By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The Highlands boys basketball team will open its delayed regular season on Monday with a home game against Ashland Paul Blazer, which owned a 33-0 record going into last year’s state tournament that was canceled due to the pandemic.
The Tomcats were ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press state media poll last March and hoped to become the first undefeated state champions in Kentucky boys high school basketball since 1948.
Ashland Blazer has three of its top four scorers returning in junior Cole Villers (17.1), sophomore Colin Porter (15.1) and junior Ethan Sellars (10.0). Last season, they all played key roles on a team that averaged 70 points per game with 44 percent of its scoring coming on 3-point goals.
With no one on the Tomcats’ roster taller than 6-foot-3, coach Jason Mays isn’t expected to change the offensive strategy that carried his team to 33 straight wins and the 16th Region title.
“We don’t have any airport players,” Mays told a reporter last season. “We’re not the kind of team that walks through an airport and you say, ‘Wow, look at those guys.’ But we can spread it and we can shoot it.”
Highlands should be a good first test for the Tomcats. The Bluebirds have the top two scorers back from last year’s 9th Region runner-up team that posted a 28-4 record.
One of the veterans is senior guard Sam Vinson, who was voted Northern Kentucky Player of the Year by local coaches. A Northern Kentucky University recruit, Vinson finished among the state’s top scorers with a 24.7 average and pulled down 8.7 rebounds per game.
The Bluebirds’ other returning starter is senior forward Luke Muller, who averaged 15.7 points last season and made a team-leading 107 shots from 3-point range.
Highlands coach Kevin Listerman will enter Monday’s opening game with a 97-97 record in seven years with the program. The Bluebirds are 48-16 during the last two seasons.
Three teams in girls 9th Region All “A” Classic have new coaches
Three girls high school basketball teams with new head coaches are scheduled to play in the 9th Region All “A” Classic next week at Ludlow High School.
Kevin Clancy will make his debut as Villa Madonna’s head coach at 6 p.m. next Tuesday in a quarterfinal game against Dayton. In the second game that night, Newport’s new head coach, Beau Menefee, will put his team up against the winner of the Newport Central Catholic-Bellevue opening-round game.
The games on Wednesday feature St. Henry vs. Ludlow at 6 p.m. and Dayton vs. Holy Cross at 7:45 p.m. The first-year head coach at Holy Cross is Ted Arlinghaus.
The winners of those four games will advance to the semifinals on Thursday with the championship game set for 7 p.m. Friday. The region champion will receive a berth in the All “A” Classic small-school state tournament scheduled for Feb. 16-23 at Eastern Kentucky University.
Cooper graduate is starter on nationally ranked women’s team
Cooper graduate Lexi Held is averaging 15 points, 3.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds for the DePaul University women’s basketball team that’s ranked among the top 20 in NCAA Division I by the media and college coaches.
DePaul jumped to No. 18 in the Associated Press rankings and No. 20 in the USA Today Coaches Poll after upsetting No. 9 Kentucky last week. The Blue Demons won their first two Big East Conference games after that to push their overall record to 5-2.
Held has been a double-double scorer in each of the team’s seven games. The junior guard hopes to continue that streak Wednesday when DePaul visits No. 3 Connecticut (5-0) in a conference game.
In her senior season at Cooper, Held was the state’s second-leading scorer with a 28.3 average and surpassed the 2,000 mark in career scoring. She was named Division I Player of the Year by Northern Kentucky coaches as a junior and senior.
Former Notre Dame volleyball coach selected for Hall of Fame
Kim Gunning’s successful career as Notre Dame Academy’s volleyball coach put her on this year’s list of inductees into the Buddy LaRosa High School Sports Hall of Fame.
During her 12 years as head coach, Notre Dame teams compiled a 360-75 record and won 12 region titles. She guided the Pandas to seven state tournament finals, winning championships in 1989, 1991 and 1994.
Gunning was voted Coach of the Year by the Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association three times. In 1993, she was named the state’s outstanding coach by the National Federation of Interscholastic Coaches Association.
After retiring from coaching, Gunning was athletic director at Notre Dame for 20 years. She received the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Kentucky High School Athletic Association as the state’s top administrator.