By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Notre Dame remained the only undefeated girls basketball team in Northern Kentucky with a 67-58 win over Pulaski Southwestern in the semifinals of the White, Greer & Maddox Orthodontics Holiday Classic on Monday at Lexington Catholic High School.
The Pandas will take an 8-0 record into the championship game against George Rogers Clark (6-1) at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Last February, Notre Dame won a regular season game between the two teams, 60-44. George Rogers Clark went on to win the 10th Region championship.
Notre Dame senior guard Nicole Hubert scored a game-high 24 points in Monday’s victory. She made six of her team’s 11 3-points goals, including one that gave the Pandas a 47-34 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Southwestern pulled to within 53-45 with 3:44 left in the final period, but Notre Dame maintained the lead until the final horn sounded.
The Pandas shot 54 percent (20 of 37) from the field overall, 55 percent (11 of 20) from behind the 3-point line and 88.9 percent (16 of 18) at the foul line. The team’s other double-figure scorer was junior forward Kendra Collins with 11 points.
Hubert made 6 of 10 3-point shots to account for 18 of her 24 points. The Northern Kentucky University recruit scored 28 and 27 points in the Pandas’ first two tournament wins over Henry Clay and Male.
Hubert was the only returning starter for the Pandas when the season began. The 5-foot-11 guard will enter Tuesday’s tournament final with a 20.1 scoring average and has made 35 of 79 3-point shots for 44.3 percent in eight games.
Hubert finished last season among the leading 3-point shooters in the state, hitting 85 of 210 for 40.5 percent.
Highlands boys basketball coach notches 200th career win
Highlands boys basketball coach Kevin Listerman notched the 200th win of his coaching career on Saturday when the Bluebirds won a home game against Boyle County, 76-68, in the finals of the Carespring Holiday Classic.
Listerman has a 200-126 record in 12 seasons as a head coach. This is his 10th year at Highlands, where his teams have compiled a 157-110 record and won the 2021 state championship. He was also head coach for one season at Bellevue (2002-03) and one season at Boone County (2003-04). Those two teams had a combined record of 43-16 and Boone County was 9th Region runner-up.
Highlands is off to an 8-0 start this season. The Bluebirds will put their perfect record on the line at 2 p.m. Tuesday when they play Henry Clay (4-2) in the opening round of the Mason County Invitational.
Highlands is averaging 87.8 points per game with a high octane offense that averages 19 2-point and 11 3-point field goals per game. Four of the five starters have double-figure scoring averages. The leaders are senior Will Herald (22.0) and junior Nathan Vinson (18.5).
Two local wrestlers win weight class titles in Ohio tournament
Northern Kentucky wrestlers won two close matches in the championship finals of the Southwest Ohio Coaches Classic on Sunday in Middletown, Ohio.
Walton-Verona sophomore TJ Meyer edged Jared Johnson of Moeller, 9-8, in the 126-pound weight class final. Meyer won his quarterfinal match 9-7 and his semifinal match 5-1 against Ohio opponents.
Ryle junior Caleb Duke got past Calob Hellman of Loveland, 4-2, in the 175-pound title match. Duke won his previous two matches by scores of 2-0 in the semifinals and 8-1 in the quarterfinals.
At last year’s Kentucky state tournament, Meyer finished second in the 120-pound weight class and Duke had a 1-2 record in the 165-pound bracket. They both qualified for the state tournament as region champions.