Franklin County Lady Flyers head basketball coach Joey Thacker points to his bench as he encourages his team to huddle quickly in the closing minutes of the game. Butler won the contest, 54-47. 30 January 2015
GAME 6: RUSSELL COUNTY VS. FRANKLIN COUNTY, 1:30 P.M. THURSDAY
RUSSELL COUNTY
* Coach: Craig Pippen.
* Record: 26-8.
* Nickname: Lakers.
* Location: Russell Springs.
* Region: Fourth.
* Enrollment: 858.
* Litkenhous Rating: 92.1.
* Sweet 16 trips: Second (1-1).
* Last trip to State: 1993 (lost to Warren East 59-47 in quarterfinals).
* What to look for: After losing the 16th District final on a last-second shot the Lakers rallied in the Fourth Region Tournament. They blew out Franklin-Simpson before avenging a pair of regular-season losses, edging South Warren in overtime then beating favored Monroe County 54-51 to earn their second Sweet 16 berth. Russell County’s first trip to State came 24 years ago when it was a member of the 12th Region. According to Pippen the keys to the Lakers’ postseason success have been “solid defense, execution and hard work.”
* Key player: Kaitlyn Coffey. The Northern Kentucky University recruit leads the Lakers in scoring – earlier this season she became the program’s all-time leading scorer – and is second in rebounding. She had a double-double (18 points and 12 rebounds) in the regional final.
* Coach-speak: “We have to do a good job defending the perimeter. We have to get out in transition. We have to execute in our halfcourt sets (and) block out (and) rebound,” Pippen said.
STARTERS
5-Amelia Ackerman
5-4, Jr., 8.8 ppg, 1.3 rpg
23-Kaitlyn Coffey
5-9, Sr., 13.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg
33-Maddy Preston
5-9, So., 3.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg
34-Addison Loy
5-6, So., 12.0 ppg, 3.3. rpg
42-Shaya Carman
6-2, Jr., 9.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg
KEY RESERVE
32-Jaylen Elmore
5-5, So., 6.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg
FRANKLIN COUNTY
* Coach: Joey Thacker.
* Record: 30-5.
* Nickname: Flyers.
* Location: Frankfort.
* Region: 11th.
* Enrollment: 1,001.
* Litkenhous Rating: 107.7 (No. 9 in state).
* Sweet 16 trips: Fourth (6-3).
* Last trip to State: 2016 (lost to Butler 62-36 in final).
* What to look for: The Flyers lost three starters off of the team that fell to Butler in last season’s state championship game but made it back to the Sweet 16 for the third straight season. “This group has always won. If they were playing badminton in the front yard my money would be on them. They just really enjoy competing,” Thacker said. Franklin County has won 15 in a row since its 73-69 loss to No. 14 Scott County on Jan. 21 in the Toyota Classic. The Flyers’ other losses this season have been to No. 2 Mercer County, No. 3 Simon Kenton, No. 8 Murray and a team from Georgia. Franklin County is one of the top field-goal shooting teams (45.5 percent) in the state and has made 241 3-pointers. Eighth-grader Brooklynn Miles, the team’s fourth-leading scorer, tallied a game-high 15 points in the 11th Region final.
* Key players: Princess Stewart and Rebecca Cook. Stewart, the 11th Region Player of the Year, has signed with Xavier. She is the team’s leading scorer and second-leading rebounder. Cook, meanwhile, is Franklin County’s leading rebounder, second-leading scorer and a 4.0 student. She was MVP of the 11th Region Tournament and nearly had a triple-double in the regional final.
* Coach-speak: “We’re like a slow-pitch softball team in a rotary club league. If we can get off quickly and put some runners on base, that’s our element,” Thacker said. “We’ve got to be able to control tempo and get the ball up and down the court. First and foremost we’ve got to get that thing off the backboard so we can go with it.”
STARTERS
1-Kindall Talley
5-5, Jr., 9.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg
5-Princess Stewart
5-8, Sr., 15.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg
10-Rebecca Cook
5-10, Sr., 12.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg
13-Brooklynn Miles
5-4, 8th, 9.3 ppg, 2.1 rpg
22-Savannah Courtney
5-6, Sr., 7.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg
KEY RESERVES
34-Josie Thacker
5-8, Jr., 5 ppg, 1.7 rpg
15-Olivia Hogan
5-4, Jr., 2.7 ppg, 1.8 rpg
-Josh Cook