2003 Fifth Third Bank Prime Time Classic
Lexington Catholic High School
Lexington, Kentucky
December 20-23, 2003
© 2003 Ron Harrison

Lexington Catholic athletic director and 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 Christian County, #3 Lexington Catholic, #5 Newport Central Catholic, #6 Mercer County, #7 Rockcastle County, #8 Henderson County, #9 Muhlenberg North, and #10 Louisville Butler. Other pre-season ranked teams appearing in the tourney are #13 Clinton County, #14 East Carter, #15 Mercy Academy, #16 Elizabethtown, #27 Boyd County, and #25 Wayne County.

Many of the top players in the state are also scheduled to play in this star-studded event. Seventeen of the top twenty-five players in the Lexington Herald-Leader pre-season preview are featured in this tourney. The players are #1 Crystal Kelly (Sacred Heart), #3 Jade Perry (Muhlenberg North), #4 Arnika Brown (Christian County), #5 Carly Ormerod (Sacred Heart), #6 Patrika Barlow (Barren County), #7 Olivia Terry (Madison Central), #8 Kasi Mullins Galloway (Boyd County), #9 Nicole Chiodi (Newport Central Catholic), #11 Ashley Lewallen (Butler), #14 Kim Stapleton (East Carter), #15 Corkey Stiger (Christian County), #17 Jayme Thiem (Newport Central Catholic),#18 Shannon Novosel (Lexington Catholic), #19 Courtney Watts (Mercer County), #20 Amber Guffey (Clinton County), #24 Rachel Howard (Owensboro Catholic), and #25 Johnna Abney (Rockcastle County).

There will be a total of 61 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 extended 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.