It was like old times for three Mason County graduates on Saturday.
Briana McNutt, Maddie Boone and Whitney O’Mara returned to the downtown Maysville gym and the three members from the Class of 2017 helped Basket Junkies beat The Original Ballers, 73-57, in the first Ladies Dirt Bowl.
“It was nice getting back here and playing with everybody,” said McNutt. “We’ve played a couple of times since we’ve graduated, but not actual games and not being competitive really, so it was fun.”
The three, who all scored over 1,000 points in their careers at Mason County and were key players in a run to the Houchens Industries/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet Sixteen Final Four in 2015, were joined by several others who play or played in college, including three others from a Thomas More squad that won the NCAA Division III national title earlier this year, one from Bellarmine University and a couple from Transylvania University, according to Boone. McNutt currently plays at Thomas More, Boone played there for a year and O’Mara is at Georgetown College after transferring from Bellarmine.
“I feel like we clicked a lot with the people that we didn’t know,” said O’Mara. “We passed it a lot. We did really good with sharing and getting good shots.
Those three, having trained and played in the gym for years, had a unique advantage and knew what to expect with temperatures in the mid-80s on Saturday.
“It’s funny because the girls we played with are like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so hot.’ We’re like ‘Yeah, this was every summer for us,’” said Boone.
The tournament started with pool play and the five teams in the event were seeded based on point differentials in those games. Basket Junkies were the top seed with a plus-40 differential, after knocking off We’re A Bucket – featuring several current and former Fleming County players, as well as Fleming County girls’ basketball coach Melanie Rogers – by 29 points in its first game and The Original Ballers by nine in its second.
The Original Ballers, a team featuring former Kentucky Wildcat and WNBA player Makayla Epps and Kyvin Goodin-Rogers, who played at Kentucky, Western Kentucky and Union, beat Showtime by 22 points in its first pool play game.
Basket Junkies topped We’re A Bucket in the first semifinal and The Original Ballers beat Showtime, a team featuring several area high school players. Showtime beat Too Old For This in the first elimination game.
After a nine-point victory over The Original Ballers earlier in the day, Basket Junkies didn’t waste any time pulling ahead in the championship.
The team took a 20-point lead at 29-9 with 6:40 to go in the first half, before The Original Ballers made a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 15. Basket Junkies responded with a 7-0 run, before eventually taking a 39-22 lead into the half. Rachel Cox had the hot hand, knocking down four 3-pointers and finishing the half with 14 points on the way to Pat Moore Tournament MVP honors.
“The key was just to do what we did earlier,” said McNutt. “Obviously stop Makayla Epps – she was the one scoring a lot of points – and play as a team like any other team would say.”
The Original Ballers attempted to mount a comeback in the second half behind Epps, who finished with 40 points in the loss, but a couple of big 3-pointers from McNutt prevented runs. She knocked down her first triple of the second half with under 12 minutes to play to make it 50-35 and a second with 1:41 to play to make it 71-57, before finishing off the 73-57 victory.
“Just put the ball in the basket. Just get points for my team,” said McNutt. “I wanted to keep the momentum going when we came in, subbed in. I know we wanted to win and that’s really the mentality.”
McNutt finished with 13 points. O’Mara and Boone each had three, while Cox led the team with 20 and Lauren Deel had 16.
The Maysville Classic, previously called and sometimes still referred to as the Dirt Bowl, has been played for three decades. Mason County graduate De’Sarae Chambers Perry, who scored 2,967 points with the Lady Royals before continuing her career at the University of Dayton, wanted to get a similar women’s tournament going and was happy with the result.
“I don’t think I could have asked for a better day,” said Perry. “I had lots and lots and lots of help. It takes a lot to pull off something this big and I’m really pleased with it.”
The men’s event, which will take place next weekend in downtown Maysville, annually draws high-caliber players, all the way up to the NBA level. Perry was glad to bring a similar product in the first year for the Ladies Dirt Bowl.
“I knew about the NCAA champions coming, but I did not know about Makayla Epps coming or Rogers coming, so it was a pleasant surprise,” said Perry. “I know a lot of people recognize their names and all the kids that saw them – I know they were really excited. It’s really good to have something that big of a magnitude here in Maysville, especially for the girls.”
McNutt, Boone and O’Mara are planning on returning in 2020 to defend the title, and Perry is hoping the event can continue to grow in the future.
“I plan to keep it going for as long as I possibly can,” said Perry. “When something happens this good, you can’t stop it, so we’re going to do it again.”
BASKET JUNKIES 73, THE ORIGINAL BALLERS 57
BASKET JUNKIES —- 39-34—- -73
THE ORIGINAL BALLERS —- -22-35—- -57
Scoring:
BASKET JUNKIES: Cox 20, Deel 16, McNutt 13, Temple 7, Rupp 4, Green 3, Boone 3, O’Mara 3, Boyle 2
THE ORIGINAL BALLERS: Epps 40, Henry 5, Royal 4, Simms 3, Rogers 3, Gibbs 2
