SHEPHERDSVILLE – Bullitt Central head coach Jessie Curry and Bullitt East mentor Chris Stallings were all smiles on Saturday morning while North Bullitt head man Chris Downey got more bad news as the draw was held for this week’s Girls’ Sixth Region Basketball Tournament.
Curry and Stallings were smiling because they did not draw each other – at least not in the first round. Just a few hours after a heartbreaking 53-52 loss to Bullitt Central, Downey was deflated again when his Lady Eagles were tasked with opening play against pre-tourney favorite Mercy.
All four first round games will be played at 7 p.m. on Monday at the sites of the four district winners. The winners will then advance to the semifinals on Wednesday at Valley High School where a Bullitt East/Bullitt Central clash is highly probable.
The championship game will be played at Valley on Saturday at 5 p.m. with the winner advancing to the KHSAA Girls’ Kentucky State Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena.
Bullitt Central, the team with more wins than any other squad in the region with a 24-8 record, will be at home on Monday and will take on Western, the runner-up to Butler in the 22nd District. The Lady Warriors have a relatively impressive record at 15-9, but it has come against a suspect schedule. Western played just one team all season from outside Jefferson County, a 60-37 loss to North Oldham.
The Lady Warriors also did not play any of the top five teams in the Sixth Region. Western did play Pleasure Ridge Park late in the season, losing 75-41 and the team lost the district final to Butler 84-19.
The leading scorer for the Lady Warriors this season is Faith Mosley at 18.1 points a game, but she had just two points in the game against Butler. JaNiya Rutledge and Leslie Bright also average in double figures for the Lady Warriors.
Bullitt East, finishing as the runner-up to Mercy in the 24th District and having a 20-10 record, will be on the road Monday, taking on Pleasure Ridge Park. The two rivals clashed back on Jan. 6 in Mount Washington, a game that the Lady Chargers won 61-33.
The Lady Panthers have an 18-12 overall record after defeating Holy Cross 53-36 in the 21st District final. The leading scorer for PRP is junior Jeannae Bolin at 16.7 points per game and she is also the team’s leading rebounder at 8.1 per game. Also averaging in double figures for the Lady Panthers is senior Breanna Jones at 13.7 points per game.
With wins on Monday, Bullitt East and Bullitt Central will meet in the first of the two semifinals. That game would be at Valley at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
In the lower half of the bracket North Bullitt got the short straw as the Lady Eagles will face Mercy, one of the top five teams in the state, on Monday. Mercy was without two starters for the district final clash with Bullitt East, but the Jaguars could have at least one of those players back this week.
Mercy, with a 21-9 record, has played one of the toughest schedules in the state. Leading the way for the Jaguars is sophomore Leah Macy. The 6-2 forward is one of the top sophomores in the country as she averages 24.2 points a game along with 12.8 rebounds.
The Jaguars also have 6-1 senior Emma Barnett (10.2 points a game) who competed against some of the North Bullitt players when she was a player at Mount Washington Middle School.
The other game in the lower half of the bracket has Butler (12-12) battling against Holy Cross (14-18).