Mountaineers reach Ohio River Classic summit | Sports

RACELAND Challenging your team in December with a tournament to prepare for a region run in March is something many coaches do.

Seeing teams you may not usually see throughout the year presents new challenges, and in theory potentially gears up for a deep postseason run.

Such was the case for both Heritage (Tennessee) and Floyd Central in Wednesday night’s Ohio River Classic championship game.

The Mountaineers, who hail from Maryville, Tennessee, won the title and will take home a trophy following their 57-31 defeat of the Jaguars.

Heritage coach Rick Howard is an Ironton native and always enjoys bringing his team to compete against others from around the area.

“Kentucky has some pretty good basketball, so we enjoy this,” Howard said.

“(Raceland coach) Ron (Keeton) puts on a really good tournament and he takes good care of us.”

Floyd Central advanced to this stage following a COVID-19 cancellation victory over Raceland the day prior. Their coach, Justin Triplett, was highly complimentary of the opposition.

“I don’t know that we’ll play anybody that caliber of a team in our region,” Triplett said. “We have some good teams in our region, but one through five, they’re about as solid as we’ll face. You want competition like that just to gauge where you’re at and what you need to work on.”

Heritage jumped out to a double-digit lead through one quarter, leading 16-6 after the first. The Mountaineers forced nine Floyd Central turnovers during that period.

“We hang our hat on man-to-man defense,” Howard said. “We played great yesterday in man-to-man, and we did again tonight.”

While the Jaguars cut down on their turnovers the following frame, they were still outmatched on the scoreboard as they trailed 35-12 at halftime.

Just when it looked like the Mountaineers would run away with it, Floyd Central outscored Heritage 13-3 in the third thanks to nine points from center Grace Martin.

“We made an effort to get the ball in the post to Grace and just let her go to work,” Triplett said. “We were trying to do too much off the dribble, and against a really good defensive team like them, you’re not getting to the rim consistently.”

Martin was named Player of the Game for the Jaguars.

The Jaguars turned the ball over on their first four possessions of the fourth, and finished with 23 overall.

Heritage had 11 different players score, led by 12 points from Chloe Heath.

Bekah Gardner was named Player of the Game for the Mountaineers with six points and four rebounds.

HERITAGE    16    19    3    19    —    57

FLOYD CENTRAL    6    6    13    6    —    31

Heritage (57) — Heath 12, French 9, Swaney 7, Waters 6, Gardner 6, Lasorsa 4, Daniels 4, Carnes 4, Coker 3, Christopher 2, Hamilton 2. 3-Pt. FG: 3 (Heath 2, Swaney). FT: 12-15. Fouls: 13.

Floyd Central (31) — Martin 11, Harvel 8, J. Johnson 6, C. Johnson 2, Shannon 2, Hall 2. 3-Pt. FG: 0. FT: 3-4. Fouls: 19.

Berea 64, Raceland 36

Berea rebounded following its first loss of the season against Heritage the day prior to topple the tournament host Rams. Madison Howell posted 26 points to lead the Pirates.

Big scoring outputs in the first (25) and fourth (21) quarters helped lead Berea improve to 11-1 this year.

Emma Broughton’s nine points led Raceland. Eighth-grader Naomi Maynard pitched in eight points, and senior Emma Picklesimer also tallied eight.

The Lady Rams move to 4-10 on the season. They took a COVID-19 cancellation defeat to Floyd Central on the second day of the tournament.

BEREA    25    11    7    21    —    64

RACELAND    8    5    9    14    —    36

Berea (64) — Ma. Howell 26, Lovins 11, Beard 8, Newman 6, R. Stepp 5, Brewer 4, L. Stepp 2, Rodgers 2. 3-Pt. FG: 8 (Ma. Howell 4, Newman 2, R. Stepp, Beard). FT: 10-13. Fouls: 7.

Raceland (36) — Broughton 9, Maynard 8, Picklesimer 8, Mackie 4, Hapney 2, Boggs 2, Whitt 2, Lacks 1. 3-Pt. FG: 3 (Maynard 2, Broughton). FT: 3-6. Fouls: 9.

Menifee County 75, East Carter 42

Menifee County pieced together a nice showing in this year’s edition of the Ohio River Classic, winning its final two games after battling with eventual champion Heritage on the opening day of play.

Ten different Wildcats scored in the outing, led by Kelsie Woodard’s 16. Menifee County took advantage of its free throw opportunities, hitting 16 shots at the stripe compared to just one for the Raiders.

East Carter has now dropped nine in a row after its season-opening win over Raceland. Two of those losses came from COVID-19 cancellations.

MENIFEE CO.    25    25    14    11    —    75

E. CARTER    10    10    10    12    —    42

Menifee County (75) — Ke. Woodard 16, Baker 11, M. Wells 10, Parks 9, Deihl 9, Gevedon 7, Hall 6, Harris 4, Golden 2, Ka. Woodard 1. 3-Pt. FG: 4 (Gevedon 2, Harris, Deihl). FT: 16-24. Fouls: 12.

East Carter (42) — Rutledge 14, Tussey 12, Adams 7, Waggoner 6, Moore 3. 3-Pt. FG: 5 (Tussey 3, Moore, Adams). FT: 1-4. Fouls: 16.

Elliott County 47, Heritage (Tenn.) 29

The Lions picked up their first win of the Ohio River Classic by edging out a split squad from the Mountaineers.

Molly Howard’s 14 points led Elliott County, which was able to keep Heritage off the free throw line as the Mountaineers attempted just two foul shots all game.

Heritage’s Bailey Hamilton was the scoring leader for the Mountaineers, posting eight points. She and Jaci Neubert led the team with two made 3s each.

Elliott County moves to 5-3 on the season, ending a three-game losing skid after a 4-0 start to the season.

ELLIOTT CO.    19    16    8    4    —    47

HERITAGE    7    3    16    3    —    29

Elliott County (47) — Howard 14, Sturgill 14, Ison 10, Hamilton 3, Whitt 2, Sturgill 2, Adkins 2. 3-Pt. FG: 4 (Howard, Ison, Sturgill, Hamilton). FT: 7-16. Fouls: 4.

Heritage (29) — Hamilton 8, Newbert 6, Hutsell 5, Wright 3, Byrd 2, Doyle 2, Christopher 2, Sanders 1. 3-Pt. FG: 5 (Newbert 2, Hamilton 2, Hutsell). FT: 1-2. Fouls: 15.