Shelbyville, KY – The eleventh-ranked (Litkenhous) Oldham County Lady Colonels advanced to the
semi-finals of the girls’ Eighth Region basketball tournament with a 22-point win over a solid
Walton-Verona Lady Kat squad.

A 13-0 second quarter run, combined with tenacious defense, keyed the victory for the Lady Colonels,
who shot poorly from the field and the line. To further complicate matters, Oldham saw several key
starters spend significant time on the bench with foul troubles.

Walton-Verona came into the contest 17-10, and the runner-ups from the 32nd District. The Lady Kats
boasted 6’0" senior Jessica Schmidt, who entered the contest averaging over 22 points per game and a
Kentucky-best 17.5 rebounds. The Lady Kats were big and tall, and featured a stingy defense that
allowed just 45 points per game.

Oldham County scored off the opening tip, with Eryn Jacobsen getting the short baseline jumper. With
Walton-Verona concentrating on Miss Basketball candidate Brandi Miller, Jacobsen got several good
looks at the basket early, and midway through the first period, Oldham led, 9-4, with Eryn scoring five of
the Lady Colonels’ first nine points.

Back-to-back three pointers by Bridget McIntyre pushed Walton-Verona up, 10-9, and then the two
teams swapped baskets and the lead three times, with Miller giving Oldham a 13-12 lead with a
buzzer-beating basket.

Oldham County hit only 4 of 17 first-quarter shots.

Early in the second period, the Lady Kats’ Stephanie Hogan hit a free throw to tie the game at 15 with
5:55 to go in the half. It was the first tie of the game since the opening tip, and it was to be the last hurrah
for the Lady Kats. Until then, it had been the Schmidt / McIntyre show for the Lady Kats, with Schmidt
repeatedly posting up inside for eight points, and McIntyre bombing from beyond the arc. Were it not for
Oldham’s never-ending pressure defense, which forced 31 turnovers – including a whopping 22 steals –
the Lady Kats would have been on top. Walton-Verona turnovers led to 38 Oldham County points.

But over the next 2:49, the Lady Colonels took control with a 13-0 run to seize the lead once and for all.

Four different Lady Colonels scored, beginning with an old-fashioned three-point play from Brandi Miller
and ending with a Sarah Gibson basket to give Oldham County a 28-15 lead. During the run,
Walton-Verona turned the ball over four times.

Schmidt finally stopped the bleeding with a free throw with 3:06 left in the half.

The two teams spent a lot of time at the line over the final three minutes of the half, but neither could
capitalize, with each team hitting only 2 of 6 free throws. A basket by Amy Middleton gave Oldham
County a 14-point halftime lead at 32-18 as the two teams headed for the locker room.

Oldham County capitalized on two turnovers by Walton-Verona on their first two possessions of the
second half, with Miller and Sarah Gibson each scoring field goals to push the Oldham lead to twenty for
the first time at 38-18. After an 8-2 Walton-Verona run cut the lead to a dozen with five minutes left in
the period, but Oldham outgunned the Lady Kats, 11-2, to the end of the third period, to take a
commanding 51-30 lead into the final frame.

The final quarter was anticlimactic, as Oldham County slowly built the lead to 26 points at 67-41 with
3:20 remaining, before settling for the final 22 point victory. The win improves the Lady Colonels’ record
to 22-6 and puts them into the semi-finals on Monday night (after the Scott County – Bullitt Central
game) against defending Eighth Region champion and fourth-ranked Shelby County. The Lady Rockets
defeated the Lady Colonels by one in Buckner earlier this year.

Jessica Schmidt of Walton-Verona hit 8 of 10 shots and scored 21 points to lead all scorers. But the
Oldham County Lady Colonels boxed her off the boards, and she finished with just 6 rebounds, well
below her average of 17+.

The Lady Colonels shot just 44.1% for the game on 26/59 shooting, and didn’t fare that much better at
the line, where they clunked 17 of 36 free throws. The usual cast of stars didn’t have great games: Brandi
Miller scored 18 points, but hit only 6 of 15 shots, missing several close-in shots. Point guard Rebecca
Husband played less than ten minutes with foul trouble, although she did score seven points on 3 of 5
shooting in the fourth period when the game was no longer in doubt.

Perhaps the most frustrated starters were Sarah Gibson and Sara Hadley. Gibson was 2 of 10 from the
floor and 0 for 5 at the line. Hadley was 2 of 9 from the floor.

One mark of a championship team, though, is that others pick their games when the stars have trouble
connecting.

Eryn Jacobsen finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Amy Middleton came off the bench and scored
eleven points, while stealing the ball 6 times.

The much-anticipated matchup between Miller and Schmidt went to Miller. Brandi Miller finished with 18
points, 11 rebounds, 5 steals, and two assists, as compared to Schmidt’s 21 points on 8 of 10 shooting.
Schmidt had 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Miller, however, did her damage in just 22 minutes of playing time.

OFFICIAL SCORING:

Oldham County – Miller 18, Jacobsen 15, Middleton 11, Husband 7, Hadley 7, H. Gibson 6, S.
Gibson 4, Hedges 2, Koebel 2, Mosby 1

Walton-Verona – Schmidt 21, McIntyre 10, Ryan 6, Hegland 6, Hogan 3, Afterkirk 3, Sims 2

 
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