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REGION DRAW PITS ROYALS WITH SCOTT, LADY ROYALS WITH DEMING, LADY BEARS WITH HARRISON CYNTHIANA | Mason County’s boys and girls and Bracken County and Dem- ing’s girls all face rematches in the opening round of this week’s 10th Region tourna- ment, while the Augusta and Deming boys face tough first-round draws. In the region tourney draw Saturday morning at Har- rison County, the Royals were matched with Scott on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Montgomery County. The Eagles beat the Royals 60-57 in the Fieldhouse on Dec. 9. The Lady Royals play Deming tonight at 6 p.m. at Campbell County Middle School. Mason beat the Lady Devils 43-39 Jan. 30 in Maysville. The Lady Bears oppose Harrison County in Tuesday night’s second game in Al- exandria. The Lady Bears beat the Fillies 69-28 in Cynthiana Jan. 5. Augusta’s boys are slated to face defending region champion and tournament favorite George Rogers Clark on Friday at 6 p.m. in Mount Sterling. The Black Devils will take on Campbell County fol- lowing that game. For more tournament cov- erage, see the special girls’ preview section in today’s edition and the boys’ pre- view on Thursday. — LI ROYALS FOURTH, LADY ROYALS SEVENTH IN LARGEST-EVER LOCAL INDOOR MEET Mason County concluded the local indoor track season on Saturday with the largest home meet in school history. The Royals finished fourth in the boys’ event, led by Nick Robinson’s first-place finish in the 3000-meter and second-place run in the 1600-meter. The Lady Royals came in seventh, paced by seventh- grader Rheagan Sizemore’s third-place 1600m per- formance and Andreana Bennett’s fourth-place long jump. Lewis County placed 13th and Fleming County 19th in the boys’ rankings, and the Lady Panthers were 20th in the girls’ event. Other local individual point-winners were Flem- ing’s Drew Brooks, Olivia Leet and Kelsey Jent, Ma- son’s Tee King, Tanner Campbell, Rashon Nelson, Shawn Deese, Alex Stahl, Brittany Hardin and Cara Ir- win, and Lewis’ Tanner Bar- ton and Chris Bloomfield. Louisville Central, Lloyd Memorial, Bryan Station, the Royals and Holmes were the top five boys’ teams. Rockcastle County, Male, St. Henry, Cooper and Bal- lard topped the girls’ event. Royals coach Mark Kachler said over 40 schools participated, with 839 ath- letes competing. — LI NASCAR POSTPONES DAYTONA 500 TO NOON MONDAY DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. | NASCAR postponed the Daytona 500 because of rain, the first time in the 54- year history of the event that it has been delayed a day. Heavy rain soaked Dayto- na International Speedway on Sunday, and NASCAR never had a big enough win- dow to dry the track. The 500-mile race is scheduled for noon today. It will be aired on Fox. Carl Edwards, runner-up to Tony Stewart in last year’s championship race, will start from the pole. Former IndyCar star Danica Patrick will make her Daytona 500 debut. Bored drivers spent Sun- day loitering around the motorhome lot, playing with their children and express- ing their frustration with the rain on Twitter. — AP sports TODAY'S SCORES TO GO! WWW.MAYSVILLE-ONLINE.COM/SPORTS MONDAY, 02.27.2012 | A6 COLIN FLY Associated Press LEXINGTON | Freshman Anthony Da- vis scored a career-high 28 points on 10- of-11 shooting, and No. 1 Kentucky beat Vanderbilt 83-74 on Saturday to win the Southeastern Conference regular season title for the 45th time. The Wildcats (28-1, 14-0) have won 51 straight at home and are on a 20-game winning streak overall. Kentucky trailed at halftime, however, and needed a late surge to put away the scrappy Commo- dores. Davis, who had 11 rebounds and six blocks, hit an 18-foot jumper as the shot clock expired with 1:06 left. Terrence Jones added a dunk, and Davis blocked Lance Goulbourne’s shot with 31 seconds to go to put the game away. Wildcats senior Darius Miller scored nine points and provided his typical steady hand in the clutch. Jeffery Taylor scored 19 points for Vanderbilt (20-9, 9-5), and John Jenkins added 15 of his 18 points in the second half. Kentucky’s fellow freshmen also chipped in. Point guard Marquis Teague scored 16 points, and Michael Kidd-Gil- christ had eight points and eight rebounds before fouling out for the