By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
When Taylor Clos was in elementary school, she enjoyed being a ball girl during Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball home games and the Norse became her favorite team.
Clos didn’t go to many NKU games over the last four years because she was playing varsity basketball for Campbell County High School.
She was a double-figure scorer for the Camels the last three seasons and handled the point guard duties so well that the coaches at NKU offered the 5-foot-6 junior a scholarship last week.
“I didn’t have any other offers, but that’s where I wanted to go,” Clos said. “I wanted to stay close to home and have my family watch me. And I always knew if they offered me (a scholarship) I was going to go there.”
Clos began playing varsity basketball as an eighth-grader. She has scored 1,775 points over the last four seasons and needs 226 more to become the first Campbell County girls’ basketball player to surpass the 2,000 mark.
Last season, Clos averaged a team-high 20.4 points and 4.5 rebounds for the Camels, who made it to the 10th Region semifinals and posted a 20-13 record with no seniors on the roster. There’s a good chance other college recruiters would’ve shown an interest in Clos at summer camps or during her senior season, but she jumped at the chance to play for NKU.
“I didn’t really have a time set,” she said of her early commitment. “I just knew in my heart that there wasn’t any other school so there wasn’t really a need for me to wait. That’s where I wanted to go.”
Clos is the second Northern Kentucky high school junior recruited by NKU head coach Camryn Whitaker since the first of the year. The coach also got a commitment from Ally Niece, an all-state guard for Simon Kenton High School.
“Me and Ally are really close friends,” Clos said. “We played AAU (select basketball) together in grade school and stayed really close through the years. We’re going to be roommates once we get to NKU.”
Breaking the Campbell County team’s career scoring record isn’t the only goal Clos has set for her senior season. Two years ago, the Camels won the 10th Region title and made it to the quarterfinals of the state tournament. She wants to end her high school career playing in the state tournament once again.
“I want to go back for sure, but I’d definitely love to win a state championship my senior year,” she said.
Baseball teams lose close games in All “A” state tournament
Both of the Northern Kentucky baseball teams that earned berths in the All “A” Classic small-school state tournament lost close games in extra innings during the first round on Saturday in Lexington.
In the opening game of the eight-team tournament, Lexington Christian knocked off Walton-Verona, 7-3, in 10 innings. The next game was a pitchers duel that ended with Caldwell County edging Brossart, 1-0, in eight innings.
Walton-Verona had a 3-0 lead going into the top of the seventh inning. Lexington Christian scored three runs to tie the score and made a big defensive play in the bottom of the inning by throwing out a Walton-Verona base runner at the plate. The Eagles then scored four runs in the 10th inning to come away with the win.
Walton-Verona junior pitcher Braxton Foley was named to the state all-tournament team. After pitching six scoreless innings, he gave up two runs in the seventh and was replaced by junior Logan Harris. Foley allowed only one hit with nine strikeouts and six walks in six innings. He was also 2-for-5 at the plate with one run batted in.
Brossart junior pitcher Zach Hamberg gave up the only run in the second game on a single in the eighth inning that enabled Caldwell County sophomore pitcher Gabe East to score from second base. Both pitchers put up good numbers on the mound. East had 10 strikeouts and limited Brossart to three hits. Hamberg had eight strikeouts and allowed six hits.
Caldwell County made it to the All “A” Classic championship game and lost to Louisville Holy Cross, 5-3, in 10 innings.
Ryle graduate named Player of the Year in college golf
Ryle graduate Austin Squires was named Player of the Year in men’s golf by the American Athletic Conference after placing among the top five individual scorers in six tournaments during the spring semester of his sophomore season at the University of Cincinnati.
Squires, the first UC golfer to earn Player of the Year honors, was invited to an NCAA regional qualifier on May 15-17 in West Lafayette, Indiana. He and nine other golfers in that event will compete for a berth in the NCAA national finals that’s set for May 26-31 in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
Two weeks ago, Squires tied for fifth place in the American Athletic Conference championship tournament and the Bearcats tied for second place in the team standings. He’ll enter the NCAA qualifier with a 71.71 stroke average, the lowest in team history.
Squires became the youngest player to win the Northern Kentucky Men’s Amateur at the age of 16 in the summer of 2013. In high school, he won the Region 7 championship as a senior in 2014 and helped Ryle place among the top 10 teams in the Kentucky state tournament three consecutive years.
Girls’ state basketball site on agenda for KHSAA meeting
A future site for the girls’ state basketball tournament is expected to be on the agenda when the Board of Control for the Kentucky High School Athletic Association meets on Tuesday and Wednesday in Lexington.
The five-day, 15-game state tournament was held at BB&T Arena on the campus of Northern Kentucky University the last two years, but that contract has expired. St. Elizabeth Healthcare was the corporate sponsor of the last two tournaments. Total attendance figures were reported as 33,258 in 2017 and 31,947 in 2016.
BB&T Arena is still in the running as a site for future girls’ state tournaments. Arenas in Bowling Green, Richmond, Murray and Lexington are also being considered, according to KHSAA commissioner Julian Tackett.