By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Simon Kenton swept the first-place votes in the first Northern Kentucky girls high school basketball poll of the season conducted by the NKyTribune. Covington Catholic came out on top in the boys poll, but Highlands received a couple first-place votes after getting off to a 13-0 start.
The Simon Kenton girls have a 14-2 record that includes fives wins over teams that were also voted among the top 10 by local coaches — Ryle, Notre Dame, Conner, Dixie Heights and Walton-Verona. The Pioneers’ leading scorer is senior guard Magi Jones, one of four starters back from last year’s 8th Region runner-up team.
Defending state champion Ryle (6-5) was voted No. 2 by local coaches. The Raiders got off to a shaky 1-4 start, but they won five or their last six behind the guard play of senior Maddie Scherr and junior Brie Crittendon, who are both averaging 14 points per game.
Ryle has a home game against No. 5 Dixie Heights on Friday. The two teams faced each other in last year’s 9th Region championship final and Ryle came away with a 67-51 win.
Brossart jumped from No. 10 in the girls coaches preseason poll to No. 6 in this week’s pool after winning 13 of its first 14 games. The Mustangs have one of the 10th Region’s top players in junior forward Marie Kiefer, who is averaging 16.6 points and 9.2 
rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the field.
CovCath received 11 of the 13 first-place votes in the boys coaches poll this week. The defending 9th Region champions won a tournament in Florida during the holiday break and opened the new year with back-to-back wins to push their record to 9-3.
Senior guard Grant Disken is averaging a team-high 16.9 points for the Colonels. But the leading scorers in the team’s last two wins were junior guard Donovan Stocks and freshman forward Chandler Sparks, who are both first-year starters.
Highlands, one of four undefeated boys basketball teams remaining in the state, jumped from No. 7 in the coaches preseason poll to No. 2 in this week’s poll because of its impressive start.
The Bluebirds are flying high behind the scoring of junior guard Sam Vinson and junior forward Luke Muller, who are averaging 25.8 and 18.4 points, respectively. Vinson is also the team’s leading rebounder with nine per game.
Brossart wasn’t ranked among the top 10 teams in the local coaches preseason poll, but the Mustangs were voted No. 4 this week following their 12-2 start. The team’s top scorer is senior forward Ethan Eilerman, who averaged 20.5 points and shot 52 percent from the field in the first 15 games.
