The Junior Varsity game was won by our JV Lady Kats by the score of 32 to 21. 
They are undefeated so far with 3 wins and no losses.

 Western now owns its first girls basketball victory over Kokomo since 1989. All-Area player Nicole Rogers hit the game-winning shot with 17 seconds remaining and finished with a game-high 24 points to lead the Panthers to a 41-39 victory over the Kats on Tuesday night at Richard R. Rea Gymnasium. “It means a lot because we’ve been working hard in practice,” said Rogers, who was a key player on the volleyball squad, too. “We’ve been working super hard for this game, setting up for it. I’m just ecstatic.” The Kats held a 37-31 lead after Anastacia Kirby scored on a putback with 2:41 remaining. The Panthers closed the game on a 10-2 run to shock their visitors. “Coach [Kathie Layden] pulled us all together and basically told us to leave it all out there on the floor because this was one of our biggest games, and we had to come back from last weekend,” Rogers said, referring to a 52-43 loss to Taylor. “We did not do very well in that game so we had to make a statement saying, ‘We’re not going to be beaten.’ We were tough and we pulled it out.” Rogers ignited the comeback with a pair of free throws at 2:10 and a 3-pointer at 1:20, pulling the Panthers within 37-36. After Kokomo’s Arienne Beard split a pair of free throws at 1:16, Western’s Caitlyn O’Neal drew a foul on a baseline drive. The Panther freshman coolly made both free throws for a 38-all tie at 1:06. Western’s Allison Everetts rebounded a Kokomo miss and was fouled at :45. She missed her first attempt, but made her second attempt to put the Panthers up 39-38, their first lead since the final minute of the second quarter. Kokomo knotted the score when Lisa Hopkins, after grabbing an offensive rebound off a missed free throw, split a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left. From there, the Panthers played for a good look. Rogers came open after running the baseline. She received a pass from Allison Lindley and drilled an 18-foot jumper. “Our point guard did exactly what our coach told us and my teammates ran the play perfectly to get me a wide-open shot. I’m really proud of them,” Rogers said.  Kokomo came up empty on its final possession, missing a 3-pointer.  Fittingly, Rogers grabbed the rebound to secure the win. First-year Western coach Layden loved her squad’s effort. “We came out and executed the game plan and I thought we played smart and played hard, and played with confidence,” she said. Western led 13-8 after the opening quarter, but Kokomo led 20-16 at halftime and 29-27 after three quarters. All-Area center Kelly Hopkins powered the Kats‘ charge, but she fouled out with 6:11 remaining after picking up her fourth and fifth fouls in a span of two seconds. She finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds. “We had just one senior play [Tuesday] because of injuries and she fouled out in the fourth quarter so we had a lot of underclassmen playing huge minutes,” Kokomo coach Jason Snyder said. “They were in the right spots and we had good looks. As we get a little more experience, we’re going to get a little stronger and finish those [looks] and finish at the free throw line. “Western is a talented group that is very young, and they’ve been to able to get some varsity experience throughout the beginning of this season and they’re very well coached. And Nicole, who obviously has a lot of varsity experience, really stepped up and made some shots down the stretch. I think that was a big difference.” Kokomo let the game slip away at the free throw line. Snyder’s squad hit just 7 of 23 attempts, including just 4 of 13 in the fourth quarter.This is a great atmosphere to get us ready for big conference games and big sectional games,“ Snyder said. “You’re standing on the free throw line and people are yelling and screaming and going crazy. We want to be in these situations. Now, we want to be able to finish those.” Kirby had a nice game for the Kats, scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Western freshmen Jessica Givens, Carley O’Neal and Caitlyn O’Neal combined for 13 points. Kokomo, which had beaten Western 24 straight times before Tuesday, owns a 36-11 lead in the all-time series.

Kokomo’s girls basketball team found itself in need of an offensive spark following a three-game losing streak during which it scored just 29 points per game. Jordan Johnson provided it when Kokomo returned to action on Saturday against visiting Marion, drilling four 3-pointers and scoring a career-high 16 points to lead the Wildkats to a 50-38 victory in North Central Conference action. The Wildkats came into the game shooting just 25 percent from 3-point range and they had made no more than three 3-pointers in a game, but they looked like a different team against the Giants. The Kats connected on 8 of 15 3-point attempts — including 6 of 8 over the middle two quarters to make up for a slow start. Anastcia Kirby, Kendra Ryker, Arienne Beard and Caroline Harbaugh also connected from 3-land for the Red and Blue. “It’s obvious teams are going to try to take our post game away,” Kokomo coach Jason Snyder said. “I did not do a good job at the beginning of the season getting some of our [perimeter players] understanding where good shots are going to be so we spent the last week trying to do that, and giving our girls confidence as shooters and players. “When defenses are packing in like that, we have to have people step up and knock down shots and we’ve known we’ve had [the potential], but sometimes you don’t pass that along to them,” Snyder added. “I thought we had a good week of practice and they were much more comfortable and confident. And the other thing is, we were back home after three tough road games. It’s nice to be home again.” Down 13-6 early in the second quarter, Harbaugh, Ryker and Kirby hit 3-pointers to key an 11-0 run. For Ryker and Kirby, it was their first 3-point attempts of the season. Kokomo held a 17-16 advantage at halftime, but Marion raced to a 27-21 lead deep in the third quarter. The Kats responded with a 21-2 run to build a commanding 42-29 lead at 5:55 of the fourth quarter. The Giants came no closer than nine the rest of the way. Johnson keyed the run, hitting three 3-pointers and a long deuce in the final 2:27 of the third quarter and following with her fourth triple at 7:01 of the fourth quarter. Snyder loved how Johnson shot the ball with confidence and how Johnson and her teammates reacted after she drilled a triple in the final second of the third quarter. “It’s fun to see the girls develop as basketball players and as young women,” he said. “That’s the great part about this job. You get caught up on wins and losses and things like that, but it’s a lot of fun watching your players develop. We saw some of it right in front of our eyes there, a basketball player gaining some confidence, and it will make us a much better team.” Johnson finished with a nice line of 16 points, six rebounds and three assists. Kokomo center Kelly Hopkins scored nine points, grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and drew heavy defensive attention that created open perimeter looks for her teammates. Also for the Kats, Beard had eight points, four steals, two assists and just one turnover, Harbaugh offered seven points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals and Kirby chipped in seven points and five boards. Katrina Blackmon, a Wright State recruit, led Marion with a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds. The Kats improved to 30-11 all-time against the Giants following their 29th win in the last 30 meetings between the teams. Kokomo is 6-4 overall and 3-1 in NCC play. Richmond held the league lead going into Saturday, but it fell to Huntington North and now every team has at least one league loss. “It’s going to be a dogfight,” Snyder said. “We have a lot of teams that are very close together talent-wise and experience-wise so this was obviously a big win. It’s tough to win conference if you have two losses. We know if we can hold on with just one loss, we will control our own destiny. We just have to keep getting better.”