The Best Seat in the House

Notes and thoughts from day 2 of the girls 12th Region Tournament at Lincoln County:

• Mercer County defeated Southwestern 61-54; Rockcastle County defeated Danville 69-47. Mercer plays Rockcastle in Friday’s second semifinal.
• For the second straight year, the Mercer-Southwestern game delivered the biggest surprise of the first round. Last year it was Southwestern’s 39-point flogging of Mercer, but on Tuesday it was Mercer avenging that loss and doing so with an impressive second-half comeback.
• The Titans appeared to be headed for the same fate as last year when they fell behind 7-0 out of the gate and 23-9 in the second quarter. They still trailed by seven points at halftime, but they came charging back behind a relentless defense that forced Southwestern into 19 second-half turnovers. Yes, 19. Mercer used its advantage in speed and a tenacity that recalled the way its defense harassed opponents in the program’s glory days in the first half of this decade.
• Hannah Barnett scored the basket that tied the game for the first time at 33-all, and she deserves special mention for being the unsung hero of Mercer’s defense both in this game and all year long. She leads the Titans in steals and blocked shots and is second in rebounds, and her value as a tireless defender is far more important to them than the 4.6 points she averages.
• Hayley Spivey led Mercer with 25 points, followed by Leah Flora with 10. Devin Fothergill had 16 points for Southwestern, which had only four scorers, all with at least 10 points.
• The second game was every bit as one-sided as Monday’s nightcap in which Casey County clobbered East Jessamine, although Rockcastle’s margin of victory over Danville wasn’t nearly as large. The Lady Rockets dominated from the word go against a team that was both overmatched and underexperienced.
• This game should serve notice to all think the regional title will fall to the winner of the Casey-Lincoln County semifinal. Rockcastle is playing better than both of those teams right now. Danville coach Judie Mason said the same thing Tuesday that Casey’s Randy Salyers said after Rockcastle beat his team in the 47th District final: The Lady Rockets are playing as well as it has all year. And they’re in much the same position as they were in 2006, the last time the regional was at Lincoln, when Lincoln scratched out a semifinal win over Mercer, only to lose to Rockcastle in the final. Don’t ever be surprised by what Chrysti Noble and her teams can do in the postseason.
• Mason also was the latest to say that Rockcastle guard Sarah Rowe is the best player in the region, and I’ll second that. Her moves toward the basket are effortless, whether she’s shooting, passing or reaching for rebounds. Rowe had 24 points and 12 rebounds, and Sara Hammond had 17 rebounds. Tasha Milby led Danville with 14 points, and Xerces Simpson had 13.
• It’s southbound to Pulaski County for the start of the boys regional tonight. Lincoln County plays Southwestern at 6:30 p.m. and Pulaski plays East Jessamine at 8:30 p.m. Lincoln won at Southwestern 69-59 on Feb. 12 to drop the Warriors to 3-18. If the eight teams in this tourney were seeded, this would be the 1-vs.-8 game, but Southwestern’s shocking win over McCreary in a 48th District semifinal last week is enough to make some of the Lincoln faithful nervous. Southwestern defeated Lincoln 74-62 in the first game of the 2006 regional at Pulaski. Later that night, East Jessamine defeated Pulaski 81-71 in the only meeting between the two teams in the three seasons since East joined the 12th Region.
• The Other 15: Lexington Catholic defeated Scott County 64-55 in a battle of 11th Region powers. (And that probably won’t be the last time we’ll use the phrase “battle of 11th Region powers” this week.) … C’eira Ricketts of Fairdale, an Arkansas signee, had a quadruple-double with 21 points, 17 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals in Fairdale’s 64-43 victory over Pleasure Ridge Park in the 6th Region. … Marion County had the best record in the 5th Region, but that record is frozen at 28-4 after a 59-55 loss to Hart County. … Boys plays began in the hotly contested 7th Region, where Eastern beat Male 58-48 and Jeffersontown edged duPont Manual 75-73 in two first-round games matching title contenders. Ballard and Seneca also won.

Notes and thoughts from day 1 of the girls 12th Region Tournament at Lincoln County:

• Lincoln County defeated Wayne County 50-40; Casey County defeated East Jessamine 72-35. Lincoln plays Casey in Friday’s first semifinal.
• It was a good start for the home team, which on paper appears to have the toughest road to the title of any of the major contenders (excluding Wayne, which ran off the road early). The Lady Patriots will probably have to pass three stern tests — Wayne, Casey and either Southwestern or Rockcastle County, if form holds — to win it all.
• Wayne put up a fight until the fourth quarter, taking a 36-35 lead into the final period but failing to score a basket after that. The Lady Cardinals tied the game at 40-all with 4:25 to go but never scored again. Upchurch led Lincoln with 16 points, followed by Kendra Brown with 13. Bristow led Wayne with 19 points.
• Wayne won’t get to make a second straight trip to the Girls Sweet Sixteen, but the Lady Cardinals aren’t going away, either. Forward Courtney Duncan and guard Rachel Bristow are their only seniors.
• It was no surprise that the second game was lopsided, even though East Jessamine was a district champion. The Lady Jaguars got the worst possible draw: a Casey team that has the best overall and intra-region records in the 12th and that came to Lincoln with a chip on its shoulder after losing the 47th District final to Rockcastle.
• East Jessamine actually led 2-0 before Casey scored 15 straight points. East’s top player, guard Ashley Willoughby, drew three fouls in the first 2:07, which handcuffed her and her team. Megan Pittman led Casey with 23 points, 17 of them in the first half. Lauren Hatter added 14 points. Willoughby had 15 for East Jessamine, but she had only three field goals.
• Good crowds turned out to see Lincoln and Casey, and quite a few fans followed Wayne as well. The same could not be said for East Jessamine, which had an embarrassingly small following that was roughly equal to the total number of players and cheerleaders representing the school. Expect a smaller overall audience (and hopefully a cooler gymnasium) for tonight’s first-round session.
• Southwestern plays Mercer County at 6 p.m. and Rockcastle plays Danville at about 7:45 p.m. tonight. The first game is a rematch of Southwestern’s shockingly easy 78-39 win in the first round of last year’s regional. This year’s Lady Warriors have won nine of their last 10 games, including a 70-59 win over Mercer in their regular-season finale. This might well be the first meeting between Rockcastle and Danville; records show the two teams haven’t played in the last 10 years, and there isn’t much reason to believe they would have met before that.
• The Other 15 (noteworthy scores from the rest of the state): Grayson County upset Apollo 52-50 on Apollo’s floor in a first-round game in the 3rd Region, whose winner plays the 12th Region champion in the first round of the Girls Sweet Sixteen. … In the 13th Region, Clay County held a pretty good Whitley County team (22-8 entering the tournament) to just 18 points in a 38-18 win. Whitley had beaten Clay by 12 in the regular season. … First-round games were held in 14 of the 16 girls regionals Monday. No boys games were played; the 3rd and 7th regions begin today and most others open Wednesday.
• Look for daily updates in this space as the girls and boys regionals roll on through March 11.