Talk about a long time coming.
The last time Anderson County was in the girls' state basketball tournament, Jimmy Carter occupied the White House. Current president Barack Obama was 16.
The year was 1978.
Ever since the current Lady Bearcats defeated host Simon Kenton for the 8th Region title, Lawrenceburg has been abuzz.
"We've been close the last couple years, losing to Simon Kenton twice in the finals," said Tony Kays, who is in his 11th year as head coach. "So I think that made it a little bit sweeter to win it, and to beat Simon Kenton, especially up there. It's a real good feeling."
On the trip home, when the team bus reached the county line at about 11:30 p.m., a police escort led the rest of the way. At the school, "a couple hundred" friends and family were waiting in the gymnasium to celebrate with the team.
"The next school day, everybody was talking about it," said Kays, a 1975 graduate of the school. "A lot of congratulations. The phone was ringing off the hook."
With one senior (Kara Yeaste) among the team's top eight players, the Bearcats surprised just about everyone but themselves.
"Most people were looking to the next year or two, thinking a year down the road, especially two years down the road," Kays said. "But we felt, going into the season, with our region, that we had a good shot. Us and four or five other teams. ... I think we felt all along, within our team, that we could do it."
Yeaste is joined in the starting lineup by eighth-graders MacKenzie Cann and Eriel McKee, sophomore Sydney Brown and junior Caroline McDowell. The first three off the bench are seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders — Corrin Robinson, Destiny Stewart and Kali Whiteside.
"Our kids are pretty basketball savvy even though we're young," Kays said. "Our middle school kids have played a lot of games. They actually won the middle school state tournament this year, so they've had experience."
'Do a little better this time'
No. 18 Clay County is one of the veteran teams in the field. The Tigers have been to the Sweet Sixteen three straight seasons.
But in each of those trips, they've lost in the first round. They'd like that to change this week against Anderson County.
"We're just trying to do a little bit better than we have in the past," Coach James Burchell said. "Hopefully, we can get over the hump and win some games down there."
All five Tigers' starters have played in the tournament.
Star power
One player who is sure to turn heads in this tournament is Boone County's Sydney Moss, and not just because she's the daughter of NFL wide receiver Randy Moss.
The younger Moss, a 5-foot-11 sophomore comes into the tournament averaging 22.3 points a game, second behind Belfry's Jillnell Blevins (22.8 ppg).
Moss, who transferred from Ryle to Boone County before the start of the season, has blended well with her teammates, Coach Nell Fookes said. The No. 6 Rebels will meet No. 3 Bowling Green in the first round on Thursday.
"She's a team player who loves to play the game and doesn't like things centered around her, so it was an easy transition accepting her and her accepting us," Fookes said. "She's kind of an introvert, so the biggest challenge early on was getting her to be assertive on both ends of the floor."
Quick hits
There are three first-year coaches in the field: Rick Mounts of Belfry, Larry Just of Butler and Ted Hill of Ohio County. Just and Hill might just need to ask their own players for directions around the arena because some of them have been there before.
■ The only first-time team in the tournament is Bowling Green, but it should feel like home to the Purples.
■ There are four former champions in the field: Butler (1975, 1980, 2008), Clay County (1989), Mercy (1992) and Scott County (1995).
■ Henderson County is the veteran team in the group, having been to the tourney six straight seasons.
■ The smallest school in the tournament is Murray, which has 478 students. The largest is Scott County with 2,300.
