They’ll be teammates soon enough, but for one final weekend Erin Boley and Jackie Young will be rivals on the basketball court.
Kentucky Miss Basketball Boley and Indiana Miss Basketball Young – both Notre Dame signees – will lead their respective states this weekend during the annual Kentucky-Indiana All-Star basketball games.
Saturday’s games are set for Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, starting at 5 p.m. Sunday’s games at Bellarmine University’s Knights Hall will start at 1 p.m.
Boley and Young certainly will play key roles in the girls contests.
Boley, a 6-foot-2 forward, averaged 24.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game as a senior at Elizabethtown High School and was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year. Young, a 6-0 guard, averaged 32.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 3.1 steals at Princeton and was named the Naismith National Player of the Year.
Kentucky All-Stars coach Mike Harper of Muhlenberg County knows Boley will have to play well for his team to have a chance at breaking Indiana’s five-game winning streak in the series.
“I think Erin obviously has have good games for us to be successful; that’s a no-doubter,” Harper said. “But Erin will draw a lot of attention, and other girls will be able to get some shots because of that. Erin is used to that, too, so she knows how to handle that and distribute the ball.”
The Kentucky girls are down to 11 players with Glasgow’s Bree Glover already at Ole Miss and Southwestern’s Samantha Fitzgerald nursing an injury. Harper said Male product I’Liyah Green won’t be able to practice with the team this week because of commitments at Cincinnati but will be available for both games.
Harper said Indiana’s athleticism is his main concern.
“We’re going to have to mix up our defenses to stop them,”’ he said. “They want to get the ball out and push it up the floor quickly. We need to slow that down a little bit.”
Kentucky boys coach Wayne Breeden expressed similar concerns about stopping Indiana’s transition game. Indiana has won 14 straight meetings in the series, but Breeden is hopeful about this year’s Kentucky squad.
“The guys have to realize this is not a summer-league-type of game but a game we take a lot of pride in,” said Breeden, the former head coach at Tates Creek. “They have to have the ability to realize there are other guys on the floor who can score, so they have to share the ball and create situations to be successful. That will be the key for us this year.”
Kentucky has a pair of strong scorers in its backcourt with Quentin Goodin of Taylor County (Xavier signee, 22.9 ppg) and Mason Faulkner of Caverna (Northern Kentucky signee, 35.9 ppg).
“Quentin Goodin is our most athletic player who can get to the hole and drive to the basket, and Mason Faulkner is an outstanding shooter,” Breeden said. “I’m impressed with a lot of our guys.”
The Louisville area has three representatives on the boys team in Male’s Alex Cook, St. Xavier’s Connor McKim and Bullitt East’s Tyler Sharpe.
Two boys have been declared out of the game because of commitments to their colleges – Kentucky’s Darius Williams (Northeast Mississippi) and Indiana’s Eron Gordon (Seton Hall).
Here are the rosters, including future college if committed or signed:
GIRLS
* Kentucky – Mikayla Berry (Owensboro Catholic/Bellarmine), Erin Boley (Elizabethtown/Notre Dame), Kaylee Cotton (McCreary Central/Lipscomb), Whitney Creech (Jenkins/Western Kentucky), x-Samantha Fitzgerald (Southwestern/Samford), Malaka Frank (Franklin County/Western Kentucky), x-Bree Glover (Glasgow/Ole Miss), I’Liyah Green (Male/Cincinnati), Justus Martin (Shelby County/Georgetown College), Dajah McClendon (Covington Holy Cross/Thomas More), Sarah Price (Bath County/Western Kentucky), Oneisha Turner (Bowling Green/Walters State), Emma Young (East Jessamine/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi). Head coach – Mike Harper (Muhlenberg County). Assistant coaches – Larry Just (Butler), Ryan Groves (Muhlenberg County), Tom Foust (Muhlenberg County).
* Indiana – Caryn Buhr (Penn/Lehigh), Lindsey Corsaro (Roncalli/Kentucky), Lauren Dickerson (Lawrence County/Miami, Ohio), Darby Foresman (Heritage Christian/Indiana), Ae’Rianna Harris (Lawrence North/Purdue), Tyasha Harris (Heritage Christian/South Carolina), Holly Hoopingarner (Greenwood/IUPUI), Cameron Onken (Lafayette Central Catholic/Villanova), Jayla Scaife (Muncie Central/Dayton), Sydney Shelton (Fortville Mt. Vernon/Butler), Kristen Spolyar (Lebanon/Butler), Emily Sullivan (Evansville Memorial/North Carolina), Jackie Young (Princeton/Notre Dame). Head coach – Rick Risinger (Heritage Christian). Assistant coaches – Jeff Knoy (McCutcheon), Missy Voyles (North Harrison).
BOYS
* Kentucky – Trey Blevins (Wayne County), Alex Cook (Male/Bellarmine), Tyrik Edwards (Christian County), Mason Faulkner (Caverna/Northern Kentucky), Quentin Goodin (Taylor County/Xavier), Connor McKim (St. Xavier/Rollins), Tyler Sharpe (Bullitt East/Louisville), Caleb Taylor (South Laurel/Bellarmine), Isaiah Tisdale (Henry Clay/Vincennes), Ben Weyer (Newport Central Catholic/Bellarmine), Carson Williams (Owen County/Northern Kentucky), x-Darius Williams (Paul Dunbar/Northeast Mississippi), Matt Wilson (Campbell County/Army). Head coach – Wayne Breeden (former Tates Creek coach). Assistant coaches – Rodney Woods (former Wayne County coach), Bart Rison (former Montgomery County coach), Dom Fucci (former Tates Creek coach).
* Indiana – Desmond Bane (Seton Catholic/Texas Christian), Tucker Blackwell (Bloomington South/Army), Joey Brunk (Southport/Butler), Grant Gelon (Crown Point/Indiana), Eugene German (Gary 21st Century/Northern Illinois), x-Eron Gordon (Cathedral/Seton Hall), Kyle Guy (Lawrence Central/Virginia), Brachen Hazen (Columbia City/Arkansas), Damien Jefferson (East Chicago Central/New Mexico), Kyle Mallers (Fort Wayne Carroll/Ball State), Tremell Murphy (Griffith/Florida SouthWestern State), Dru Smith (Evansville Reitz/Evansville), C.J. Walker (Indianapolis Tech/Florida State). Head coach – Stacy Meyer (Greensburg). Assistant coaches – Scott Hicks (Broad Ripple), Aaron Wolfe (NorthWood).
x – declared out of games.
KENTUCKY-INDIANA ALL-STAR BASKETBALL GAMES
* Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse (Indianapolis) – Girls at 5 p.m., boys at 7:30 p.m.
* Sunday at Bellarmine University’s Knights Hall (Louisville) – Girls at 1 p.m., boys at 3:30 p.m.
* Series – Indiana girls lead 45-35; Indiana boys lead 93-42.