Basketball

This past Saturday, the Whitley County Colonels and Lady Colonels basketball teams were able to advance to the final days of competition in this year’s Kentucky 2A Sectional Championship Tournaments, which were hosted by Bell County High School. First up Saturday was Head Coach Ronnie Collier’s Lady Colonels, who faced McCreary Central in their first round matchup. Season leading scorer Maddy Hopkins scored 19 points for Whitley County in what ended up being a 55-32 victory that improved the team to 5-6 overall. Jaylee Cox and Jonna Rice scored 18 and 13 points, respectively. All three players are in their junior seasons at WCHS. The Lady Colonels just recently returned home...

The Corbin Lady Hounds recently traveled to Freeport, FL where they went 2-1 at a holiday tournament before returning to the Bluegrass State and falling to Knox Central, 66-61, this past Saturday in the first round of the Kentucky 2A Sectional Championship Tournament at Bell County High School. This was Corbin’s second loss to the Lady Panthers this season, also falling in Barbourville back on Dec. 15 by a final score of 74-66. It was a disappointing way to start off the New Year, but prior to tipoff of Saturday’s game Lady Hounds Head Coach Isaac Wilson commented that he was encouraged by what he saw from his team during the...

After four wins in four days at this year’s BSN Borderline Classic, the Whitley County Colonels now stand at 8-2 overall ahead of the Christmas holiday. “I think we have a chance to be as good as anybody,” Head Coach Eric Swords said after his Colonels defeated Harrison County, 74-44, Monday night in the final game of the 2025 Borderline Classic. “Our kids are going to battle, play hard, and find ways to help us win.” Swords and company welcomed 13 other teams into Charles M. Lawson Gymnasium between Friday and Monday for four days of exciting roundball action. The Colonels themselves faced Green Valley Christian out of Nevada, Bethel (Ohio),...

After going 1-2 in the Legacy Nissan Dribble Drive Challenge at South Laurel High School in recent days, the Corbin Redhounds now stand at 2-5 overall ahead of hosting this year’s Cumberland Falls Invitational Tournament. The Hounds showed growth throughout the Dribble Drive Challenge. Despite a 24-point scoring effort by junior Evan Ellis, they fell to Russell in their opening game Saturday, 65-55. They bounced back nicely against East Jessamine on Sunday, though, scoring their most points as a team to-date and securing a 78-47 victory. Senior Eli Pietrowski had a fantastic showing against the Jaguars, scoring 27 points. Corbin wrapped up play in the Dribble Drive Challenge Monday against...

While this will be his first experience as a head coach, Williamsburg High School Boys’ Basketball Coach Brandon Bargo is no stranger to basketball or basketball at small schools. Bargo is a 2016 graduate of Barbourville High School. He attended Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) where he graduated in 2019. He worked for the men’s basketball program at EKU from 2016-2020. “It was the greatest time. I met so many valuable people, so many people that did a lot of good stuff for me,” he said. After that, Bargo landed an assistant coach job at Berea College for one year, which happened to be during Covid. “That was a unique experience. We didn’t have...

Even though this year’s Williamsburg Lady Jackets High School Basketball Team will feature no seniors, it is still a squad returning plenty of experienced players. “We’re fortunate to have three starters returning this season, and that experience gives us a solid foundation to build on. Our focus isn’t just on this year’s wins and losses, but on continuing to grow the program. We want to develop well-seasoned players at every grade level so we can build depth, strengthen our culture, and keep improving each year. The returning players provide great leadership, and our younger athletes are already showing they’re eager to learn and step into bigger roles,” said Melissia Douglas,...

15 years. That’s how long it’s been since the Whitley County Colonels have secured a spot in the 13th Region tournament. A lot of talented teams have come and gone in that time, but year-after-year, the season has ended in disappointment after round one of the district playoffs. This year, however, could be the year that all of that changes. “I think that is the most even talentwise since I’ve been here,” Whitley County Head Coach Eric Swords said recently. “Our goal is to compete for a district title. If we can win the district, then I think we’ll have just as good of a chance as anybody when it...

The Whitley County Lady Colonels have had three different head coaches in the past three seasons. Regardless of the circumstances behind all of the changes, the situation has made it very difficult for the team to establish any kind of consistency. Beginning with this season, however, new Head Coach Ronnie Collier is focused on turning all of that around. Collier is new to the head coach role, but he is definitely not new to Whitley County or its basketball program. A 2001 WCHS graduate, he has prior coaching experience at the middle school level and at the varsity level as an assistant. “This is really the only place that I’ve ever...

You have to go all the way back to the 2003-04 season to find the last time that the Corbin Redhounds were unable to make the 13th Region championship tournament. Since that time, the team has been a constant presence at the event, advancing to the title game eleven times and winning it all on four different occasions. Head Coach Tony Pietrowski has led the charge through it all, and while he is used to his teams getting a later start than most due to the typical deep postseason run made by the school’s football team, he said that he feels like the squad will be where it needs to...

516 career wins. Eleven district championship titles. Four regional championships. Tony Pietrowski has solidified his legacy as one of the all-time great head coaches, not just in boys basketball, but across all sports at Corbin High School. A former standout Redhound student-athlete himself, his contributions to the school’s athletic program over the years truly cannot be overstated. Now, as Pietrowski prepares to enter his 25th season leading the CHS boys basketball team, he is reflecting on what that milestone means. “When you get into coaching, a lot of it does become milestones,” Pietrowski said. “When I got my 300th win, it was really surprising. When I got my 400th win, I couldn’t...