The Best Seat in the House

Search results tell me that a number of people land on this blog while searching for information on where to find 12th Region Tournament games on the radio or on the Internet. Here’s information on where you can listen to the games of the remaining teams (listed in bracket order) in the boys and girls regionals, along with the stations’ originating cities and the URL for streaming audio where available:

Boys

• West Jessamine: None.
• Boyle County: WRNZ-FM (105.1), Lancaster; hometownlive.net.
• Pulaski County: WLLK-FM (102.3), Somerset.
• Danville: WRNZ-FM (105.1), Lancaster; hometownlive.net.
• McCreary Central: WMKZ-FM (93.1), Monticello.
• Mercer County: WRNZ-FM (105.1), Lancaster; hometownlive.net.

Girls

• All games: WPBK-FM (102.9), Crab Orchard; wpbkfm.com.
• Southwestern: WLLK-FM (102.3), Somerset.
• Rockcastle County: WRVK-AM (1460), Renfro Valley; wrvk1460.com.
• Monticello: WMKZ-FM (93.1), Monticello.

News and notes from day 1 of the boys 12th Region Tournament at Pulaski County:

• West Jessamine defeated Wayne County 56-54; Boyle County defeated Casey County 71-41. West Jessamine (24-7) plays Boyle (19-8) in Monday’s 6 p.m. semifinal.
• It was a close shave for the defending regional champion, as West Jessamine won on a layup by Jarrod Polson with 2 seconds to play. Wayne called timeout with 0.5 seconds left, then threw the inbounds pass about two-thirds of the way down the floor, only to see it tipped away by one of the Colts.
• Wayne (19-12) led 15-9 early in the second quarter and was still up 25-24 at halftime, but West Jessamine opened an eight-point lead in the third quarter. The Cardinals came back to take a 51-50 lead on Austin Shearer’s steal and layup with 2:29 remaining, then led 54-52 when Shearer hit a 3-point goal at 1:53. After West Jessamine tied the game, Wayne called timeout with about 45 seconds left and then seemed content to hold the ball for a final shot, but Kyle Hopper dribbled the ball off his leg and out of bounds with 21 seconds left, giving the Colts the ball and the chance to win. Polson waited until about 4 seconds remained to drive right through the middle of the lane for the winning basket.
• Polson led all scorers with 17 points, and David Elliott and Gus Sherrow had 15 points each for West Jessamine. Wayne got 16 points from Hopper, 13 from Dunagan and 12 from Shearer.
• The drama of the first game made the nightcap a bit anticlimactic, as Boyle cruised to its second 30-point victory over Casey in the last 15 days. Boyle led 11-2 just over three minutes into the game and 23-12 after a first quarter in which it was 10 for 15 from the field.
• While Casey (8-23) shot just 32 percent from the field, Boyle stayed hot all night long. The winning Rebels were 16 for 28 in the first half — they led 35-18 at halftime — and 12 for 19 in the second for 60 percent, and they were 7 for 15 from 3-point range.
• Jacob Bodner led Boyle with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Michael Arnett added 12 points, and Cory Jones had 11. Both Bodner and Jones were 3 for 6 from 3-point range, and Bodner also had six assists. Kyle Jeffries led Casey with 11 points in his final game, while Jordan Spangoletti, another of the team’s three seniors, added 10 points.
• The first round concludes Thursday night when Pulaski County (12-17) plays Danville (12-15) at 6 p.m. and McCreary Central (24-6) plays Mercer County (20-9) at about 8 p.m. (The second game officially begins 30 minutes after the first game ends; it started at about 7:50 p.m. tonight.) This will be the first meeting between Pulaski and Danville since late in the 2002-03 season, when the Maroons beat the Admirals 84-50. McCreary and Mercer opened this season against each other in a Dec. 1 game that the Titans won 73-70 at home, led by Clay Cinnamon with 29 points and Jamel Taylor with 18 points. Aaron Watts scored 27 points and Zack Roark had 14 for the Raiders in their only loss to a 12th Region team this season.

