By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Simon Kenton freshman guard Ally Niece was named Division I Player of the Year at the Northern Kentucky Girls Basketball Coaches Association post-season awards banquet.
Niece averaged a team-high 16.5 points and shot 47.8 percent from the field for the Pioneers, who won the 8th Region championship. She also surpassed the 1,000-point mark in career scoring this season. The other Player of the Year awards went to Ludlow senior guard Tori Wofford in Division III and Highlands senior forward Lydia Graves in Division II.
Wofford led her Ludlow team to its first winning season in six years by averaging 16.5 points and 3.5 rebounds. Graves, one of most versatile players in the Highlands lineup, averaged 9.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and shot 46.6 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Calvary Christina senior guard Dayne Merkley received the Loyce Meadows Award that’s given to the outstanding student-athlete in Northern Kentucky girls’ high school basketball each season. She received $250 from the coaches association to be used toward her college education.
Coach of the Year awards went to Rhonda Klette of Scott in Division I, George Stoll of Newport Central Catholic in Division II and Tommy Sorrell of Bellevue in Division III. The coaches association also presented a plaque to Nell Fookes, who is retiring after 30 seasons as Boone County’s coach.
Fookes is the winningest coach in Northern Kentucky high school basketball with a 686-253 record. Her teams also won nine 9th Region championships.
The three Northern Kentucky high school baseball teams that made it to the state tournament last season – Simon Kenton, Conner and Scott — have a lot of vacancies to fill in their starting lineups. Simon Kenton appears to be in the best shape of the three teams with five starters back from last year’s 8th Region champion and state runner-up team.
The veterans include second baseman/pitcher Sean Lawrence, shortstop Trent Kincaid, first baseman Nick Abell, outfielder Price Burge and pitcher Robert Smith. Conner won its first 9th Region championship in 35 years last season with mostly seniors in the lineup. The most experienced players on this year’s roster are senior shortstop/pitcher Blaise Ostertag and senior first baseman/pitcher Ryan Ward. Last season, Ostertag batted .347 with 19 RBI and had a 2.10 earned run average on the mound.
The only starters returning for Scott, last year’s 10th Region champion, are junior third baseman/pitcher Andrew Trame and sophomore shortstop/pitcher Jake Ohmer. Both of them were .300 hitters last season and Trame led the pitching staff in wins with a 6-2 record.
Campbell County senior Austin Myers, who posted a perfect 182-0 record wrestling for his high school team over the past four seasons, will compete in the National High School Wrestling Championships that begin Friday in Virginia Beach, Va.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Myers will wrestle in the 220-pound weight class at the national tournament that has separate divisions for freshmen, sophomores, junior and seniors.
Myers won national titles in that weight class as a freshman and sophomore and placed second as a junior. In last year’s championship finals, Kenneth Brinson of Georgia won an 8-6 decision against Myers.
They could meet again this week in the senior division that will conclude on Sunday with the weight class championship finals at 3:30 p.m. Several other local high school wrestlers will be competing in the national tournament. The top eight finishers in each weight class are receive All-America recognition from the National High School Coaches Association.
The Holy Cross basketball team came close to breaking four girls’ state tournament records during their march to the title two weeks ago. The Indians held their four state tournament opponents to a total of 142 points. That was only three points shy of the state record set in 1992 when Louisville Mercy allowed 139 total points in four games.
Holy Cross defeated Allen-County Scottsville, 35-32, in this year’s title game. That score came close to breaking three girls’ state championship game records set in 1991 when Laurel County edged Clark County, 33-31. Holy Cross is now second on the list for fewest points scored, fewest points allowed and fewest total points in girls’ state championship games played since 1975 when girls’ basketball was sanctioned by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association.
Terry Boehmker, NKyTribune sports writer, is former sports writer and editor for The Kentucky Post. He is an award-winning writer with extensive background in both print and digital. Reach him at terryboe@yahoo.com.