Shelby Valley wins first ever State Championship Title

April 14, 2010

Road to Rupp | PNC | KHSAA Sweet 16


The lights were dimmed, the fans were cheering and Rupp was rocking…but the UK Basketball team wasn’t even in Lexington. Tonight, Rupp was taken over by highschoolers. The occasion? The KHSAA Boys’ Basketball Championship game.

In tonight’s game, the Ballard Bruins and the Shelby Valley Wildcats would face off for the title. Both teams had a hard road to get here. Shelby Valley had to defeat Paducah Tilghman, West Jessamine and Mason County, while Ballard had to beat Shelby County, Warren Central and Scott County.

It was Shelby Valley who scored the first point, but Ballard soon answered with a huge dunk for senior Keisten Jones to tie it up. Late in the first quarter, Shelby Valley would go on an 8-2 scoring streak against the Bruins to put them up by four. They would hold on to their four point leaded, and the quarter ended Shelby Valley 20, Ballard 16.

The second quarter started off quickly, when Shelby Valley went on a a 6-0 streak in the first two minutes of play, putting them up by 12. It wasn’t long before Ballard fought back though, and in their own 6-0 scoring streak, they had drawn within three of the Wildcats.  Shelby Valley was able to gain some of their lead back, and as the half ended, they were up on Ballard 36-32.

Shelby Valley came out of the locker room hot, and within a minute had stretched their lead back to 10. Shelby Valley would continue to score unanswered points, stretching their lead even further to 14.  Ballard wasn’t out of the game yet though, and would outscore Shelby Valley by 10 in the remainder of the quarter. It ended Shelby Valley 50, Ballard 47.

With four  minutes to play in the game, Ballard had cut Shelby Valley’s lead to only three. This would be the closest Ballard would get to Shelby Valley, who held on to a lead for the last three quarters With two minutes left to play in the game, Shelby Valley began to pull away and as the confetti fell and the trophy was held high in the air, the Shelby Valley Wildcats would celebrate their first ever State Championship. The final score was Shelby Valley 73 Ballard 61.

For Shelby Valley, Ashley Hatfield led with 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Elisha Justice, their leading scorer for the tournament, had 17 points, as well as Taylor Newsome. Justice would also win the State Tournament MVP award. For Ballard, Ian Chiles led, with 23 points, 15 of those in the second half.