Elisha Justice is the greatest thief in the history of Kentucky high school boys basketball.
The 5-foot-11 senior point guard from Pikeville Shelby Valley has stolen the ball an amazing 501 times during his outstanding four-year career. The previous record of 499 by William Shearer of Monticello Wayne County had stood since 1995. 
Elisha Justice, Pikeville Shelby Valley
Photo courtesy of Tommy Lawson
"He’s really quick and has got quick hands," coach Jason Booher pointed out. "We press the entire time. He’s up front on the (2-2-1) press and really creates havoc. He gets a lot of steals on the ball and a lot off the ball because our team puts on a lot of pressure. Defensively, he plays as hard as anybody I’ve ever had."
Justice is much more than a defensive player, however. He is averaging an impressive 20.2 points, 6.5 assists, 4.2 steals, 4.0 rebounds and is shooting 53.9 percent from the field. He already holds school records for career points (1,837) and assists (575). Each of the last two years he has paced the Wildcats to the All "A" (small schools) state championship and been named MVP. During his career, he has helped Shelby Valley post a superb 106-17 record.
Booher gives Justice a lot of credit for building himself up after being "a scrawny eighth-grader." The Shelby Valley coach sees his star as a strong candidate for Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball award. He calls him "the best this area ever has had."
Though he has had scholarship offers from Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville, Army and Navy, Justice plans to walk on at Louisville. Booher explained that he wants to become a college coach and he likes Rick Pitino’s track record of turning out future coaches.
Bibby’s record surpassed
Senior guard Corey Hawkins scored 41 points in just three quarters as Goodyear Estrella Foothills routed Sedona Red Rock, 113-51. That gave him 3,004 career points, breaking the 14-year-old Arizona state record of 3,002 by current NBA guard Mike Bibby.
The Arizona State-bound star, who is the son of former NBA player Hersey Hawkins, has helped his team to a 108-5 record and two state titles, with a third title a strong possibility. Waiting in the wings is his brother, Devon, a freshman guard.
* Terrence Jones scored a school-record 42 points as Jefferson (Portland, Ore.) rolled past Marshall, 108-81. He could be joined by Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.) transfer Terrence Ross, who wound up at Jefferson after first announcing he was transferring to Westwind Academy (Phoenix, Ariz.). Ross starred at Jefferson before attending Montrose Christian.
* Butler (Huntsville, Ala.) has lost standout 6-4 junior guard Trevor Lacey for the remainder of the season due to a knee injury. He was averaging 22.6 points.
* Ben McLemore, a 6-3 junior guard, scored a school-record 50 points (21 of 26 from the field) as Wellston (Mo.) defeated Affton, 91-59. He also had 12 rebounds, seven assists and five steals. For the year, he is averaging 28 points, 13.3 rebounds and 6.4 assists.
* Culver Military Academy (Ind.) is a rising basketball power under third-year coach Alan Huss. The Eagles are flying High with an 11-7 record and six-game winning streak. The streak includes victories against Indianapolis Pike (with star junior guard Marquis Teague) and Gary Bowman Academy, 59-55, which was unbeaten at the time. The Eagles potentially have four Division I underclassmen: 7-1 junior Cheir Ajou, from Sudan; 6-5 junior Juwan Brescacin and 6-1 sophomore Jermaine Myers, both from Canada; and 6-3 sophomore Travis Britt, an Illinois native.
* According to the Hartford Courant, Kuran Iverson, a 6-8, 190-pound freshman, is making a major impression at Northwest Catholic (West Hartford, Conn.). His father, Eddie, is the uncle of pro star Allen Iverson, so the bloodlines are strong. However, he wears No. 23 in honor of his idol, LeBron James. Kuran, who already has bent a rim on a dunk, is averaging 13.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.9 blocks.
* Another freshman to watch is 6-6 Jordan Washington, who is averaging 30.6 points and 15.5 rebounds for tiny Pathways College Prep in Queens, N.Y.
* Recent coaching milestones: Ron Massey won his 500th game at Jordan (Long Beach, Calif.), while Mark Chicone (Lake Catholic, Mentor, Ohio) and Dave Franz (Freeland, Mich.) each posted victory No. 400.
* Bill Cochrane, who has won 557 games, will retire at the end of this season as head coach at Salem (Virginia Beach, Va.).
Swimmers make big splash
Churchill (San Antonio, Texas) senior Lily Moldenhauer swam the 100-yard backstroke in a sizzling 52.89 seconds to win the Class 5A regional. The University of Texas signee bested the national public school record (53.03) and her time is second only to the 52.86 record set by future Olympian Natalie Coughlin in 1998 for Carondelet (Concord, Calif.).
Moldenhauer also won the 100-yard butterfly (55.53) and anchored the 400-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley relays to victories. Coach Mark Jedow believes his star "is more than capable" of breaking Coughlin’s record during the state meet Feb. 26-27.
