What a high school basketball season it has been, and the 13th Region isn’t through just yet with Harlan County ready to make a run for its first state championship.
With that said, the L4 Security 13th Region Media Network awards will be announced this weekend, and as always, it’s exciting to see who will win the awards.
Now, I’m not giving anything away, but let’s talk about the two front-runners for the boys’ and girls’ Player of the Year awards.
Harlan County’s Trent Noah and Knox Central’s Halle Collins have been the most consistent players throughout the 2023-24 campaign.
Noah has guided the Black Bears to a 31-4 record and an 18-0 mark against 13th Region competition.
He currently ranks second all-time behind former North Laurel star Reed Sheppard as the 13th Region’s career points scored leader.
He’s averaging 29.7 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game, and has my vote for this season’s Mr. Basketball award.
What’s really impressive is Noah has scored 1,038 points this season alone. Heck, most players would love to score 1,000 points in a career.
He’s shooting 56 percent and 89 percent, that’s right, 89 percent, from the free-throw line.
These numbers alone combined with what he has accomplished in his career make Noah, in my book, a great choice for Mr. Basketball.
And let’s get to Collins.
Collins is a junior standout who has dominated the competition this season.
Just call her Miss Double-Double because she’s a point-scoring and rebounding machine.
Collins played a huge role in Knox Central winning its first 13th Region Tournament game since 1998.
She scored 717 points this season and averaged 23.1 per game during the 2023-24 campaign.
She connected on 53.3 percent of her shots and is an 80 percent free-throw shooter.
You won’t find a harder worker than Collins, that’s for sure. She pulled down 416 rebounds this season, good enough for a 13.4 rebounding average.
Like I said, in my book, I’m going with Trent Noah as the state’s Mr. Basketball, and the way Collins continues to play, she should be considered among the front-runners for Miss Basketball next season.
We are blessed to have the student-athletes that we have in the 13th Region.
