'Year of the Tiger' comes to Bellevue after historic girls basketball win over Highlands
The “Year of the Tiger” has produced another historic event.
It represents the recent beginning Feb. 1 of the Chinese New Year, which has the Tiger as its animal symbol for the year. Plus, the symbol boded well for the Bengal tiger players from Cincinnati, who are in Los Angeles preparing for Super Bowl 56.
While the Bengals are hoping for a historic win Sunday, a Northern Kentucky group of Tigers had a monumental win of their own Wednesday night.
The Bellevue High School girls basketball team defeated Highlands 52-45 at Bellevue’s Ben Flora Gym. Bellevue improved to 14-7 and Highlands dropped to 8-13.
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The Enquirer is trying to learn the last time the Tigers beat the Bluebirds, but according to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association website, Highlands has won all 21 games between the teams since 1999. Their last six meetings since 2017 have been decided by 42 points or more.
Highlands has been a consistently successful program, a lot of it with head coach Jaime Richey as a coach or player. Kentucky’s Miss Basketball of 1996 scored 4,948 career points and has been the head coach of the Bluebirds for the past 20 seasons, collecting her 400th career win earlier this week.
Bellevue won 17 games three seasons ago but the small All “A” Classic school near the Ohio River has never won the Ninth Region Tournament.
Bellevue’s leading scorer for the season is senior center Deja Joseph, who averages 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The win signifies that the Tigers have a chance to advance to the Ninth Region Tournament later this month.
Bellevue head coach Tommy Sorrell tweeted Wednesday night: "Heck of a Win for the Lady Tigers tonight over Highlands! 52-45. So Proud of how hard the girls played! And the 6th Man was off the Charts again tonight! Thank you again for your support at these games! Means more than you’ll ever know!”
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bellevue girls basketball celebrates historic win
