By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Two seniors on 9th Region girls basketball teams are the state’s leading scorers going into the final week of December with Newport Central Catholic guard Rylee Turner averaging 32.6 points per game and Ludlow center Jenna Lillard right behind her at 26.4.
According to statewide statistics posted on the khsaa.org website, Turner also ranks fifth in rebounds with a 12.7 average. She had 50 points and 13 rebounds in her team’s season-opener and has recorded a double-double in every game since then for the 7-3 Thoroughbreds.
Rylee Turner
Jenna Lillard
Turner has scored 32 points or more in six games. The 5-foot-11 guard had a season-high 18 rebounds in a win over Central Hardin last Monday and surpassed the 1,500 mark in career scoring in a win over Cincinnati Seton on Wednesday.
Lillard has collected 10.9 rebounds per game for the 9-0 Panthers. The 6-foot senior has posted a double-double in seven games with season-highs of 35 points and 16 rebounds. She recently made a commitment with Thomas More University.
NewCath is scheduled to play Owensboro Catholic (6-4) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the opening round of the FirstBank Holiday Clash at South Warren High School in Bowling Green. Ludlow reportedly withdrew from the Ohio River Classic at Raceland in accordance with COVID-19 protocols.
Two local girls were also among the state’s leaders in 3-point field goals per game. Noelle Hubert of Notre Dame ranked first with a 4.0 average and Ella Steczynski of Dixie Heights was tied for fourth at 3.4. Steczynski is shooting 50.7 percent (34 of 67) from behind the arc compared to Hubert’s 48.2 percent (40 of 83).
Boys top scorers padded averages during tournament at Bellevue
Holy Cross junior guard Jacob Meyer scored 134 points in three games during the Mike Swauger Holiday Classic at Bellevue last week and still finished second on the list of leading scorers in the multi-game event.
Justin Becker of Robertson County netted 136 points in three games to come out on top in the scoring standings. Becker and Meyer both eclipsed the record set by Dontaie Allen of Pendleton County, who scored 125 points in 2016 when the classic used a tournament format.
In the opening round of games last week, Meyer set a single-game record with 58 points in his team’s 111-74 win over Robertson County. Becker had 48 points in that loss and went on to score 45 and 43 points in the next two games for a 136 total.
Meyer scored 22 and 54 points in his final two games to finish with 134. That raised his season scoring average to 40.2, which ranks second in the statewide boys basketball statistics. The leader is Becker with a 40.4 average.
Holy Cross (7-2) will take a four-game winning streak into the City of Middletown Holiday Classic at Eastern High School in Louisville. The Indians’ first-round opponent will be Louisville Atherton (7-3) at 4 p.m. Monday.
Ryle grad will play in third bowl game as Minnesota’s quarterback
The University of Minnesota football team that won its last two bowl games with Ryle graduate Tanner Morgan at quarterback will try to keep that streak alive when the Golden Gophers take on West Virginia in the nationally televised Guaranteed Rate Bowl at 9 p.m. Tuesday in Phoenix, Az.
Minnesota defeated Auburn, 31-24, in last year’s Outback Bowl and clobbered Georgia Tech, 34-10, in the 2018 Quick Lane Bowl with Morgan running the offense. He threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns in last year’s victory.
This season, Morgan is averaging 161 passing yards per game for the 8-4 Gophers. The fifth-year senior has completed 141 of 237 passes for 1,935 yards and 10 touchdowns going into the finale against West Virginia (6-6).
Morgan enters Tuesday’s game with a team-record 26 wins as Minnesota’s starting quarterback. He also ranks second in career passing yards (7,963) and second in passing touchdowns (56). He has another year of eligibility under a waiver passed by the NCAA due to setbacks caused by the pandemic.
