By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
Ally Mayhaus got to end her high school basketball career where it began. The recent Holy Cross graduate scored 21 points to lead her team to victory in the Northern Kentucky East-West Senior All-Star Game on Sunday at the Holy Cross gymnasium.
Mayhaus played on the West team that trailed by 11 points at halftime and came back to beat the East team, 66-54. The 6-foot-2 center scored 16 of her game-high 21 points during the second-half comeback and received the West team’s most valuable player award.
“I was glad to be back in my uniform on this floor,” Mayhaus said after the game. “It felt really good to get out and play again since I hadn’t played since March.”
Mayhaus was one of three senior starters on the Holy Cross team that won the girls’ state basketball tournament last March. She averaged 10.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in the Indians’ four state tournament victories to earn a spot on the all-tournament team. It took some time for her to get back on track in Sunday’s all-star game, but she was nearly unstoppable in the second half.
“I wasn’t really expecting to come out and score that much, but I knew I had to do something,” said the Bellarmine University recruit. “It was just kind of an added bonus to play well in this game and get the MVP.”
The most valuable player on the East team was Macey Ford of Boone County. She made four of her team’s eight 3-point goals and finished with 16 points. In the second quarter, the East team scored 18 of its 22 points on 3-point shots to open up a 33-22 halftime lead.
In the junior all-star game on Sunday, East defeated West, 46-38. The MVP awards went to the game’s top scorers. Ansley Davenport of Newport Central Catholic had 15 points for the East and Hailey Ison of Walton-Verona had 13 points for the West.
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Notre Dame Academy volleyball player Morgan Hentz has accepted a scholarship from Stanford University in California, one of the final four teams in the NCAA Division I playoffs last season.
“I really love the program there, the players and coaches are really awesome,” said Hentz, 17, of Lakeside Park. “I’m going to miss my family a lot, but they encouraged me to go with my heart and they know it’s a good fit for me.”
Stanford recruited Hentz as a libero defensive specialist. She also plays outside hitter for Notre Dame and on her Northern Kentucky Junior Volleyball Club select team, but she’s looking forward to focusing on one aspect of the game in college.
“I’m very excited about that,” she said. “I love playing defense, it’s my favorite part of the game.”
Hentz was among the top college recruiting prospects in the nation before she made her commitment to Stanford. She has been participating in the USA Volleyball High Performance Program for three years and was recently invited to a national training session that will select the United States team for the Girls’ Youth World Championship to be played Aug. 7-16 in Lima, Peru.
After her busy summer, Hentz will be looking forward to her senior season at Notre Dame. Last year, the Pandas won the 9th Region championship and made it to the title match of the state tournament. They should be among the top contenders for the state title once again this fall.
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James Bolden is attending freshman orientation at West Virginia University this week, but he’ll be back to play in the Kentucky-Indiana All-Star Classic on Friday at Transylvania University in Lexington and Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Bolden, a three-year starter at Holmes, is the only local player selected to the Kentucky boys’ all-star basketball team for the annual games between the top seniors from the neighboring states. Proceeds from the boys’ and girls’ doubleheader on Friday will go to the Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation to fund its charity programs. Tipoff times are 5:30 p.m. for the girls’ game and 8 p.m. for the boys’ game.
Instead of having tryouts for the all-star teams, the Kentucky players were selected from a list of the top seniors in the state. Bolden is one 13 players selected for the boys’ team. He averaged 19.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game during his senior season at Holmes and scored more than 2,000 points during his high school career. He was recruited by several major college teams before signing a letter of intent with West Virginia.
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Sean Lawrence, a pitcher and infielder on the Simon Kenton varsity baseball team the last three seasons, will continue his playing career at Thomas More College.
“They’re getting a steal,” said Simon Kenton coach Troy Roberts. “Sean wanted to stay close to home and he’ll fit right in at Thomas More. He wants to play for championships and that’s what they do there.”
Simon Kenton was runner-up in the 2014 state baseball tournament with Lawrence in the lineup. This season, he had a .390 batting average and 6-3 pitching record for the Pioneers. On the mound, he had 54 strikeouts in 48 innings. At the plate, he had 10 doubles, six triples, six home runs and 32 runs batted in.
Lawrence will be joining a Thomas More team that won the President’s Athletic Conference regular season championship and finished second in the conference tournament this year. The Saints ended the season 30-12 overall and 18-6 in the conference.
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Alex Veneman of Highlands is the poster boy for the success Northern Kentucky high school teams enjoyed during the 2014-15 school year. In addition to playing wide receiver on the Bluebirds’ state championship football team, he was a sprinter on a track team and outfielder on a baseball team that both claimed state runner-up trophies.
In football, Veneman led the state in pass receptions with 95 and receiving yards with 1,595. He also set Northern Kentucky single-season records with those numbers. He will continue his football career at Western Kentucky University next fall.
At the Class 2A state track meet, Veneman won the 400-meter dash, placed third in the 200 dash and fifth in the 100 dash to account for 20 of his team’s 60 total points. He was also a member of the 4×400 relay team that placed second to score eight points.
Last week, Veneman capped off his senior year as the starting center fielder on the first Highlands baseball team to make it to the state championship final. He finished the season with a .317 batting average (27 of 85), 12 stolen bases and 28 runs scored.
Northern Kentucky high school teams won post-season state championships in one non-classified and six classified sports this school year. Local teams also received state runner-up trophies in seven non-classified and four classified sports. Highlands led the way with state titles in Class 4A football and Class 3A girls’ cross country and state-runner-up finishes in boys’ track and baseball.
Here’s a rundown of what Northern Kentucky teams accomplished in the 2014-15 school year:
BOYS STATE CHAMPION TEAMS
Cross country — Bishop Brossart (Class A)
Track & field — Bishop Brossart (Class A)
GIRLS STATE CHAMPION TEAMS
Cross country — St. Henry (Class A), Highlands (Class 2A)
Football — Highlands (Class 4A)
Girls basketball — Holy Cross
Track & field — St. Henry (Class A)
BOYS STATE RUNNER-UP TEAMS
Cross country — St. Henry (Class A)
Football — Newport Central Catholic (Class 2A), Dixie Heights (Class 6A)
Soccer — Scott
Swimming — Covington Catholic
Tennis — Covington Catholic
Track & field — Highlands (Class 2A)
Baseball — Highlands
GIRLS STATE RUNNER-UP TEAMS
Volleyball — Notre Dame
Swimming — Notre Dame
Tennis — Notre Dame