The Fourth Region basketball tournaments being played this week at a couple of familiar high school gym locations brings back lots of memories, some great, some painful.
The girls tournament begins tonight at Allen County-Scottsville with the 13th District champion Logan County Lady Cougars in the nightcap against South Warren, a school that wasn’t even in the thought processes when the tournament was played there in the late 80s and early 90s. You can hear this game and any others involving LCHS or Russellville on WRUS.
The boys regional starts Friday at Barren County. The 13th District champion Russellville Panthers begin their run in Saturday night’s second game. Vivid memories of tournaments in that gym range from 1986 to 1997.
In 1989 Coach Mike Haynes’ Lady Cougars pulled off what was considered a big upset, beating highly regarded Warren East. Although key players Jalee Wright (Page), Pam Collins (Pollard) and Christy Burton (Barnette) were seniors, the Lady Cougars returned some of the best Lady Cougars ever in Kim Johnson (Higgins), Shana Dean, Carrie Horlander, Mel Goodman (Bingham) and Gwen Dawson (Barnes). They won the regional tournament at Barren County when Johnson-Higgins hit a long shot at the buzzer, beating a distraught AC-S team in the process.
Seven years later at the same gym, Coach Ray Maggard’s Cougar boys reached the regional finals, falling in overtime to Warren East. That was the year that East coach Tommy Compton frustrated Coach Phil Todd’s Panthers in the semifinals and the Cougars in the finals, using great strategy to win with less talent. That Cougar team featured Adonis Hart, Travis ‘Boo’ Williams, D.J. Custard, Nick Goley, Chris Haynes, Brandon Coursey, Tim Brown and others. Boo went on to help Faulkner University win an NAIA national championship, Hart was a Kentucky All-Star and played for Tennessee Tech, and Haynes had a good career at Freed-Hardeman.
As I recall, we weren’t very happy with Compton in those days. He later became a great friend to many of us as the primary substitute teacher at LCHS. And he was a super coach.
Let’s go back a few years. Also at Barren County High, the Lady Cougars suffered two painful regional losses, both with the ultra-successful Jim Thompson as coach. In 1986, Logan was loaded, featuring a front line of future Division I players—Lora Spencer (became a starter for UK), Tracie Mason (a four-year starter at Austin Peay), and Cindy Huffines (Louisville and then Lindsey Wilson). They were upset by a Glasgow team that was coached by Terry Flatt, who had been the boys coach at Auburn High School in an earlier life.
The following year Huffines and Mason were the stars of a Lady Cougar team which lost in overtime in the regional finals to a Franklin-Simpson team coached by Bob Matthews (more about him soon). Johnson and Horlander played a lot on that team as freshmen.
That night the Logan County boys coached by Barry Reed also lost in the finals. They were playing at Diddle Arena while the girls were assigned to a high school.
It’s worth noting that the Logan girls won their first eight district championships as a school and reached the regional finals four times in those first eight years, followed by two berths in the state quarterfinals. They haven’t been in the finals since 1990 and this trip to region is only their second in the last nine seasons. The boys reached the regional finals four times in their first 15 years under four different coaches (Gerald Sinclair, Reed, Dick Webb & Maggard), winning the state championship in the second season. This is the 15th time in the past 16 years, the Cougars have gone one-and-out in the postseason.
Now back to Matthews: Stacie Gamble was at Friday’s district championship game supporting both her alma mater (RHS) and Veronica Cook Lovan (mother of Franklin-Simpson star Tavin Lovan). Stacieis Veronica’s former teammate on The Hill, an RHS Athletic Hall of Famer and a two-time captain of the WKU Lady Toppers.
Gamble was the leader of Russellville’s best Lady Panther team, an all-stater and a Kentucky All-Star. She also was one of the victims of mis-management of the Fourth Region Tournament her senior year. That tournament was held, ironically, at Allen County-Scottsville High School, the site of the tournament this week.
This week’s miserable weather is a reminder of that week in 1993 when tournament games had to be postponed. To get the girls regional out of the way, the tournament manager decided to play the two semifinals one afternoon and the finals that night. We thought then (and still do) that the haste was made so that the men who controlled things could go on to watch the boys state tournament the next day. The Lady Panthers played a tough semifinal game after the other semifinal was completed. They were exhausted that night when the finals were played.
Franklin’s Bob Matthews, who was the RHS coach then, was very upset that week and still remains bitter about the way he believes his Lady Panthers were mistreated.
Matthews is now an assistant coach for the Franklin-Simpson girls team which will play in this regional at AC-S. His son, LCHS graduate Josh Matthews, is head coach of the Lady Cats.
In a related matter, last week William Lovan, an enthusiastic supporter of Franklin-Simpson basketball who reportedly attended almost every game, died unexpectedly. His grandson, Tavin Lovan, was at the hospital. That night, he scored 40 points in a district tournament game. The Cats needed every one of them, since they edged Logan County by a single point. He scored 24 in a loss to Russellville in the championship game four nights later.
