A Busy Day on the Kentucky Regional Hardwoods

Joe Downs has all the action from the Kentucky Regional High School hardwoods

Hardwood next in sports ... and clutch free throw shooting in overtime thursday night ... the madisonville north hopkins boys found itself just one win away from the kentucky sweet 16's ... all they had to do was knock off perennial power university heights in tonight's regional title game ... to the home of the maroons ... and the sign outside the gym entrance says it all ... this was the hottest ticket in hopkins county tonight ... as the fans were stacked like cord wood ... ............... the blazers get out to their usual fast start ... racing out on a 10-2 run early in the opening stanza ... ............... however the madisonville rallies in kind ... danye frazier with the quick inbound to zac tow ... who announces the banks are open on the short jumper ... ................ next ... off the errant 3 attempt ... tow is "johnny on the spot" with the rebound and putback ... and the foul ... he would make 3 the hard way ... ................. later ... after some back and forth with his teammate ...kale gaither launches and hits the top of key 3 ... and we're all knotted up .... ............... and the runs not done ... gaither caps the tear at 10-2 ... with the coast-to-coast lay-in ... giving the maroons the lead late in the opening stanza ... this one would come down to the wire ... with university heights ending madisonville's impossible dream in heartbreaking fashion ... 63-61 the final ... to the girls second region semifinals ... jeff hailes' henderson county girls looking to continue their march to the sweet 16's against madisonville ... ............ however despite being under-manned ... the lady maroons come out strong ... emilee hallum opens the game by draining the triple from the elbow ... ............. next amari lovan corrals her miss ... then dishes to destiny whitsell ... who defies the colonel defense with the dribble drive and deuce ... .............. trailing early ... henderson county flips the script ... m kyra dixon puts on her hard hat and goes to work in the paint for two ... ............... next sadie wurth drills back-to-back triples ... and just like that the colonels are up 5 ... .............. then it's jarie thomas' time to shine ... with a pair of quick inside buckets ... and henderson county is officially on a run ... ................ kaytlan kemp decides to get in on the fun with the leaner in the lane ... ............ graci risley caps a 19-1 run ... getting the shooters bounce on the trifecta ... and the lady colonels will face union county in monday night's 2nd region title game ... winning 79-51 ... next we head over to the owensboro sportscenter ... for the girls 3rd region semifinals ... apollo taking on breckinridge county ... ................. trailing late in the first half ... e-gals rallying ... shelbie beatty from way downtown ... bang ... ............ next beatty pays it forward ... starting the fastbreak and amber dunn finishes it ... giving apollo the lead ... ............ in the 3rd quarter the e- gals start to feather their nest ... kassidy daugherty with the triple from the wing ... ............. then zoe floyd follows that up with the sweet take for two ... and apollo's up 5 ... ............. but late in the game ... breckinridge county stages a comeback ... aleigha muckerhits the pull-up jumper ... ............. then in the final seconds ... isabel grimes hits the 3 from the top of the key ... and apollo's lead is down to one ... but the e-gal defense saves the day .... surviving a scare to advance to monday's 3rd region title games ... winning 47-46 ... it was nerve-racking.

I think when grimes hit the 3 every bit of air in my body just came out.

And so our kids they had to buckle down.

Get a stop.

They were able to do that and that sigh of relief so.

I'm just so excited for the kids, for us to be in a situation where we might be able to go to rupp arena we thought about it for so long.

We talked about it for so long to just finally see our dreams become reality is just an amazing feeling.

It's just really indescribable.

But who would they be facing ???

Semifinal two pitted owensboro catholic against meade county ... ............... the aces were flying high early ... hailee johnson slots it to catherine head ... who finishes off the fastbreak in fine fashion ... ............. next ... check out the long outlet from katie riney to johnson ... who cashes in on the transition two ... .............. then riney tries her luck from long range ... but it isn't there ... however ally maggard is and the rest is history ... ............. catholic's great start continues with madeline hayden and maggardplaying the two-man game to perfection ... however meade county would have an answer ... rallying to upend the aces ... ending their sweet 16 drive in a 46-45 heartbreaker ... on the