Crestwood – The annual war for supremacy in Oldham County went to the teams in blue this year, as the boys and the girls from Oldham County High School both posted strong wins over their rivals from South Oldham. Defense and experience keyed both wins for the teams from Buckner, who entered the games as strong favorites.

(Boys) Oldham County 82, South Oldham 68 – Turnovers were a concern of South Oldham coach Steve Simpson prior to the contest, and the pressure defense Oldham County figured to bring to bear on a relatively inexperienced South Oldham squad. The Dragons came into the contest averaging 20 turnovers a contest. The good news for Simpson was that South committed two fewer turnovers (18) than their average. The bad news was that thirteen came in the first half – and that gave Oldham the edge it needed.

The first quarter was a nip-and-tuck affair. After Oldham County scored the first four points of the ballgame, South tied it on back-to-back baskets by T.J. Beisner and Travis Foley, then moved ahead at 7-6 after Matt Kennedy scored and hit a free throw. Oldham County forged ahead, 13-10, after a dunk by Eric Johnson with 2:55 left in the period, but a technical was called on Johnson for hanging on the rim. South then scored the final four points of the period on a free throw and a three-pointer by Brandon Losik to take a 14-13 lead after one period.

Brad Cofer, the talented freshman averaging nearly 11 points a game for South, gave the Dragons their final lead of the night early in the second at 17-15 with a three-point basket. But the Colonels turned up the heat on defense, and ran off eight unanswered points to take the lead for good at 23-17. It was just the beginning of an Oldham County offensive explosion in the period that resulted in 34 points.

The lead hovered between five and eight points, and Matt Kennedy’s three midway through the period cut the Oldham lead to five at 28-23. But seconds later – with 4:04 left in the half – T. J. Beisner picked up his third foul of the night and had to leave the game. Beisner, a 6-4 senior with a good outside shot, headed to the bench with just two points to his credit, and Oldham County immediately went on another mini-run, outscoring the Dragons, 7-0, over the next 1:32 to claim a twelve point lead at 35-23. The Colonels increased the margin to 15 at 45-30 before the Dragons rallied in the final minute of the half. A basket by Cofer, a three by Kennedy, and a free throw by Losik sandwiched two free throws by Donta Smith of Oldham County, and the Oldham lead was ten at 47-37 at intermission.

At the half, the Dragons had more than just Oldham’s offense to deal with. Four starters were already deep in foul trouble: Troy Shultz, Steven Hay, T. J. Beisner, and Travis Foley.

Kennedy’s basket to open the second half pulled the Dragons to within eight at 47-39, but it was to be South’s last hurrah. The Colonels all but put the game away with an 11-2 run, with Donta Smith scoring eight points during the run, punctuated with two emphatic dunks. By the time Kennedy stopped the bleeding with a free throw at the 2:53 mark, South trailed by 16. After a Hank Garrett field goal pushed the lead to 19 at 62-43 with a minute left in the half, Kennedy scored the final four points of the period on a free throw and a three pointer to pull the home team to within 15 at 62-47.

Kennedy – who scored 7 of South’s 10 points in the third period and led all scorers with 33 for the game – scored and was fouled to begin the final period. After he hit the free throw, South was once again in contention at 62-50, but the Colonels became business-like. Oldham County simply had too many weapons: One minute it was Eric Johnson pulling up and scoring on a short – or long – jumper off the dribble. The next it was Daniel Viehmann or Hank Garrett sinking a three. Or Donta Smith making a strong move to the inside and slamming home a dunk. After Steve Hay pulled the Dragons to within a dozen at 69-57 one final time at the 4:59 mark, the Dragons were held without a field goal, scoring only three points on free throws, over the next 2 ½ minutes. Oldham, meanwhile, scored on a variety of shots, and Travis Liedtke’s two free throws gave the Colonels their biggest lead of the night at 79-60 with just over two minutes to go to ice the victory.

Oldham County, pre-season ranked #20 in the state, improved to 9-3 overall and 2-0 in District play. The Colonels’ three losses – to Franklin County, pre-season Top Twenty Fairdale, and Columbia Central (TN) – have come by a total of only eleven points. South dropped their third straight and fell to 6-8 overall and 2-2 in the District.