* Meanwhile, sensational Missy Franklin, a powerful 6-0 freshman from Aurora Regis Jesuit, turned in No. 4 all-time efforts in two events while dominating the Colorado state swim meet. Her times of 22.49 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle and 53.16 in the 100-yard backstroke also were state records.
* The Carmel (Ind.) girls extended their national record by winning their 24th consecutive state swim championship with 419 points.
* On the boys swim side, St. Xavier (Louisville, Ky.) extended its national record with a 46th state title. The Tigers, who amassed 341.5 points, also extended the nation’s longest current winning streak with 22 consecutive titles.
Sister act: future stars
Al Lesar spotlighted a couple of gems in a recent South Bend Tribune column. They are sisters Kalabrya and Kysre Gondrezick, who attend LaSalle Academy in South Bend, Ind. Kalabrya is a 5-8 seventh-grader and Kysre is a 5-7 sixth-grader.
Their bloodlines are as pure as can be from a basketball standpoint. Their father, Grant, played for Pepperdine and also spent time in Europe and the NBA. Their mother, Lisa Harvey, was Michigan’s Miss Basketball at Benton Harbor and helped Louisiana Tech win an NCAA title in 1988. Her father, Lou Harvey, is a legendary girls coach at Benton Harbor.
Lesar says they’ve already heard from over 50 colleges, with Rutgers already offering Kalabrya a scholarship. This summer they will play AAU in the 16-17 age group. They have been "adopted" by current Notre Dame freshman star Skylar Diggins. Stay tuned.
* Lakeville North senior Cassie Rochel has established a Minnesota state record with 600 career blocked shots. The 6-4 Wisconsin signee also ranks No. 8 on the national charts. The record is 1,112.
* In Houston (Texas), the Yates boys team has been making big news throughout the year. The best-kept secret, however, may be that the Yates girls also are unbeaten (21-0) and seeking a state title of their own.
* In Oregon, Beaverton Southridge outlasted Portland Jesuit, 64-60, in four overtimes.
* MacArthur (Irving, Texas) senior point guard Odyssey Sims has been named High School Player of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The Baylor signee is averaging 22.5 points, 4.6 assists and 4.5 rebounds for a 32-1 team.
* Arizona’s winningest girls basketball coach, Don Petranovich, is retiring at the end of this season. The 69-year-old coach has compiled a 774-159 record with seven state titles and eight runner-up finishes in 34 years at Winslow.
* Coaching milestones: Bob Schaefer posted his 700th victory at Cheltenham (Wyncote, Pa.), while Duane Vike notched No. 300 at Holmen (Wis.).
Drahota has 5,012 saves
Though no state or national records are kept for career saves in girls hockey, Brooklyn Drahota must rank pretty high. The senior goalie just finished her six-year career with an incredible 5,012 saves for the co-op Windom (Minn.) Eagles. The 5-5 standout had an amazing 100 saves once as a junior, while this year she twice stopped 90 shots in a single game. Coach Shawn Veenker calls her "a butterfly goalie. She tries to take away the bottom of the net, which in girls hockey is very good."
* The U.S. National Under-18 team finished second in the Six Nations Hockey Tournament in Minsk, Belarus. The Americans defeated Sweden (4-1), Belarus (11-0), Finland (5-2) and the Czech Republic (5-2). Matthew Nieto (Long Beach, Calif.) was high scorer with seven points, including five goals. Andy Iles (Ithaca, N.Y.) was the top goalie.
* Fontbonne Academy ended the longest girls hockey winning streak in Massachusetts by holding Lynn St. Mary’s to a 1-1 tie. St. Mary’s had won 69 consecutive games. Samantha Curley made 26 saves and Taylor Shepherd scored the tying goal with four seconds to play.
3 teens on world team
Parkway Central (Chesterfield, Mo.) senior Emily Sisson was timed in 20:32 to finish a close second during the USA Cross Country Championships in Spokane, Wash. That outstanding 6K effort qualified her to compete for the USA in the IAAF World Championships March 28 in Poland. Qualifying in the men’s 8K division were second-place Walter Schafer (Cherry Creek, Greenwood Village, Colo.), who was clocked in 24:10; and sixth-place Ammar Moussa (Arcadia, Calif.), who ran 24:28.
Potpourri
Terron Ward has accepted a football scholarship to Oregon State, which will be valid in the winter of 2011. The 5-7, 193-pound tailback is the all-time single-season rushing leader at fabled De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) with 2,050 yards, and he also scored 26 touchdowns.
* Bob Gardner has been named to succeed retiring Bob Kanaby as executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations. The 61-year-old Gardner has served as the organization’s chief operating officer for the past 10 years.
