2002 Fifth Third Bank Prime Time Classic
Lexington Catholic High School
Lexington, Kentucky
December 20-23, 2002
© 2002 Ron Harrison

Lexington Catholic coach Greg Todd has put together another great four days of basketball. Nine of the top ten teams in the Lexington Herald-Leader pre-season preview are entered in this event. The teams entered are #1 Sacred Heart, #2 Lexington Catholic, #3 Jackson County, #4 Clinton County, #5 Christian County, #6 West Carter, #7 Harrison County, #8 Mercy Academy, and #10 Muhlenberg North. Other pre-season ranked teams appearing in the tourney are #13 Newport Central Catholic, #16 Mercer County, #17 Wayne County, #22 Butler, #23 Henderson County, and #24 Holmes.

Many of the top players in the state are also scheduled to play in this star-studded event. Fifteen of the top twenty-five players in the Lexington Herald-Leader pre-season preview are featured in this tourney. The players are #1 Chelsea Chowning (Lexington Catholic), #2 Megen Gearhart (West Carter), #3 Crystal Kelly (Sacred Heart), #4 Jade Perry (Muhlenberg North), #5 Sarah Elliott (Jackson County), #6 Angela Brown (Clinton County), #8 Megan Gray (Harrison County), #10 Carly Ormerod (Sacred Heart), #12 Arnika Brown (Christian County), #16 Nicole Chiodi (Newport Central Catholic), #21 Sarah Schell (Lexington Catholic), #22 Becca Kopple (Sacred Heart), #23 Angela Mullins (Hopkins County Central), #24 Lauren Parrish (Mercy Academy), and #25 Savanna Wynn (Cawood).

There will be a total of 59 games played in three gyms over a four day period, culminating in an overall championship between the American Division and the National Division winners. I will attempt to provide a capsule report on as many games as possible with expended coverage on each game I view in its entirety. Spelling of names varies from program to program and sometimes the heights of the players are not provided so I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies in these areas.