Unofficial scoring:
 

Oldham County – Eric Johnson 29, Donta Smith 20, Viehmann 16, Garrett 5, Liedtke 4, Nathaniel Johnson 4, Cotton 2, Heimke 2, Koenig 0, Jacobson 0

South Oldham – Kennedy 33, Cofer 11, Hay 4, Foley 4, Shultz 4, Losik 4, Combest 2, Beisner 2, Jaracz 2, Richard 2

(Girls) Oldham County Lady Colonels 63, South Oldham Lady Dragons 43 – On paper, this figured to be an easy win for the 9^th-ranked Lady Colonels, right? With a veteran squad – some starters were in their third year as varsity starters – a suffocating defense, and facing an extremely young South Oldham squad that had just one senior, the Lady Colonels looked to be able to name the score. But games are played on the court, not on paper, and the rapidly-improving Lady Dragons refused to give in to the heavily-favored visitors from Buckner – even after giving up a big first-half lead.

The game started slowly enough. When South Oldham called time out with 5:33 showing on the first quarter scoreboard, Oldham led just 2-0 on a pair of Brandi Miller free throws. The game’s first field goal didn’t come until the 3:53 mark, when Oldham’s Sarah Hadley finally gave the Lady Colonels a 4-0 (!) lead. Oldham eventually pushed the lead to 8-0 before Ashley Trosper finally got South on the board with a three-pointer from the right corner with 1:06 left in the period.

Trosper – a freshman shooting guard currently playing through an Achilles’ tendon injury – continues to impress. In her first year as a varsity starter, Trosper is the team’s second-leading scorer at 12.7 ppg, leads the team in steals with nearly two per contest, and is the team’s top three point threat, hitting 36% of her three-point shots. She’s also the squad’s best free-throw shooter at 83% (of those who’ve shot more than 10 free throws).

That was to mark the beginning of a long dry spell for the Lady Dragons. After Trosper’s three, South would not score again for nearly six minutes, when Emily Cobb hit a field goal with just 3:04 remaining in the first HALF. Meanwhile, Oldham County was going on a 14-0 rampage, with Brandi Miller scoring five points in the stretch. After Cobb’s shot made it 22-5, Oldham outscored South, 6-3, in the final three minutes of the half, limiting the Lady Dragons to just three free throws. Miller continued to shine for Oldham, scoring five of the six points.

Miller, who missed all seven of her first-quarter shots, made three of five in the second quarter. Combined with 8 of 12 free throw shooting, she had 14 points at the half, which found Oldham County leading by an amazing score of 28-8. Fifteen South Oldham turnovers had provided Oldham County with plenty of opportunities - opportunities Oldham had needed, as the Lady Colonels shot only 23% from the field in the first half, including 1 of 7 from beyond the arc.

The poor shooting night was offset by the game of "keep-away" the Lady Colonels were playing. Besides forcing fifteen South Oldham turnovers, the Lady Colonels only turned the ball over twice themselves. As a result, halftime revealed a tremendous disparity in shots: Oldham took 35 first-half shots, while South mustered only 16 (unofficial stats).

A funny thing happened on the way to the rout, however. The youthful Lady Dragons came out of the locker room energized. After Miller scored the first three points of the second half to stretch the lead to 23 at 31-8, Trosper ignited a 7-0 run with a basket and a free throw. With the lead trimmed to 16 at 31-15, South Oldham played toe-to-toe with the Lady Colonels the rest of the quarter, ultimately pulling to within 13 at 41-28 on another basket by Trosper in the final minute of the period.

With 45 seconds left in the quarter, Cobb had a chance to trim the lead further at the charity stripe, but she missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Julie Hedges’ bucket for Oldham County gave the Lady Colonels a fifteen-point lead as the quarter came to a close.

Hedges’ score proved to be the beginning of a 13-0 Oldham County run that doubled the margin and sealed South’s fate. By the time Trosper hit two free throws with 5:04 left, the lead was 54-30 and the Lady Dragons simply didn’t have enough time left, although they would outscore Oldham, 13-9, over the final five minutes.

The Lady Colonels improved to 10-3 overall and 2-0 in the District; South fell to 2-8 and 1-2 in the District.

Unofficial Stats:

Oldham County – Miller 19, Hedges 12, Sarah Gibson 9, Hadley 8, Jacobson 7, Husband 5, Middleton 2, Team 1

South Oldham – Trosper 14, Cobb 12, Hayes 5, Cravens 5, Fleming 3, Staude 3, Bray 2

UPCOMING OLDHAM COUNTY AND SOUTH OLDHAM BROADCASTS ON WYKY 105.7 FM:

Tuesday, January 9, 2001 – South Oldham @ Bullitt Central (Boys) Pregame show 7 PM

Friday, January 12, 2001 – Oldham County vs. Anderson Co. (boys & girls) Pregame 5:30 pm

Boys tipoff at 6 pm, followed by the girls contest immediately afterward

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