By LARRY VAUGHT
What had been a “stressful” season in many ways ended with Marshall County freshman golfer Trinity Beth winning her first individual state championship.
She was part of Marshall’s 2020 and 2021 state championship teams and this season her team finished second behind Madison Central.
“I am so excited that I won and glad I finished the way I did,” said Beth, a three-time Kentucky Miss Golf and 2021 state runner-up. “I put so much pressure on myself and I wanted our team to win again but I knew if I just did the best I could, that was all I could do.
“I was hoping it would work out for the team but it didn’t quite do that. But I won the individual title, so there was not much more I could have done. It was disappointing we didn’t win but we still had a really good year.”
Beth had a 36-hole score of 1-under par to beat Lyon County senior Cathryn Brown, a Kentucky commit, by three strokes. Beth had a one-stroke lead after the first round but added a 1-under par 71 the second day to secure the win.
She was 3-under par after four holes the second day and had a six-shot lead at one time before she made five bogeys in an eight-hole stretch to let Brown get back within striking range. She said she got a bit “unlucky” on the 14th hole when her second shot hit a tree that led to a bogey.
“Then I got a little too flustered and that led to bogeys on 15 and 16. I did birdie the last two holes, so that made me feel better,” she said. “After 16, my dad (Marshall coach Aaron Beth) told me just to pretend I had just made a birdie to put me two shots up and just forget the bogey. I don’t really know how stressed he was because he stayed so calm and that helped keep me calm.”
Beth, age 15, said winning Miss Golf again had been her biggest goal all season because that is based on her season-long performance and not one specific tournament.
“That’s a reward for playing well all season and really means a lot to me,” she said.
How well did she play? She won 11 of 14 tournaments and was 32-under par in those tournaments. She was over par just once all season.
“I think I still need to work on a lot of things in my game,” she said.
That’s why she doesn’t take extended time off. She’ll again play in major junior tournaments across the country during the winter,
Beth admits her family has thought of moving to a southern state to make it easier for her to play golf in warm weather year-round.
“Most everyone that I play against in AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) lives south at least half a year,” Beth said. “I do not feel like I need to do that. This is our home. My school and family are here. It (moving) sounds nice but it’s working just fine the way it is.”
Beth will soon be hearing from a lot of college coaches, including Kentucky. She says college coaches use national tournaments to look for talent more than high school championships.
“In other states high school golf is not like it is here,” she said. “The competition we have in Kentucky is better. College coaches just don’t focus on high school events. Colleges around here would realize what winning a state championship in Kentucky means but a lot of coaches across the country would not.”
Beth now has three top five individual finishes at the state tourney to go with two team championships and one runner-up team finish. She admits the goal now is to win three more individual titles and hopefully more team championships, too.
“I want to win a national championship. I want to get involved in international play if I can,” she said. “I love golf and want to do all that I can and that’s why I know I have to keep getting better. There are so many great players out there and I want to be one of them, too.”
Tennessee played Kentucky three times last season — and won twice — and coach Rick Barnes got a full understanding of everything that UK All-American Oscar Tshiebwe, the 2021-22 national player of the year, could do.
Tshiebwe had nine points, 12 rebounds and three steals in a win in Knoxville. He had 13 points, 15 rebounds and two steals in a loss in Lexington. In UK’s loss to the Vols in the SEC Tournament, Tshiebwe had 13 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. He averaged 11.6 points and 12.6 rebounds per game against the Vols — both below his season average.
Barnes was still very complimentary of Tshiebwe during the SEC Media Days.
“He does a great job of fighting for his space on the floor. He knows where he wants the ball, and he is so quick, twitch from his shoulders getting the ball up over his head. He has terrific touch around the basket. If you get him position in there, he just knows how to work his body,” Barnes said.
“If you’re not ready early to defend him, he is going to put it on you. He is shooting the ball. He started making that little 15-, 17-foot jumper last year. But the biggest thing I would say is he is just so effective.
“You almost need two guys to block him out because, again, he has that great second and third jump, quick-twitch muscles to get up and get it. I love the fact that when he catches it, he gets it out of his hands real quick and makes it hard to defend.”
Lexington Christian quarterback Cutter Boley visited Penn State last weekend and plans to go to Michigan this weekend. He’s already made visits to Kentucky, LSU and Tennessee this season.
The 6-5, 205-pound Boley has scholarship offers from Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi State, Missouri, Nebraska, Mississippi, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Kansas.
Boley says even on his visits he’s looking for things to learn that can help him improve his game but also the biggest purpose of the visit is to build a relationship with a head coach and offensive coordinator.
“I know offensive coordinators come and go at bigger schools because most are wanting to be head coaches. I just try to get as close as I can to the head coach because that is the relationship you really have to value,” Boley said.
“I know I am not going to fit into a quarterback heavy run offense. That’s not my game,” Boley said. “I can run but it is not my strength. Fortunately every SEC school is a pro-style offense and most Big Ten and ACC teams are like that, too.”
