon Kenton led 31-27. By the time it ended, Casey County led 41-33.

Simon Kenton shot just 28 percent from the field, 19 percent in the second half.

Hatter led three Casey County scorers in double-figures, tallying 15 points. Simon Kenton senior center Kayla Smith helped pulled down 12 rebounds.

The loss ended the careers of five seniors - Tolliver, Smith, Olivia Bach, Lyndsay Figgins and Caitlyn Figgins - who helped transform the program from a laughingstock to a two-time regional champion. When the players were in grade school, the Pioneers endured back-to-back one-win seasons.

"We came up our eighth grade year, which was basically just to get us to learn the system," Smith said. "We started off mediocre and I think we've changed (the program) a lot. We knew from the beginning that it was going to be special our senior year, because we had so much potential.

"Even though we didn't win it, I think we should be proud of what we've done the last five years