And then there were 16+1

“A bad night does not turn a good year into anything other than what it was… that was a very good year.”

After Mercer County’s Titans picked up the 2017 KHSAA Sweet 16 Championship Sunday afternoon with an 85-71 win over Franklin County, the final week of this season’s basketball action moves a little south down the road to Lexington for the Boys’ KHSAA Sweet 16.

Mercer County moved through the Sweet 16 brackets with very little trouble, picking up the necessary four wins to lay claim to the title with their closest game being the seven point semi-final win Saturday over Murray, 67-60.

While our 4th Region (and 16th District) representative Russell County went out of the tournament in the opening round of play, they did their best and in fact was involved in what was considered to be “the game” of the entire tournament, a three overtime 72-67 loss at the hands of eventual Sweet 16 runners-up Franklin County.

So, from the Highland Heights home of the girls’ Sweet 16, we move this week a little south to Lexington and Rupp Arena for the boys’ Sweet 16.

This year’s tournament should be a good one, like most of the othes, there are some good matchups, and what will probably be some stinkers.

Our 4th Region representative, the Purples of Bowling Green, are one of the top two favorites headed into this week’s action.

With a 32-2 record going into action this week, in my thinking, the Purples are only going to be challenged when they would come up against Scott County, in a game that would see the tournament’s two top rated teams going at each other in quarter-final play.

Bowling Green, the No. 2 rated squad, opens this year’s tournament against Graves County from Region 1, while Scott County will face 12th Region champ Pulaski County on Wednesday night.

That would set up a Friday quarter round game between these two favorites that should be an all out war.

Says here, the winner of this game is our 2017 Sweet 16 champ,and further, it says here the big trophy comes back to the 4th Region and the Bowling Green High School trophy case.

Should be a good finish to what was a very good season.

Purple will be the new blue Monday at CCMS

A “Purple-Out” night is planned on Monday, March 20 for the Clinton County Middle School Volley Dawgs, in an effort to raise awareness for epilepsy.

Middle school Volley Dawg coach Ginger Moons Davis told me this week in an email message that one of her players battles epilepsy and she struggles daily with the battle to continue playing the game.

“Her goal is to encourage other young people to play sports or do whatever they set their mind to even if they have epilepsy.,” Davis said.

Anyone who has been diagnosed with epilepsy or has seizures is invited to come out and be honored between the 7th and 8th grade games. The 7th grade game begins at 5:00 p.m., so anyone planning on being involved in the ceremony should be at the gym no later than 5:30 p.m. Please tell the ticket takers at the gate that you are being honored during the epilepsy ceremony and you will be admitted to the game free.

Still on the March

Although the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs have seen their respective roundball seasons come to an end, there is still at least one Lady Bulldog on the floor this March (“Once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog”).

Ansley Stalcup, Lady Bulldog Class of 2015, is a sophomore member of the Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders Women’s basketball team and this week, she and her teammates have taken their No. 1 seed and national #4 ranking to Billings, Montana to compete in the 2017 NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Tournament.

Ansley was a standout member of the Clinton County Lady Bulldogs – Class of 2015 – and she averaged more than 20 points per game and just over six rebounds per game her senior year.

As a Blue Raider in nearby Columbia, Ansley has played in 22 games this season, logged 199 minutes and scored 58 points to help her team grab some national attention and a 30-2 record.

She is the daughter of J.R. and Patricia Stalcup. The Blue Raiders faced eighth-seeded Martin Methodist (Tenn.) in the opening game of the tournament that was slated for Wednesday, March 15 at 9:30 a.m. CT at Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark in Billings, Montana.

It’s still March in Kentucky, and that means we’re still playing basketball.

I’ll see you in the gym!