Boley says he almost always gets about 15 minutes with a head coach when he makes a college visit. He enjoyed talking with LSU coach Brian Kelly. Same with Tennessee coach Josh Heupel and he’s eager to talk with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
“I know coaches like that will be there when I decide to go (to school). I am close to tons of head coaches. I really like Mark Stoops. I value my relationships with them a lot,” he said.
The high school playoffs start in November and Boley says he will focus on that and not college visits.
“I am a player before a recruit. I will focus more on my guys and team and the big run we are going to make in the playoffs,” Boley said.
Once football ends, he’s not sure about basketball. He averaged 13 points and 5.2 rebounds per game at LaRue County last season. His sister, Erin, is a former Kentucky Miss Basketball and his father, Scott, scored 2,129 points in his LaRue career.
“I might play but I might not. Hopefully I will not hurt my ankle again (playing football). If I tweak it again, I probably won’t play basketball,” Boley said. “But as of right now I plan to give it a shot. I like basketball but not as much as football.
Vince Marrow says the Kentucky football team has a fitting nickname for 6-6, 330-pound true freshman defensive lineman Deone Walker of Detroit.
“We call him Sundown,” the UK associate head coach said. “When he walks in, the sun goes down.”
He does have that kind of dominating physical presence that made him a four-star recruit and top 250 player nationally in his recruiting class.
Walker has made his presence felt in a “big” way for UK this season. Among all FBS defensive interior players with at least 100 pass rush snaps, Walker ranks second with a 9.41 pass rush grade with Pro Football Focus. Walker has 17 tackles in seven games.
Marrow said UK fans have not seen anything near the best from Walker yet.
“He is young but he is a big dude. As he keeps getting in game shape, this dude has a chance to do something really good,” Marrow said.
The UK associate coach credits UK defensive line coach Anwar Stewart for doing a “great job” with Walker.
“You see Stew starting to play some other young and bringing them along,” Marrow said. “I am also impressed with the way he has Justin (Rogers) anchoring that defensive line. Those guys see what Deone is doing and it pushes them all.”
Former Kentucky all-American Rhyne Howard averaged 16.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.59 steals in 31.3 minutes in 34 games (all starts) in her first WNBA season for the Atlanta Dream to win rookie of the year honors. She led all WNBA rookies in points, assists, steals and minutes per game.
“I was so proud of Rhyne and what she has accomplished in the WNBA. She took the WNBA by storm, but we were not surprised,” Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy said at SEC Media Days. “If you listen to any of my press conferences, I kept saying she will be a better pro than a college athlete because they couldn’t load up on her.
“She could spread the floor and let her do what she does best, but she is a 6-2 guard that is strong, that shoots 3’s like people shoot free-throws, but her basketball IQ is unbelievable. So watching her do what she does best, it warms my heart as a coach because she put a lot of work in.”
Elzy said there is no replacing Howard, a “once-in-a-lifetime” player for any coach.
“I returned five core players that understand the standard and expectations at Kentucky, but they’ve also been in the trenches and had to produce in big games.”
Kentucky commit Tommy Ziesmer had 61 tackles, including 27 solo stops, and 10 quarterback sacks last year for Class 4A state champion Boyle County. He’s having an even better season this year for the Rebels with 42 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, five quarterback sacks and two forced fumbles.
“Whatever he needs to do, he does it,” Boyle County coach Justin Haddix said. “He’s just special. If you look stat-wise, you have to remember he’s playing both ways this year. We have had to have him on the O-line this year and he’s done a great job there for us.”
Ziesmer verbally committed to Kentucky in May. He’s a 6-2, 225-pound defensive end who moves around a lot on defense this year to keep teams from scheming ways to block him.
“He’s got a better understanding of what to do this year,” Haddix said. “He’s so much more versatile. We play him at tackle and tight end on offense. We move him around on defense. He has played a lot of reps and just understands the game. He’s played in a state championship game every year and we hope he has one more trip to the championship this year.”
One of Ziesmer’s biggest improvements has been his intensity.
“His motor is running a lot better and a lot of that is just maturity. He sees the end (of his high school career). He has cherished playing here and in this culture,” Haddix said. “Kentucky is getting a really good player.”
Boyle will host unbeaten Frederick Douglass Friday night in one of the state’s top games. The Rebels won 34-7 last season when Ziesmer had five tackles, including one tackle for loss, and one forced fumble.
Quote of the Week: “Playing extremely fast, very talented. Quarterback is playing at a very high level. They deserve to be ranked where they have them,” Mark Stoops on No. 3 Tennessee, the team UK plays Saturday.
Quote of the Week 2: “I know I have to be better. I don’t need a fan to tell me that. When I look at a fan saying all that stuff about you, they know what you can be. You just got to go out there and do it,” Anthony Davis on fan criticism in an interview with Los Angeles Times.
Quote of the Week 3: “There is one ball. There are five positions. There’s 40 minutes. My job is to put a team on the floor and the best people that give us a chance to win. They’ve really bought into that mentality,” Kentucky women’s coach Kyra Elzy on her “Built Different” theme for this team.