News and notes from day 2 of the girls 12th Region Tournament at Lincoln County:

• Rockcastle County defeated Garrard County 63-50; Monticello defeated Mercer County 67-58. Rockcastle (25-4) plays Monticello (18-12) in Friday’s 7:45 p.m. semifinal.
• Two Advocate-area teams were bounced out of the regional, but they took very different paths into the offseason. First there was Garrard, which not only gave a valiant effort but also played a pretty good game to stay close to regional power Rockcastle in a game that was much closer than most people — and yes, that includes me — probably expected. It took Rockcastle at least three tries to put away a Garrard team that simply wouldn’t leave without a fight. It was a game the Lady Lions could be proud of, and a pretty good loss for a young team that will return four of five starters to take into  the offseason. Then came Mercer, which was expected to mow down Monticello but failed on both ends of the floor. At one basket, the Titans gave up one layup after another as Monticello sliced through their defense; at the other, they shot themselves out of the tournament by going 5 for 36 from 3-point range and 7 for 16 at the free throw line. Mercer now faces a more uncertain offseason as it tries to replace seven seniors.
• Garrard (19-7) jumped out to a 5-0 lead on Rockcastle that might have been even bigger if Lady Rockets center Sara Hammond hadn’t blocked three shots in the first three minutes. But Hammond and Jackie Alexander soon fell into foul trouble, and the Lady Lions had a lot to do with that, which in turn had a lot to do with keeping them in the game. Still, Rockcastle closed the first half with a 16-4 run to lead 32-19. An 8-0 Garrard run in the third quarter pulled the Lady Lions within 36-34 and had coach Scott Bolin pumping his fist on the sideline, but that was as close as they came. Rockcastle rebuilt a 10-point lead, then fought off one last rally in the fourth quarter that brought Garrard within five.
• Alexander led Rockcastle with 23 points, and she got 11 of them in the fourth quarter and 16 in the second half. Angie Lawrence added 19 points, and Hammond had eight. Garrard was led by Devin Conley with 15 points, followed by Kelly Smith with 11 and Haley Meadows with 10.
• Mercer (20-10) was playing uphill right from the start, as Monticello raced to a 14-5 lead in the first 4 1/2 minutes. The Lady Trojans still led by 11 points before Mercer closed the first half with a 10-2 run to pull within 29-26, then used a 6-1 run at the start of the second half to take its first — and only — lead at 32-30 with 5:12 left in the third quarter. Monticello answered that run with 10 straight points in less than two minutes, then used an 11-2 run to go up 51-39 in the early seconds of the fourth quarter after the Titans had closed to within three points. Mercer was never closer than eight points after that.
• Malesha Hughes went 6 for 11 from the field and 8 for 10 at the foul line to lead Monticello with 20 points. Lacey Alley, who was 4 for 5 from 3-point range, had 17 points and Cortney Morrow added 14. Abra Sickles had 20 points for Mercer, but she could have had many more if the Titans hadn’t settled for so many 3-point shots against the Lady Trojans’ zone. Leah Flora added 10 points but was just 2 for 12 from 3-point range, and Tori Freeman and Savannah Taylor added nine each.
• While Mercer struggled at the free throw line — the Titans were 1 for 8 at halftime — Monticello was 17 for 25.
• This was Monticello’s first appearance in the regional since 2004, when it lost a first-round game to Casey County. It last won a regional tourney game in 2003, when they beat South Laurel in the first round before losing to eventual champion Mercer in the semfinals. And longtime coach Marla Kelsch, who coached both of those teams, admitted that tonight’s win over Mercer was made a little sweeter by the fact that virtually no one not wearing Monticello blue and white expected the Lady Trojans to win.
• The Lincoln gym is closed for two days while the action shifts south to Pulaski County for the opening night of the boys regional Wednesday. Defending champion West Jessamine (23-7) plays Wayne County (19-11) at 6 p.m. in a rematch of a Feb. 12 game in Nicholasville that the Colts won 96-61. Then it’s Boyle County (18-8) against Casey County (8-22) in a rematch of a Feb. 17 game in Danville that Boyle won 78-48.

