Ashland Kittens Claim 15th Region Championship
with Dominant Win Over Russell
James Collier
The Ashland Beacon
Ashland needed one thing more than anything this season—patience.
Before the Kittens played their first game, they were already down two starters in Kenleigh Woods and Gabby Karle. At one point, Ashland was 4-6 on the season. But the Kittens did not falter from their ultimate goal of a regional championship, and all the patience finally paid off on Saturday night.
Ashland’s performance in the 16th Regional Championship game was nothing short of domination, as the Kittens never trailed in a 72-42 win over Russell at Johnson Arena. Ashland took a 32-23 lead into halftime and extended their edge to 56-28 after three quarters. The Kittens forced seven turnovers in the third while holding Russell to just 2 of 10 from the field.
“The first four minutes out of halftime is where we can bury people,” Ashland coach Stacy Davis said. “That’s been our same philosophy at halftime—those first four minutes, we need to get after them and take our defensive pressure to another level. They’ve done that the last couple of games, and we’ve told them all along that defensive pressure is what gets us to where we want to be, and they’ve bought into that as a team.”
Ashland forced 17 total turnovers in the game and converted them into 21 points. But Ashland’s best stat came in the rebounding category, where they dominated 49-27, including 26 offensive boards.
“Offensive rebounds get you extra possessions,” Davis said. “Getting 26 is huge. Twenty-six extra possessions in a game is unreal. You give up one or two, and eventually, you’re going to pay for it. We talk about crashing the boards and going to get the basketball. We don’t shoot it the best, and we know that. We’ve had some games where we didn’t shoot well at all, and we told the girls, if you want some garbage buckets, go get the ball.”
Forwards Aryanna Gulley and Jenna Delaney took that challenge to heart in the title game. Gulley finished with a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, six of them on the offensive glass. Delaney added eight points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, with eight of those coming offensively.
“[Coach Davis] tells us all the time we have to get in there and crash the boards,” Gulley said. “All that hard work pays off, and I’m really proud of us. We haven’t gotten 47 rebounds in a game, I don’t think. We all focused up, and I’m glad we did that together.”
Gulley was named the MVP of the tournament, and Delaney joined her on the All-Tournament Team.
“I can’t thank my teammates enough for putting me in this position tonight,” Gulley said of her MVP honors. “I work hard, and I’m so thankful they see that.”
Gulley said that in the preseason, she wanted to become more of a physical presence in the paint, and she let her performance in the tournament speak for itself.
“I just had to want it more than others,” Gulley said. “I wanted to score and help my team. I wanted rebounds, so that led me to start playing more physical.”
Gabby Karle also joined the All-Tournament Team, finishing with 12 points and seven assists while guarding Russell’s two leading scorers for much of the night.
“Gabby is one of our most complete players from top to bottom,” Davis said. “She does everything on both sides of the ball. She’s very humble. There are times when you look at the stat sheet and realize Gabby did this and that. She’s matured tremendously over the last two years and has taken a huge jump in maturity this year. She’s just a warrior.”
Ashland’s lead was only four at 19-15 after the first quarter, but the Kittens found some breathing room before the break. Even more impressive was how they did this after Miss Basketball candidate Kenleigh Woods played only seven minutes of the opening half due to foul trouble, and the Kittens never missed a beat.
Emilee Neese provided a spark off the bench in the absence of Woods, scoring 15 points while contributing in a way that was reminiscent of the Kittens’ games in December when Woods and Karle were sidelined with injuries.
“The team grew a lot with both Kenleigh and Gabby out,” Davis said. “December was brutal. I didn’t think December was ever going to end. When I scheduled our games, I was planning on having Kenleigh and Gabby. We went to the Queen of the Bluegrass and played North Laurel, Portsmouth, and Fairland, and I thought, when is December ever going to end? We had to get everyone to stop focusing on the record. We were 4-6 at one point and now look where we are. We finished 17-4 after that. I think playing that tough schedule and the experience the girls gained during that time really paid off here.”
Woods also joined her teammates on the All-Tournament Team and was happy the Kittens were able to avenge their loss to Russell from last season’s semifinals.
“We told ourselves we had to come out and play strong, or they would make another run,” Woods said. “They are a great team with great players, but we told ourselves to come out and play our game. It’s just another game, but this one means a lot more.”
Ashland claimed its 15th Regional Championship and is now 3-1 over Russell in championship matchups. Ashland’s last title win over Russell came in 1992, when Coach Stacy Davis was on the team, delivering the pass to Shawna Dowdy for the game-winning three-pointer.
Ashland returns to the Girls Sweet 16 for the second time under Davis and will meet Region 13 champion North Laurel on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Rupp Arena.
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