Girls’ basketball: Four takeaways from a jam-packed holiday tournament
Holiday basketball tournaments bring together a bunch of top teams and run them through a multi-day gauntlet that tests their skill, their conditioning and their will to win early in the season, so that coaches can see what needs fixing over the next two months.
For the second year in a row, No. 4 George Rogers Clark won the talent-rich White, Greer & Maggard Holiday Classic at Lexington Catholic. Here are some observations from that four-day event, which included several of Kentucky’s top teams.
Clark avenges only loss
Over three consecutive days, George Rogers Clark (7-1) knocked off Herald-Leader preseason No. 19 Christian Academy-Louisville, 68-63, AP No. 5 Mercy, 66-59, and H-L preseason No. 21 Notre Dame 54-42 at LexCath’s tournament.
“From the start to the finish we’ve grown. We’ve cut down on our mistakes. We’re moving the ball better,” Clark Coach Robbie Graham said. “Defense has come along and we’re rebounding better. We’re continuing to climb that ladder and get better each game, but we’ve still got a long way to go. We know that.”
Monday’s win over Mercy avenged the Cards’ only loss, a 65-53 setback to the Jaguars on Dec. 3. Both games remained close until about midway through the fourth quarter. Sisters and team leaders Brianna and Ciara Byars believe better conditioning proved to be the difference the second time around.
“It’s a learning experience for a lot of us, because we had some transfers who weren’t used to this lifestyle and getting up and down how we play,” said Brianna Byars, a senior committed to Cincinnati.
Ciara Byars, a sophomore whose offers include Louisville, earned tournament MVP honors, scoring 27 against Mercy and 21 against Notre Dame, and displaying the ability to score inside and out against the Pandas by nailing two of four three-pointers and doing a ton of damage at the free-throw line, going 13-of-14. She topped 1,000 points for her career Tuesday night.
Ciara says her improvement is about “being more consistent. I’ve always had these things in my game, I just haven’t always displayed them.”
Early on, Clark’s signature man-to-man defense wreaked havoc on Notre Dame, a 9th Region contender led by Northern Kentucky commit Noelle Hubert, who scored 24 points against Southwestern a day earlier and had a team-high 15 points against Clark.
The Cardinals shockingly held the Pandas to three points in the first quarter and 10 points in the first half as they established a 26-10 lead at the break. Clark stretched the lead to 25 points in the second half before Notre Dame rallied in the fourth quarter.
“We got a big lead and, I think, relaxed a little bit,” Graham said. “I told them, ‘They are too well coached, they play too hard and they are too successful to lay down.’”
Mercy, Macy ahead of last year’s curve
Despite a few setbacks this season, Mercy (6-4) looks more fluid and dangerous than it did at this time a year ago.
Four-star sophomore Leah Macy, one of the top recruits in the nation, had only been with the Jaguars a few days before last season started. With four starters who averaged double figures in scoring back this year, including Ohio commit Emma Barnett, the Jaguars figure to be a 6th Region favorite.
“This year, we were able to have a preseason and start doing some offensive stuff, and we have a deeper bench, which allows us to play press and play a lot better defense,” said Macy, who was out sick for a couple of games early on, including Mercy’s 55-37 loss to Manual on Dec. 6.
Mercy rebounded from Monday’s loss to Clark with a 69-64 win over Southwestern in the third-place game Tuesday. Macy scored 27 points and grabbed 11 boards, while fellow sophomore Alyssa Murphy added 21.
“Four games in four days is always tough. We played some good basketball. We played some not-so-good basketball,” Mercy Coach Nick Cann said. “We’re still trying to figure it out, but I like my group.”
Macy hit both of her three-point tries against Southwestern and at times handled the ball like a point power forward in the offense, revealing how her game is evolving.
“Leah really works on her game, and she can do whatever she wants on the basketball floor, so we try to use her as many different ways as we can,” Cann said.
Macy and Murphy can set picks for each other and make some eye-popping pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop plays.
“It shows good parts of our games and it allows us to just play basketball,” Macy said. “We both play really, really well out of it. We have a lot of fun.”
Don’t discount the Warriors
Southwestern (3-5) has taken its lumps this season against a brutal schedule, but the two-time defending 12th Region champs have been down this road before.
“We like to make it tough on ourselves,” Southwestern Coach Junior Molden said. “But you know what, I don’t know anything that we’ve won that’s important in December.”
Last year, the Warriors also lost to a bunch of eventual Sweet 16 teams in the regular season and then outlasted many of them to reach the state semifinals.
This year’s squad has most of that group back with four players averaging in double figures led by Molden’s daughter, Kinsley, a sophomore who goes for 16.7 points per game. She scored 29 against Mercy. Senior Ayden Smiddy added 18 points.
Molden acknowledges his team lost some defense and rebounding to graduation, but hopes to resolve those issues by the time the Warriors play in next month’s Louisville Invitational Tournament.
One of Southwestern’s primary region rivals, Mercer County, lost standout senior Timberlynn Yeast to a knee injury just days before the season started. Mercer could still be a factor and Pulaski County, Danville and Danville Christian are all off to good starts.
“The 12th Region is wide open,” Molden said. “And I’m not even worried about being .500 when the region comes around if that means we’re ready for that tournament. I think you saw last year, once we get to Rupp, we’re battle-tested. Maybe we can make some noise again.”
Broncos ‘want all the smoke’
Frederick Douglass (6-3) already has three wins in the 42nd District and beat city rival Lexington Catholic 71-62 on Tuesday to end the tournament on a high note after losing to Mercy 75-49 two days earlier. Douglass routed CAL and Lawrence County in their other tourney matchups.
Ayanna Darrington scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against LexCath, indicating the 6-foot-2 junior is returning to double-double form as she comes back from a volleyball injury. Meanwhile, Douglass’s backcourt of sophomore Niah Rhodes and senior transfer Jermrya “Myra” Christian added 21 and 15 points, respectively.
Douglass Coach Daryl Moberly has been pleased with how Christian has fit in.
“She’s a great decision maker and she plays hard and doesn’t let anything deroute her,” Moberly said. “I think (Niah) and Myra complement each other. She’s definitely getting Niah open for more shots. They are getting a feel for each other.”
Rhodes clearly has the green light to shoot from anywhere and has stunned opponents with an array of deep threes that she can launch regardless of how she’s guarded. She’s averaging more than 26 points per game.
“She’s a big-time shotmaker,” Moberly said. “I have faith in her. I know she’s going to knock it down. I just tell her to keep shooting.”
Moberly has high aspirations for his Broncos and more top-flight teams lined up in the days to come. Losses are just an opportunity to grow. No. 1 Sacred Heart visits The Farm on Dec. 29.
“Our girls don’t back down. We like the competition. We want all the smoke, man,” Moberly said.
