Basketball

You may have noticed the Cumberland Athletics Trailblazers being mentioned in print and online a few times in recent years, but how well do you know the organization? Cumberland Homeschool Athletic Teams, or CHAT for short, is dedicated to providing homeschool students in and around our area with the opportunities they need to play, and excel at a high level, in sports such as volleyball, basketball, cross county and track & field. The Trailblazer volleyball team’s 2019 season is currently in progress, and for anyone interested in checking them out in person, they are currently scheduled to appear in next week’s First Priority Classic at Whitley County High School (Fri and...

This past Saturday, the News Journal presented its Seventh Annual NIBROC 3-on-3 Hoops Tournament inside the Princess Vermillion McBurney Recreation Center in Corbin. The tournament has seen a new team crowned champion each year of its existence, and 2019 turned out to be no different with the Hammonds Hounds (Chandler Stewart, Blake Smith, Will Philpot and Bryce Slone) walking away with the first place trophies and $500 in cash prize money. The Hammonds Hounds’ road to this year’s 3-on-3 championship title was not an easy one, however, as the team dropped into the loser’s bracket of the double elimination tourney after a 24-20 loss to Culture in their second game of...

Over the past several years, the News Journal’s Annual NIBROC 3-on-3 Hoops Tournament has made a name for itself as one of the most competitive basketball tourneys in our region. Since 2013, the event has drawn in not only local players, but also players from outside of our area, and even from outside the state of Kentucky. It has truly grown into one of the annual NIBROC festival’s most talked about competitions along with the yearly volleyball tournament, 2-mile race and, of course, cornhole. The first NIBROC 3-on-3 tourney featured eight teams, followed by 18 teams in 2014, and then eleven teams in 2015. 2016 saw a record-setting field of 23...

Last week, over 260 kids of all ages got the chance to take part in this year’s Shoot Hoops Not Drugs basketball camp featuring former UK Wildcat Jarrod Polson. The camp is free each summer, and is presented by Operation Unite. “We open this up to all school aged kids.,” said Operation Unite Deputy Director Tom Vinci. “The more kids that we can bring out to the camp, the more that we can reach with the message of making good choices.” “We’re doing this so that we can plant some seeds. Seeds of hope, and the understanding that, if you do things the right way, you can have a good life.” In...

Corbin Redhounds basketball head coach Tony Pietrowski’s annual Highly Skilled summer youth camp kicked off Tuesday with a very special guest. Campers between grades 2-7 will have the opportunity to learn skills on the court this week from Coach Pietrowski, his assistants and many of the Redhound players. They will also get to hear from a series of guest speakers, starting with the legendary Coach Billy Hicks, who was in attendance Tuesday for the opening day of the camp. Hicks coached at Corbin for nearly a decade in the late-80s and early-90s, which included Pietrowski’s own run as a Redhound player. Since that time he has become the state’s all-time wins...

A press release sent out by Whitley County Schools Friday afternoon said the following: Sean Pigman, a two decade coaching veteran, will take over the reigns of Lady Colonel Basketball after leading his former team, Collins High School, to their first ever Sweet Sixteen appearance this past March. Whitley County Schools Superintendent John Siler said of the hire, “We identified Coach Pigman early in the hiring process as someone with the experience and work ethic necessary to be successful. We have full confidence that he will have our team competing for region titles.” Coach Pigman comes to Whitley County after a successful four year stint at Martha Layne Collins High School...

After just one season at the helm of Whitley County High School's girls varsity basketball program, David Halcomb made the difficult decision to step down Thursday afternoon. In a statement sent to the News Journal, Halcomb said, "After spending a lot of time in prayer and discussions with my family and friends, I have decided to resign as the girls basketball coach at Whitley County High School." "This was a difficult decision for me, but it is primarily based upon concerns that I have for my health. I have dealt with some heart issues for quite some time. That, combined with some new things going on with my health, is what...

With the conclusion of the recent 13th Region championship tournaments at the Corbin Arena, the 2018-19 high school basketball season has officially ended for all of the News Journal’s coverage area teams. With that being said, this week we take a look back on the past few months and determine who was worthy of receiving All-County team honors. All-County Most Valuable Player (girls) – Lillie Hall, Jr. from Williamsburg Hall was always going to be counted on to be the Lady Jackets’ top playmaker in 2018-19, but that became especially true after senior teammate Lillie Abbott’s unfortunate season-ending injury that occurred during the first round of this year’s 13th Region All “A”...

This year's girls' 13th Region basketball tournament kicked off Wednesday evening at the Corbin Arena. In game one, the Whitley County Lady Colonels saw their season come to an close with a 63-38 loss to the defending region champion Harlan County Lady Black Bears. With the loss Whitley ends their 2018-19 campaign with an overall record of 11 wins and 22 losses. Harlan Co 63, Whitley Co 38 Harlan Co - 15 21 19 8 - 63 Whitley Co - 9 15 5 9 - 38 HC - Johnson 5, McHargue 14, Middleton 13, Turner 23, Blakely 8 WC - Frazier 9, M Siler 8, Anderson 5, Shope 3, Lawson 4, D Siler 3, Monhollen...

This year's girls 50th District tournament kicked off at South Laurel High School in London Tuesday evening, while the Lynn Camp boys were in action at Pineville High School in round one of the 2019 51st District tourney. At South Laurel, the Williamsburg Lady Jackets squared off against the host Lady Cardinals in game one. It was a tough night for the Jackets, who fell to the top seeded Cards for the third time this season, 70-30. The loss ends their season with a 15-14 overall record. South Laurel 70, Williamsburg 30 S Laurel - 12 20 27 11 - 70 W'burg - 14 6 2 8 - 30 SL - Collett 16, Steele...