Wildcats, who trailed at halftime at home for just the second time this year. That proved to be no big deal, thanks to Davis, one of the leading candidates for national player of the year. Davis’ play put Kentucky in position to finish a perfect record in the SEC with a home game Thursday night against Geor- gia and on the road against Florida next Sunday. Only two teams since 1956 have fin- ished league play undefeated — Kentucky in 1996 and 2003. The 1996 team went on to win a national title, and the ‘03 group lost in the regional finals. KENTUCKY 83, VANDERBILT 74 Davis shines, Cats clinch SEC TAMMIE BROWN, THE LEDGER INDEPENDENT Kentucky’s Anthony Davis (23) flips up a shot during the Wildcats’ 83-74 defeat of Vanderbilt on Sat- urday afternoon in Lexington. BRAD LAUX For The Ledger Independent MOREHEAD | Upsets highlighted the majority of the district tournament results setting up several unexpected matchups for the 2012 16th Region boys’ and girls’ tournaments, which begin tonight with girls quarterfinal games at the sites of the four district champions. However, there do appear to be two clear favorites in the field — the Rowan County boys and the Ashland Blazer girls. The Vikings, last year’s state run- ners-up, will look to defend their title after capturing their third straight 61st District crown on Friday. Fleming County (16-16) will be the lone local boys’ representative. The 61st District runner-up Panthers make their third consecutive region appear- ance Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. against Ashland Blazer (21-11), last year’s tour- nament runner-up and 64th District champion. Fleming County won in Ashland 75- 69 on Feb. 4 and went 7-3 in their last 10 games of the regular season. If the Panthers advance to the semifi- nals, they would face either East Carter (14-16) or Russell (18-13) on Friday at 8 p.m. Fleming County coach Brian Kelly likes his draw. “I’ve never been one to say, I hope we get this team or that team. You’ve got to play your best at this time of the year,” he said. “But I like our bracket. We’ve beaten all three teams every time we’ve played them. That gives us confidence, but also a bulls-eye on our back and none of those teams will overlook us.” Ashland played the Panthers without one of its best players, senior forward Cody Withrow, but Tomcats coach Buddy Biggs knows it will take more than just Withrow to get past the Pan- thers. 16th Region tournaments commence LADY PANTHERS, LADY LIONS HOST QUARTERFINALS Associated Press STARKVILLE, Miss. | A’Dia Mathies and Bernisha Pinkett scored 13 points each to lead No. 13 Kentucky to a 76- 40 victory Sunday over Mississippi State and clinch the Wildcats’ first regular season Southeastern Confer- ence title in 30 years. It was a school-record 13th confer- ence win for the Wildcats, despite los- ing three in a row earlier this month. “It’s been a long, long process and journey for them,” Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said. “Starting 10-0, you feel like you’re doing good things, and then comes the 3-game losing streak. Battling through that, it’s made the end of the season sweeter.” KENTUCKY 76, MISSISSIPPI STATE 40 Wildcats women win first SEC title in 30 years ASSOCIATED PRESS Kentucky guard Maegan Conwright (20) shoots as Mississippi State guard Diamber Porter (3) attempts to block the shot during the first half of Kentucky’s victory Sunday in Starkville, Miss. TOM WITHERS Associated Press GOODYEAR, Ariz. | Reclining in his office before the Reds’ morning workouts, Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker gnawed on one of his trademark toothpicks and pulled a pair of red- and-white No. 12 wristbands over his forearms, looking much the way he did when he played. Baker was relaxed, confident. Didn’t seem to have a care in the world. And maybe with good reason. While the NL Central’s top two teams lost superstars — Albert Pujols from St. Louis, Prince Fielder from Milwaukee — this winter, the Reds re- loaded. Cincinnati poised for title run PHILLIPS: ‘I FEEL LIKE THIS IS OUR YEAR’ Reds man- ager Dusty Baker watches as Scott Rolen hits during batting practice at a spring training workout in Goodyear, Ariz., on Friday. ASSOCIATED PRESS See KENTUCKY, A8 See TITLE, A7 See REDS, A7 See 16TH, A7
