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Prep Sports Notebook: Son succeeding father as head coach of Simon Kenton girls basketball team


By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Hiring a long-time assistant coach to fill a vacancy at head coach is a common occurrence in high school sports, but they’re seldom members of the same family.

Brenden Stowers was named the new head coach of the Simon Kenton girls basketball program on Thursday. He’ll be succeeding his father, Jeff, who retired after compiling a 427-180 record in 20 years as head coach of the Pioneers.

Brenden Stowers

Brenden was one of his father’s assistant coaches for the last 13 years, according to a press release from Simon Kenton athletic director Troy Roberts.

“The girls will be familiar with his coaching and leadership style which will lead to a seamless transition for everyone involved,” Roberts said. “There is no doubt that Brenden will create a positive atmosphere for the young ladies in our program, and we know he will continue the tradition of winning and excellence that his father has started here.”

Brenden is a graduate of Simon Kenton and went on to play basketball at Northern Kentucky University. He was a graduate assistant coach at NKU and an assistant coach at Thomas More before joining his father at Simon Kenton.

Following in his successful father’s footsteps won’t be easy for the first-year head coach. Simon Kenton finished 17 of the last 20 seasons with a winning record and won five 8th Region championships under Jeff. He ranks fourth in career wins among Northern Kentucky girls basketball coaches.

In Jeff’s final season, the Pioneers posted a 17-13 record with three seniors in the starting lineup. One of them was center Sereniti Webb, who had team-high averages of 16.5 points and 10 rebounds per game.

The team’s second leading scorer, Alexis Baker, will also be graduating. The top returning player is junior forward Emilee Eggleston, who averaged 10.6 points and 4.9 rebounds.

Conner baseball reaches 20-win mark with senior leading the way

Conner became the first Northern Kentucky baseball team to reach 20 wins this season and senior shortstop Gage Testerman had a lot to do with the Cougars getting off to their first 20-2 start in 16 years under coach Brad Arlinghaus.

After the first 22 games, Testerman led the team in every major offensive statistic, including batting average (.597), slugging percentage (1.081), runs batted in (36), runs scored (33), total hits (37), extra-base hits (18), home runs (6) and stolen bases (23).

The Indiana University-Southeast recruit ranked among the top five in the state in batting average, slugging percentage and doubles (8) after Conner notched its 20th win in a game against Cooper on Tuesday.

Conner lost its last two games and currently has a 20-4 record. Arlinghaus is closing in on his 300th win as head coach of the Cougars. He has a 292-216 record going into games against Scott on Friday and Newport Central Catholic on Saturday.

Ryle names new head coach for boys basketball program

Nick Dorning is the new head coach of the Ryle boys basketball team, according to a post on the high school athletic department’s Twitter account.

Dorning has been a varsity assistant and junior varsity coach at Ryle since 2019. He is replacing Keaton Belcher, who resigned after the Raiders compiled a 34-50 record over the last three seasons.

“We have amazing young men in this program and I know they are committed to the tasks required of a winning tradition,” Dorning said in the Twitter post.

After serving in the United States Air Force, Dorning coached AAU basketball on the high school level. He was a varsity assistant coach at Newport before joining the Ryle program. The Raiders posted a 13-20 record last season and four of the team’s top five scorers were seniors.


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