By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The last time Ludlow had a 20-win season in boys basketball was 2003-04 when the Panthers finished 25-5 under coach Joe Beard, who stepped down one year later to become the high school’s athletic director.
This season, Ludlow has a 19-10 record with at least two games left to reach 20 wins. The Panthers will play their final regular season game at Newport (22-6) on Friday and then take on Villa Madonna (7-19) in the opening game of the 34th District tournament next week.
In the first season under coach Aaron Stamm, Ludlow finished on top in the NKAC Division III conference standings with a perfect 10-0 record. Last weekend, the Panthers won the NKAC Classic tournament with victories over Dayton and Bellevue.
Senior guard Jaxson Rice has played a major role in the team’s success. He’s one of the state’s leading scorers with a 30.1 average and shooting 53.2 percent (342 of 463) from the field with 72 3-point goals.
Stamm is trying to find out if Rice has broken any team scoring records this season. He needs 28 points to reach 900 and the coach said ‘that would be the highest in a very long time at the school.”
The Panthers’ second leading scorer is sophomore guard Spencer Brandenburg with a 14.3 average in his first season as a varsity starter after contributing 2.3 points per game off the bench last season.
“Spencer has been a great addition to our starting rotation this season and has played very well as the season has gone on,” said Stamm. “He has made that successful varsity jump in scoring.”
Elijah Perrin and Ethan Powell are two juniors with a combined average of 18.2 points per game. Perrin leads the Panthers in rebounding with a 7.6 average.
Campbell County senior guard breaks team’s career scoring record
A few hours after senior guard Aydan Hamilton was named 10th Region Player of the Year on Tuesday, he became the all-time leading scorer for the Campbell County boys basketball program.
Hamilton scored 24 points in his team’s 75-40 win over Pendleton County on Tuesday night to give him a career total of 2,123 points. Campbell County’s previous career scoring leader was 2002 graduate Kevin Reinhardt with 2,109 total points.
Earlier in the day, Hamilton found out that 10th Region coaches voted him Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season. His averages now stand at 22.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game for the 18-11 Camels.
As an eighth-grader, Hamilton scored 19 points in 15 varsity games. He has been in the Camels’ starting lineup since he was a freshman and now has 2,123 points in 120 varsity games for a 17.7 career average.
This will be Hamilton’s final season of basketball. Two years ago, he accepted a baseball scholarship offer from the University of Kentucky.
Notre Dame swimmer is top-seed in two events going into state meet
Notre Dame senior Lainy Kruger is the top-seed in two girls swimming events going into the state championship meet that starts Thursday at the University of Kentucky’s Lancaster Aquatic Center.
Kruger won the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke events at last year’s state meet and she recorded the fastest state qualifying times in both of those events at the Region 7 meet two weeks ago. Her top-seeded times are 1:50.03 in the 200 freestyle and 1:04.23 in the 100 breaststroke.
Cooper junior Peytton Moore has the highest state qualifying score in the girls 1-meter diving event that she won last year. Covington Catholic junior Jake Larkins is the No. 2 seed in boys diving.
The No. 2 seeds in girls events include St. Henry senior Emma Littrell in the 100 freestyle, Notre Dame sophomore Sadie Hartig in the 500 freestyle and Notre Dame in the 200 freestyle relay.
Diving competition will be Thursday at UK with swimming preliminary heats on Friday and swimming finals on Saturday. A complete listing of the state meet qualifying times is posted on the khsaa.org website.