Prep Sports Report: NewCath senior guard closing in on school’s career scoring record in basketball

By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Senior guard Caroline Eaglin scored a season-high 37 points in her first game of the new year on Friday to continue her bid to break Newport Central Catholic’s career scoring record in basketball that’s shared by two former players.

NewCath defeated Ryle, 69-61, on Friday behind Eaglin’s 13th consecutive double-figure scoring total of the season. The 5-foot-9 guard made 11 field goals, including a season-high five treys, and converted 10 of 11 free throws on her home court.

She lifted her career scoring total to 2,098 points in the victory. The NewCath school record is 2,124 points set by 2001 graduate Ronny Dawn for boys and matched by 2004 graduate Nicole Chiodi for girls.

Eaglin will take a 22.3 scoring average into next week’s 9th Region All “A” Classic at St. Henry High School. NewCath is supposed to play Beechwood in a quarterfinal game at 6 p.m. Tuesday, but an incoming snowstorm could change the tournament schedule.

Eaglin was the top scorer in 9th Region girls basketball the last two seasons with averages of 24.8 as a sophomore and 21.9 as a junior. Last spring, she was the first player recruited by Northern Kentucky University’s new women’s head basketball coach Jeff Hans.

She surpassed the 2,000-point mark in career scoring last week in the opening game of a holiday tournament in Tennessee. She has scored 100 points in the last four games for the Thoroughbreds, who have a 7-6 record.

Beechwood quarterback makes college choice

Beechwood senior quarterback Clay Hayden, who set Northern Kentucky career passing records with the Tigers, has made a commitment with the University of Indianapolis and plans to sign a letter of the intent on Feb. 5.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound recruit will be joining an Indianapolis program that was ranked No. 19 in NCAA Division II after finishing the season with a 10-2 record.

According to Beechwood team statistics posted on the khsaa.org website, Hayden passed for 8,882 yards and 117 touchdowns in 42 games over three seasons. He surpassed the Northern Kentucky records set by his predecessor at Beechwood, Cam Hergott, who passed for 8,537 yards and 97 touchdowns.

The Tigers won Class 2A state championships in 2022 and 2024 with Hayden running the offense. He missed the first five games in the 2022 season due to an injury and came back to pass for 1,822 yards and 21 touchdowns in 10 games.

As a junior, he passed for 3,910 yards and 48 TDs on the 2023 team that lost in the Class 2A state semifinals. The passing stats for his senior season included 2,981 yards and 46 touchdowns. He also had 169 passing yards and two TDs as a freshman.

Simon Kenton grad leads nation in blocked shots

Simon Kenton graduate Gabe Dynes leads NCAA Division I men’s basketball in blocked shots with 49 and blocks per game with 3.27 playing center for the Youngstown State (Ohio) team that has a home conference game against Northern Kentucky University on Wednesday.

The 7-foot-3 sophomore tied a career-high with seven blocks in the season-opener and has rejected at least one shot in 13 of 15 games for the Penguins, who are off to a 10-5 start that includes a 5-0 record in Horizon Conference games.

Dynes is also averaging 7.0 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. He’s shooting .657 percent (46 of 70) from the field, but he doesn’t have enough attempts to qualify for conference or national statistics in that category.

In his freshman season, Dynes recorded 61 blocks in 27 games. His two-year total of 110 blocks currently ranks fifth in the Youngstown State record book. The career record is 309.