By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Ryle swept the first-place votes in the first Northern Kentucky girls basketball coaches poll of the season conducted by the NKyTribune. Cooper came out on top in the boys poll, but four other teams also received first-place votes on the ballots submitted by local coaches.
The Ryle girls are off to a 15-1 start and won four games at a tournament in Illinois to close out the December portion of their schedule. Senior guard Lauren Schwartz is averaging a team-high 19.2 points and 6.7 rebounds for the defending 9th Region champions.
Conner (13-1) was voted No. 2 in the girls coaches poll. After losing a home game against Ryle on Dec. 7, the Cougars won 10 straight games and claimed the championship trophy in two holiday tournaments.
Ryle and Conner will meet again in a 33rd District seeding game on Jan. 30 at Ryle. The Raiders will take a four-game winning streak against their county rival into that matchup.
Cooper (12-2) received nine of the 14 first-place votes in the Northern Kentucky boys coaches poll. The Jaguars are allowing 45.1 points per game, a defensive average that ranks third overall in the state.
Defending state champion Covington Catholic (11-4) was voted No. 2 behind Cooper. Those two teams will square off on Jan. 11 at CovCath to see if the coaches rankings hold true.
One of Cooper’s leading scorers is senior guard T.J. Deere, who played in 24 games for CovCath last season. He’s currently averaging 13.3 points with a team-high 28 3-point goals for the Jaguars.
CovCath, Campbell County, Newport and Walton-Verona were the other teams that received first-place votes in the boys coaches poll.
The big matchup on Friday’s schedule is No. 5 Walton-Verona at No. 7 Simon Kenton in a key 32nd District seeding game. Last year, Walton-Verona won the seeding game, 65-62, on a last-second 3-point shot and then lost to Simon Kenton, 40-38, in the district final.
Two of the area top players will be on the court in Friday’s game. Simon Kenton sophomore guard Kelly Niece is one of the state leading scorers with a 24.9 average. Walton-Verona senior center Dieonte Miles, a Xavier University recruit, is averaging 11.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.