Top five: The best girls’ basketball teams in the 11th Region for the 2019-20 season
READ MORE
2019-20 High School Basketball Preview
The Herald-Leader/Kentucky.com is publishing season preview stories each day leading up to the start of the 2019-20 high school basketball season on Monday, Dec. 2. You can read everything we’ve published to this point by clicking on this drop-down list. All of the stories are also available in our Sunday, Dec. 1 print edition.
Expand All
Beginning in 2015, Franklin County won three consecutive 11th Region titles and made back-to-back trips to the Sweet Sixteen championship game.
But for the last two years, one team has stood in the path of further glory: Scott County.
This year, the Cardinals and Flyers, ranked No. 4 and No. 9, respectively, in the Herald-Leader coaches’ preseason poll, appear destined to meet in the postseason once more to see who will carry the 11th Region standard into the Sweet Sixteen.
While the statewide poll gives the Cardinals the edge, coaches within the 11th Region sent more first-place votes to Franklin County. Franklin County Coach Joey Thacker knows those prognostications don’t mean much. For now, the only thing that matters is getting ready.
“I don’t care if we play great in December,” Thacker said after a practice this week. “I’ve always told our kids that. We want to take January and fix the things we did wrong in December. And we want to spend February getting ready for when it counts.”
And there’s no guarantee Scott County or his team will be the ones deciding things when that time comes.
“I think our region is stronger this year than it was last year,” Thacker said. “I think there’s a lot of teams that return a lot of familiar faces … You hope you’ve played a schedule that gets you ready for that. And I would just say we’re cautiously optimistic.”
Thacker’s optimism comes from having three starters back from a 25-9 team that came within a possession of ousting the favored Cardinals in the 11th Region Tournament finals last season by holding a Scott County team that averaged more than 80 points per game to 46.
“I sort of feel like we did everything we were supposed to do but win, and I hope our kids feel the same way,” Thacker said of that one-point loss.
Leading the Flyers will be junior guard Brooklynn Miles, who seems to have been with the program forever now, considering she was a sizable contributor as a seventh-grader.
She’s gotten bigger, stronger and a lot faster over the years, and she’s worked on her perimeter shot and all-around game to develop into one of the more highly regarded guards in the nation, earning four stars from ESPN.com and scholarship offers from Division I schools including Kentucky. Miles averaged more than 20 points per game last season.
“Every day you watch her, she seems to get faster,” Thacker said. “Her learning how to channel that is the biggest challenge she faces.”
The youth around his starting core is a concern as is rebounding against teams Thacker believes will outsize them at at least four positions almost every game, especially Scott County.
“We look for Brooklynn to do her thing and figure out how to distribute the ball to the group that she’s with now,” Thacker said. “In order for Brooklynn and Jasmine (Simpson), our two returning starters, along with Patience (Laster) from last year, to get comfortable playing with some new personnel, it’s going to take time.”
The next four
2. Scott County (34-2): Having Malea Williams, Morgan DeFoor and Kenady Tompkins back in the starting lineup means the Cardinals are not looking to go anywhere. But they’ll need to develop some depth to play at the pace they want.
3. Paul Laurence Dunbar (18-13): Coach Nick Runyon is looking to step it up after consecutive 43rd District titles and has a double-double machine in junior Elise Ellison-Coons to work with.
4. Henry Clay (19-14): The Blue Devils bring back starters Ravion Jackson, Kennedy Williams and Lauren Thomas. Coach Eric Sanford hails Jackson’s ability to get to the basket “at will,” while noting Williams’ soft touch and Thomas’ motor. Sanford lacks height, but likes his team speed.
5. Madison Southern (16-14): Samantha Cornelison, a 5-7 junior guard, led the team in scoring and rebounding a year ago and is surrounded by seniors Sunni Walters, Aleigh Richardson and Skyler Sparks whose experience and leadership has shown as Coach Allie Turley implements a new system for this season.
This story was originally published December 1, 2019 at 9:54 PM.
