Crestwood – The "new-look" South Oldham Dragons and Lady Dragons took the floor in their season openers in a doubleheader with Jeffersontown on Tuesday night. While both came up short, both gave every indication of being exciting teams that may challenge the powers-that-be when the post-season arrives.

It was definitely opening night for these teams, which averaged 24 turnovers between the four of them for the evening. But turnover rates can be lowered over the course of a season…

Jeffersontown Lady Chargers 52, South Oldham Lady Dragons 43 – Three years ago, Coach Kim Messer guided the Lady Dragons to their first 8^th Region title. This year, Coach Messer starts the season with arguably the youngest varsity squad ever to take the court for SOHS. Only one senior – 5-10 center Melissa Hayes – graces the roster, along with just two juniors (5-8 forward Alexis Fleming and 5-10 guard Emily Cobb). All three start. The rest of the team is composed of sophomores and freshmen, and two freshmen start, including point guard Lindsey Dearmond and Ashley Trosper.

Like most SOHS teams under Messer, the this year’s version of the Lady Dragons will try to run the opposition into the ground. Ten players played against J-Town, and eight scored. Unlike previous teams, however, the trademark pressure defense will likely take a while to jell as the inexperienced players learn the intricacies of it. Instead, the Lady Dragons often opted for a zone defense against the athletic Lady Chargers.

After a nip-and-tuck first quarter which ended with the Lady Dragons on top, 9-8, South extended the lead to 20-13 – their biggest lead of the night – midway through the second period. But J-Town outscored the hosts, 9-1 to end the half, moving ahead with just fourteen seconds left in the half when Dana House scored and hit a free throw to push J-Town on top, 22-21 at the break.

The third quarter was largely a defensive struggle, as a field goal by Melissa Hayes of South Oldham and a free throw by Daniela Martinez of J-Town accounted for the only scores in the first four minutes of the period. With 36 seconds left in the period, freshman Megan Lee pushed South back out on top, 28-27, with two free throws.

Bianca Chambers, a 5-11 junior, came off the bench to score back-to-back baskets to start the fourth quarter, giving J-Town a three-point edge. But two free throws by Lee and a three pointer by Emily Cobb gave South their final advantage of the night, 33-31, with 5:06 to go.

At that point, Jeffersontown had scored just 31 points in 27 minutes of play; who would have known they would rack up 21 more points in the last five minutes?

With 3:35 left to play, Trosper hit two free throws to tie the close game for the final time at 35. The Lady Dragons – who hit just 9 of 44 field goals for 20.5% - hit a sizzling 22 of 30 free throws for 73.3% on the evening.

But the Lady Chargers went on a 7-0 run, culminating in a basket and a free throw from Martinez with 2:43 to go. Trosper then answered with a three to cut the lead to 42-38. After a bucket by Ashley Brooks of J-Town, Ashley Staude hit a free throw and a field goal to pull South within striking distance one final time at 44-41 with 1:34 left to play. But the Lady Chargers repeatedly went inside in the last minute and a half, getting high-percentage shots from Tasha White, Heather Doolittle, and Brooks to push the lead back to seven with 35 seconds to go. Natalie Rice wrapped up the scoring with two free throws at the :03 mark to give J-Town a nine-point win.

UNOFFICIAL WYKY 105.7 FM Stats:

South Oldham – Trosper 13, Staude 7, Lee 5, Hayes 5, Fleming 4, Cobb 4, Dearmond 3, Vaughn 2, Bray 0, Kennedy 0 Field goals 9/44 – 20.5 % Three point FGs 3/11 27.3 %

Free Throws 22/30 – 73.3% Turnovers - 25
 
 

(BOYS) Jeffersontown 71, South Oldham 60 – New head basketball coach Steve Simpson knew his first South Oldham squad would be young and inexperienced.

And how.

The returning players represented only about 9 points per game from last year’s Dragon squad, and none of the returning players with significant experience were full-time starters on last year’s 12-14 squad. Still, eager anticipation was in the air as Coach Simpson promised an up-tempo style of play, with aggressive defensive play and frequent substitutions. However, even the biggest optimist would have been hard-pressed to pick the Dragons to beat the J-Town Chargers in their first game under their new coach. After all, J-Town was considered a dark horse contender in the 7^th Region; South was picked last in the 31^st District.

