By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Covington Catholic’s basketball team has a 2-2 record against opponents currently ranked in the state’s top 10 and the Colonels get a chance to break that tie in a game against North Laurel at 7:30 p.m. Friday at BB&T Arena on the Northern Kentucky University campus.
In this week’s Associated Press media poll, North Laurel (20-5) was No. 5 and CovCath (19-5) was No. 6 in the state rankings. In December, CovCath defeated North Laurel, 79-67, in the championship game of the King of the Bluegrass tournament. The Colonels have also split two games against No. 2-ranked Louisville Male and lost to No. 4 Ashland Blazer this season.
The game on Friday will feature one of the state’s premier players. North Laurel junior Reed Sheppard, a University of Kentucky recruit, is averaging 24.7 points, shooting 54.9 percent from the field and 90.2 percent from the line. In the previous game against CovCath, he had 25 points and 10 rebounds.
The leading scorer in that previous game was actually CovCath junior guard Evan Ipsaro with 34 points. He is now averaging a team-high 23.1 points and shooting 60.4 percent from the field for the Colonels.
Both teams also have good post players. CovCath senior Mitchell Rylee is averaging 15.8 points and ranks fourth in the state with a 70.1 field goal percentage. North Oldham junior Ryan Davidson has a 19.6 scoring average and 61.8 field goal percentage.
The Jaguars also have one of the state’s best perimeter shooters in senior guard Clay Sizemore. He has 83 3-point goals while shooting 45.4 percent from behind the arch.
Friday’s game will be the fifth annual Dan Tieman Classic. He was a former CovCath basketball player and head coach. His teams won a school record 313 games and played in four 9th Region championship games.
There will be a junior varsity game at 6 p.m. Friday before the varsity teams take the court. Tickets priced at $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors are available in the CovCath main office or via a link on the school’s website: www.covcath.org/TICKETS)
Highlands girls basketball coach reaches 400 career wins
The Highlands girls basketball team won three of its last four games to push head coach Jaime Walz-Richey’s career victory total to the 400 mark.
Richey has a 400-200 record in 20 seasons as head coach of the Bluebirds going into the team’s final home game against Newport on Friday. The only local girls basketball coaches ahead of her in career wins are Nell Fookes (686), Bill Goller (512), Ray Kues (460) and Don Shields (401), according to records on the khsaa.org website.
Highlands won 19 or more games in 13 of the previous 19 seasons under Richey, including a 29-5 record in 2018-19 and 30-4 record in 2014-15. She has taken 18 teams to the 9th Region tournament. Eight of them made it to the semifinals and the 2012-13 team was a regional runner-up.
Richey is already a member of the Highlands High School Hall of Fame. During her playing career, she scored a school record 4,948 points and was named national player of the year by Parade Magazine following her senior season.
Ryle bowler places third in boys singles at state tournament
Ryle sophomore Dylan Inyart finished third in the boys singles stepladder finals at the state bowling tournament earlier this week. He had the second highest pin total in the qualifying rounds to earn a spot in the stepladder bracket, but he lost to Koby Brewer of Pendleton County in the second match.
The top local bowler in girls singles qualifying was Conner senior Emme Depenbrock, who placed sixth.
None of the local state qualifiers in the boys team bracket made it out of the first round. Cooper, the winner of last year’s girls state championship, was knocked off in the quarterfinals.