The regional review returns, with nightly nuggets from the girls and boys 12th Region Tournaments. Tonight, news and notes from day 1 of the girls regional at Lincoln County.

• Southwestern defeated East Jessamine 61-50; Lincoln County defeated Casey County 49-40. Southwestern (20-9) plays Lincoln (23-4) in Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal.
• Lincoln seemed to be on its way to an easy victory in the most anticipated matchup of the first round when it led Casey 16-5 after about one minute of the second quarter before a large and loud crowd, but the Lady Patriots had to work hard to knock out the defending champion Lady Rebels, who beat Lincoln in last year’s regional final.
• Casey (17-13) came storming back, outscoring Lincoln 11-6 over the balance of the first half to pull to within 22-16 at halftime thanks to the work of Nicole Coffman, who had every one of the Lady Rebels’ points in the first half on two 3-point baskets, two 2-point baskets and six free throws in seven attempts. Casey then scored the first seven points of the second half to take its first lead at 23-22. The game stayed close the rest of the way, but Lincoln, which didn’t hit a 3-pointer in the first three quarter, got three in the fourth period, including one from Nikki Bustle that gave the Lady Patriots the lead for good at 40-38 with 2:54 left. Casey scored only once more, while Alissa Patterson made three of four free throws and Bustle made two of two down the stretch for Lincoln.
• Kendra Brown led Lincoln with 16 points, followed by Jessica Upchurch with 14. Coffman led all scorers with 25 points and was one of only three players who scored for Casey; Megan Pittman added 10 points.
• Lincoln has beaten Casey only twice in six meetings over the past three seasons in what has become a fierce but friendly rivalry, and both of those have come in the last 11 days. The Lady Patriots eked out a 38-37 win Feb. 19 in the regular-season finale for both teams. Casey isn’t at all the team it was last year when it reached the semifinals at the Girls Sweet Sixteen, but it was good enough to give the region’s best teams all the wanted, and with everyone who was in uniform tonight returning, the Lady Rebels will continue to be a major player in the 12th for some time.
• Southwestern took the fight to East Jessamine right away, as the Lady Warriors 21-11 after one quarter and 35-19 at halftime. East Jessamine (12-16) closed the gap in the third quarter, but the margin stayed in the neighborhood of 10 points the rest of the way.
• Danay Fothergill led Southwestern with 23 points, and Emily Walker added 14. Walker helped her team get off to a good start by scoring nine of its first 11 points. East Jessamine got 17 points from Liz Miller and 14 from Emily Underwood.
• In case you haven’t seen East Jessamine, the Lady Jaguars’ coaching staff is stocked with familar faces. This was the first season for head coach Jacqueline Coleman, the former Mercer County and Centre College player and Burgin coach who moved to East Jessamine to succeed the late Ralph Sallee (an interim coach finished last season after Sallee’s death), and one of her assistants is former Boyle County player and assistant coach Lyndsey Robinson (formerly Neal). The other assistant is former Washington County player Katie Filiatreau.
• Lincoln is a senior-dominated team, but the other teams that took the floor Monday are some of the best young teams in the region. Southwestern has only two seniors and starts only one (Walker), and the Lady Warriors have two seventh-graders in their starting five; East Jessamine loses only two seniors (starters Miller and Rachael Harrington) and starts one eighth-grader; and Casey loses only one senior (Amanda Johnson, who was sidelined a few weeks ago by a medical condition), starts one freshman and brought two seventh-graders off the bench for meaningful minutes.
• The first round concludes Tuesday night when Rockcastle County (24-4) plays Garrard County (19-6) at 6 p.m. and Mercer County (20-9) plays Monticello (17-12) at 7:45 p.m. Rockcastle and Garrard did not meet during the regular season, nor did Mercer and Monticello.