Tavin Lovan is only a freshman. He’s a big-time big-college prospect. His dad, Tony Lovan, is a former college player who is a member of Coach Dee Spencer’s staff. His mom, the aforementioned Veronica Cook Lovan, was a four-year starter for Coach Paul Sanderford’s WKU Lady Toppers. She was a key player for the 1992 team which reached the national championship game. They’re a good family.
*Franklin-Simpson High School—like many other schools—has a family atmosphere in its athletic community. Before Mr. Lovan’s passing came the death of Ricky Mooneyhan on Jan. 28. He was the trainer for Wildcat sports teams and maintained the athletic facilities for the sports programs. He was affiliated with Wildcat athletics for over 30 years.
The Franklin Favorite profiled him in 2012 and ran excerpts from that profile after his death. The late coach James ‘Shadetree’ Matthews said in 1981, “Ricky is a very trustworthy kid. I’m not afraid to leave him in charge. He gets along with all team members. Everybody likes him.” Then in 2011, Tim Schlosser, who was then football coach and is now F-S principal, said, “The service that Ricky Mooneyhan provides to the Franklin-Simpson football program is impossible to measure. He does more for the program than anyone can imagine.”
Ricky was the son of James Mooneyhan, the radio voice of Wildcat athletics ever since he gave up his football officiating career. He also is a former Simpson County jailer. Ricky Mooneyhan is also survived by his wife LeAnne and his children Jacob and Anna.
Eli Hurt, a senior football and baseball player for the Wildcats, was wearing a teeshirt recently honoring Ricky. It read:
To the Moon
For 32 Years the Heart and Soul of
Franklin-Simpson Football
OtherFamily Matters
*Griffin Joiner, who has many Logan County relatives, was named national collegiate softball player of the week for the weekend ending Feb. 9, which was the first weekend of the season. As reported earlier on The LoJo, the veteran catcher hit a pair of home runs in a University of Kentucky win, tying her own school record.
Griffin is the granddaughter of Glenn Smith and Dixie Shelton Dennis, both Logan County natives. That makes her the niece of former Lewisburg basketball star Eddie Shelton and the great-granddaughter of one of the greatest names in Logan sports history as both a player and a coach, the late Earle Shelton. She’s the great-niece of Ann and Joe Bailey of Lewisburg.
She is a cousin of coaching greats Greg and the late Gary Shelton, former AC-S coach Scott Shelton, former Bowling Green and current Centre College soccer standout Tori Dillard, current Greenwood softball star Aeron Smith, who has signed to play for Tennessee Martin, Lady Cougar volleyball star Chanler Steenbergen, and former high school standouts Tim and Zach Smith and Ryan Bailey.
*Madison Chasteen, daughter of Logan natives Taylor and Mary Chasteen, is a member of the West Springfield High School basketball team. The Spartans were at last report 19-1 and ranked third in Class 6A in Virginia. Madison plays guard on a deep, experienced team and she also plays lacrosse. Her uncle and aunt, Fount and Ann Duncan Shifflett, attended Senior Night there recently. They were impressed that not only were the West Springfield players honored but the announcer also introduced and profiled at the ceremony, which was a nice touch.
The granddaughter of Lindsey and Wilma Chasteen of Auburn, Madison has many local relatives. One uncle, Johnny Shifflett, is one of Russellville’s all-time great basketball players. He went on to play both junior college and NAIA basketball. She is also the niece of Russellville Police Chief Victor Shifflett and his wife Tracey. Her cousin, Chase Procter, was a starter on one of Bowling Green’s state championship football teams. She’s also a cousin of coaches Steve and Tim Riley, former BGH Athletic Director Monroe Joiner, and standout athletes Eric and Erica Meguiar and Kapreshia Powell.
*Another family tie: The son of the previously mentioned Christy Burton Barnette, former Cougar baseball four-year starter Ryan Harper, has made the varsity baseball team at Lindsey Wilson.
LCHS coach Ethan Meguiar announced that and is also pleased that another former Cougar, John Logan Dockins, has made the varsity of the Faulkner University baseball team in Alabama.
District Notes
*Several people were asking when was the last time teams from the Land of Logan won both the boys and girls 13th District championships. The year was 2004 when Haynes’ Lady Cougars and Todd’s Panthers were champions. That was the year the Panthers lost in the regional semifinals to a Warren Central team coached by Tim Riley which went on to the state championship.
*Former University of Kentucky football coach Joker Phillips was at the boys championship game Friday at the LCHS gym. He had been honored in Franklin that day and was on hand supporting his alma mater.
Among those in attendance was former Panther star Mikie Benton, who was a two-year starter for Joker at UK. He has a degree in ag economics but hasn’t found a job in that area yet. He’s working in Bowling Green now. Benton is one of just three former Panthers to start for the Wildcats, joining Tom Wilkins & Andy Britt.
*The two-day delay in starting the regional gives more time for versatile Lady Cougar forward Kaprechia Powell to heal from an ankle injury she suffered in the district opener last Tuesday. Her mother, LeAnn Meguiar Powell, said Friday she expected her to play in the region Monday, so she should be ready to go tonight.