6-0 start – it don’t get any better than that

You can watch it happening with each and every game – our Clinton County Lady Bulldogs have started believing in themselves.

Kudos to not only the leadership of our experienced Lady Bulldogs, but to head coach Darrell Thompson and his support staff for the start that Lady Dawg fans have enjoyed at this early point of the season.

Clinton County finished weekend play with a trip home from Bowling Green where they outlasted a hard-fighting and determined Lady Gator squad at Greenwood High school, outlasting their opponent for a 68-65 victory.

The night before, our Lady Dawgs dispatched a thumping styled 70-37 win over 16th District rival Metcalfe County, besting a squad that is obviously going through some rebuilding pangs this season.

Still – there are a couple of things that should be pointed out about our Lady Dawgs and those two wins that came in near complete opposite settings.

Against Metcalfe County they did what needed to be done early to secure a win, and then they made sure not to let the Lady Hornets back in contention – ever until the final buzzer sounded.

Against Greenwood, they faced a Lady Gator squad that battled back to overcome a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter, cutting the Clinton County lead to just three points coming down the stretch.

The Lady Dawgs didn’t fold – they held their ground, made their free throws, and came home with the win – and a still perfect 6-0 record intact.

That shows maturity and most importantly – a sense of TEAM!

The last time a Lady Dawg squad jumped out to a start this good was the 2004-05 season when the team ran a 7-0 start before losing it’s first game.

Hang on – this is going to be a fun ride for Lady Dawg fans.

As for our Dawgs, they also seem to be getting their heads on straight after a slower than expected start that saw them drop two games in this early portion of the season, both against 4th Region opponents, Warren East and Monroe County.

Now with back to back wins under their belt, our Bulldogs are starting to look like the team we were expecting to see this season, entering this week’s portion of the season with a very nice 4-2 overall record.

From my seat on the sideline – the biggest problem with the rocky start may have been the pressure these young men have placed on themselves – and perhaps there have been some others around (blush) who have placed a lot of pressure on this team.

Bottom line – they need to win, but they need to have fun on the court as well. With the skill-set this group has, when they start having fun, they’ll start dispatching opponents left and right.

My love-hate affair with holiday tournaments

It’s long been no secret that while most high school basketball coaches absolutely love the holiday seasons and the holiday tournaments that come with them, those particular events are actually my least favorite thing about each basketball season.

But, I’ll have to admit, in recent years it’s beginning to get a little better and there’s a good reason for that.

In year’s past, our Lady Dawgs and Bulldogs competed in two tournament events each during the holiday stretch, hitting one prior and one after the Christmas date each season, both on the road and usually both to distant locales.

Now that Clinton County has actually established themselves as one of the best holiday tournament hosts in the state – the stretch isn’t so terrible – I guess.

At least we’re not on the road for three weeks covering away games that come in a flurry and can instead choose to stay on the home hardwood and “flip-flop” our working the games at the P.A. desk as well as for newspaper coverage – between the girls and boys.

This week,,we’ll be covering our own Twin Lakes Holiday Classic boys tournament that features teams from Metcalfe, Elliott, Perry, and Western as well as our own Bulldogs. This week’s tournament runs Friday through Sunday in the Lindle Castle Gymnasium.

Next week we’ll stay home again for the Best of the Lakes Holiday Classic girls’ event with our Lady Bulldogs playing host to teams from Metcalfe, Wayne, West Jessamine and Red Boiling Springs.

The girls’ tournament runs Friday through Sunday of the following week, December 26 – 28.

The on the road tournament lineup sees our Lady Dawgs heading to Louisville for their holiday tourney play this week, in the Louisville Seneca Lady Redhawk Classic. Our Lady Dawgs will take on Estill County in the first game of the Classic, Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Other squads featured in the Seneca tournament are Doss, Southern, Collins, Bardstown and Moore High Schools.

The Bulldogs will take their post-Christmas event to the Gateway Holiday Classic in Mt. Sterling for the December 27-29 run, facing Mason County first on Saturday, December 27, at 3:00 p.m. Other teams involved are Madisonville-North Hopkins, Lafayette, Montgomery County and Lincoln County.

For us “old guys” who chase high school basketball, staying home for back to back tournaments is much better than spending two weeks on the road.

The best part, however, is getting to hear from the fans visiting our community with their teams and just how much they enjoy coming here and just how well our two tournaments are organized and staged.

Speaks tons for our high school staff who are responsible for putting these two events on.

Merry Christmas and I’ll see you on the hardwood.