The first two minutes of the game were completely out of control. For two minutes, neither team scored, "content" to play helter-skelter defense that generated turnovers. After Scott Shehan put J-Town up, 2-0 with 6:02 to go in the first, South went on a 6-0 run to go up, 6-2. The Chargers battled back to take a 7-6 lead, but another South run – this time 8-0 – gave the Dragons their biggest lead of the night at 14-7.

The Dragon lead fluctuated from three to six points until just under two minutes remained in the first half. With South leading, 30-24, the Chargers uncorked a 10-0 run in about ninety seconds, hitting eight of eight free throws along the way. Guard Scotty Fluhr, who had eight points on the night, scored the first six points of the run on a field goal and four straight free throws.

Brandon Losik finally stopped the bleeding with ten seconds left in the half, hitting a rebound shot to pull South within 2, 34-32, at the intermission. The Dragons would get no closer the rest of the way.

The second half started disastrously for the Dragons, as Jeffersontown ran off seven straight points to start the third period. Meanwhile, the Dragons turned the ball over five times in the first 2 ½ minutes of the period. A basket by Steven Combest and a free throw by Steven Hay pulled South to within six, but the Chargers went on an 8-0 run to push the margin to double digits at 49-35 with 1:20 left in the period. The Chargers would ultimately pull away to their largest margin – 17 points – on a three by Spindle Johnson, before settling for a 15 point lead at 54-39 after three periods. Eight players scored for the Chargers in the third. Meanwhile, the Dragons, who turned the ball over fourteen times in the first half, doubled that total with fourteen additional turnovers in a forgettable third period of play.

Probably the number of people in the stands who thought South had a legitimate chance to win at that point would have fit into a phone booth, but Coach Simpson rallied his troops, and they responded.

The Dragons, who had lost the ball 28 times in the first three quarters, suddenly became ball-hogs, turning it over only three times in the fourth period. Meanwhile, the Dragon defense forced seven J-Town turnovers, and converted them into points. After a 4-0 Dragon run to start the period was answered with a Scott Shehan free throw with 6:16 to go, South reeled off seven straight points to pull to with five at 55-50 with just over five minutes left. The two teams then traded free throws, and after Matt Kennedy sank one of two with 5:14 left, South trailed just 56-51.

That was it, though. The Dragons couldn’t quite get over the hump. They would pull to within five again at 64-59 on a Kennedy three-pointer with two minutes to go, but after Levar Keesee scored to push the lead to seven at 66-59, a wide-open Kennedy saw his straight-away three pointer go deep into the cylinder and somehow pop back out. Seconds later, with 1:25 showing, Kennedy – who led all scorers with 22 points – fouled out and with him went South’s hopes of the upset.

Not that the Dragons didn’t get another chance. Steven Hay missed two free throws with 1:16 left that would have pulled the Dragons to within five, and over the next 25 seconds, Travis Foley and then Hay joined Kennedy on the sidelines with five fouls. Along the way, J-Town hit five of six free throws to cement the win.

The Dragons shot well from the field (47.9% overall; 58.3% three-pointers), but did poorly at the line, where they hit only 7 of 15 attempts. Meanwhile, Jeffersontown was traipsing to the line 34 times, hitting 27.

Both teams handled the ball poorly, with South committing a whopping 31 turnovers and J-Town losing the ball 22 times.

UNOFFICIAL WYKY 105.7 FM SOUTH OLDHAM STATS

South Oldham – Kennedy 22, Foley 9, Hay 8, Richard 6, Combest 6, Cofer 4, Shultz 3, Losik 2, Watson 0, Jaracz 0, Beisner 0

Field goals – 23 / 48 47.9% Three pointers – 7 / 12 58.3% Free Throws – 7 / 15 46.7%

Next Broadcasts:

12/1/2000 South Oldham vs. Shelby County (boys/girls) Broadcast time 5:30 pm WTHQ 101.7 FM (sister station)Oldham County @ Bullitt Central (girls) Broadcast time 7:00 pm WYKY 105.7 FM

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