Kinda Sweet 16
Spring Break is a wonderful time of year. You get to leave campus, see family and friends, go on a mini vacation, and in some cases get wild. For my spring break plans I had discussed possibly going on a trip with some friends or maybe a getaway with my girlfriend but all changed when I got a call from my dad. “The girls made the Sweet 16 and we are going.”
The girls he mentioned were the women’s basketball team at Harlan County High School where my dad is a dual credit Communications teacher. The team this year was impressive at 28-2 going into the state basketball tournament. They won the school’s first regional girl basketball championship days before in dominating fashion by a score of 78-51. The star of the team is senior Blair Green who has committed to play at the University of Kentucky.
I will get to the team and the Sweet 16 game later but this blog is going to be more about the trip to the game and the experience with my family.
My dad has always been a basketball fan. His father, my grandfather, was an assistant boy’s basketball coach in Michigan where he grew up and his mother, my grandmother, taught him how to shoot. She also beat me in a game of horse as a 7 year old and I can tell you that she has a pretty, devastating shot. My dad was later the scorekeeper for the Jenkins High School Women’s Basketball team in the early 80’s that went on the win the All A State Championship. As a high school teacher and college professor he now gets to teach and interact with athletes in all sports but has maintained the strongest love for hoops.
My mother is not as big on the sports. She will watch the games with us as a family but doesn’t always understand what’s going on as sports were outlawed from her very religious family growing up. She enjoys watching only basketball and always makes little comments during the game that are very entertaining such as “Those refs don’t know a thing about ball” and “If they keep playing this close I’m gonna have to go hide.” If games get close with a few minutes left she will literally go sit in another room until it’s over because it makes her too nervous.
My family has always traveled to state championships to watch the HC Black Bears and as I said earlier that this year was no different. The Girl’s Sweet 16 was held at Northern Kentucky University’s BB&T Arena in Highland Heights, KY just south of Cincinnati. We headed out on Wednesday morning on our journey. We spent time talking stats and how we thought that Lainey Cox would have a breakout game, we were right as she scored 17 points and led the team in FG percentage and rebounds, and listened to a lot of 80’s music. My mom, a casual sports watcher, did not care about stats and only added that she wanted the refs to be fair.
The game itself was not as good as the trip. The Harlan County Black Bears faced the Cardinals of George Rodgers Clark High School and had an 8-2 lead to start the game but then swiftly fell apart and did not lead again after the half. The HC fans believed it was a poorly called game including my mother who for the first time in her life yelled at a ref to “Treat those girls fair!” In the end the Black Bears fell 70-56 and the Cardinals moved on. The Harlan fans were not dejected though. Out of everything said at the end of the game one phrase was said by most of the fans including all 3 members of the Hughes family.
“We’ll be back next year.”
