Owensboro’s strong first half on both ends of the floor was the deciding factor on Friday night, as the E-gals couldn’t complete the second-half comeback in a 63-51 home loss.
The Lady Devils were red hot out of the gates, using their fullcourt pressure to start the night on a 12-0. Freshman Kennedy Lane put Apollo on the board with a tough floater shortly after, but a quick transition three for Owensboro made it 15-2 with 3:22 to go in the first quarter.
The E-gals were able to break through the defense a few times late in the quarter, one being a left-handed layup from Lane just before the buzzer, but the Lady Devils had the edge and took a 26-8 lead into the second.
Apollo had no answer on either end in the second quarter as well, getting outscored 14-8 en route to a 40-16 halftime lead for Owensboro. But the E-gals weren’t going down easy, holding the Lady Devils to ten and using a late surge—including nine points from Lane—to cut it to 50-34 following the third quarter.
The E-gals kept clawing away in the fourth, using a press themselves to create some turnovers and cut it to 54-46 with 3:48 left to play. However, it was too little too late, as Hughes went 4-7 from the charity stripe while finishing the quarter with six points to close the door on a 63-51 district win.
Owensboro Head Coach Jansen Locher tipped his cap to Apollo for its fight on the night following the win, noting that the Lady Devils played well early but didn’t close out the game strong.
“We had a great first half,” Locher said. “That’s the way we wanted to come out. Any game we want to try to get the game out of reach, but in a district game we want as big of a lead as possible. We got a little too comfortable in the third quarter and let them back in it. Props to them. They fought back hard and they made some shots and we turned the ball over a little too much.”
Junior A’Lyrica Hughes played a huge part in the win for Owensboro, finishing the night with a team-leading 17 points and 10 rebounds. She also sank clutch free throws late, while also creating plenty of offense at the point guard position to earn the win.
“There’s not very many people that I think can guard her one-on-one anyways, so we kind of let everybody get out of the way and let her do work,” Locher said. “If somebody stepped up she’s going to make the pass, but she was the district player of the year [last year]. You want the ball in her hands at the end of the game and that’s what we did.”
Nine different players scored for Owensboro, while senior Lindsey Gibson (11) and freshman Unique Carter-Swanagan (10)—despite leaving in the third because of a shoulder injury—joined Hughes in double figure scoring. However, it was the ability to utilize fullcourt pressure with fresh legs throughout the contest that set the tone for the Red Devils win.
“The depth really helps,” Locher said. “Especially in the third and fourth quarter, we’re hopefully wearing teams down to where they’re gonna get a little bit lazier with their passes because they’re just not as fresh. We did a pretty good job of that tonight. I thought everybody that went in and contributed either offensively or defensively.”
Apollo Head Coach Natalie Payne agreed that they struggled with their defensive pressure throughout the night, saying that the Red Devils pressured their guards and forced them into making poor decisions.
“We played back on our heels,” Payne said. “Owensboro is a great defensive team, and they wear on you. I think we got gassed and made careless turnovers when we’re tired that led to easy scores.”
The E-gals had a strong second half though, led by Lane’s 14 points in the half and 18 for the night to lead all scorers. Payne was pleased with her team’s job of battling back, noting that they were much more confident in the second half and it showed in their play.
“In the second half, we didn’t play scared,” Payne said. “We were stronger with the ball, we were determined to not let Owensboro dictate the tempo of the game. Our spacing on offense was also better in the second half. We played with more focus and with more of a purpose on the defensive end during the second half as well.”
While Apollo falls to 1-6 overall and 0-2 in district play, Payne and company know that they have plenty of growing pains that they will experience. As long as the E-gals continue to battle through them, they can get back in the win column—starting with a road matchup with Breckinridge County at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 20.
“Our team is growing with each game,” Payne said. “We just need experience, and we are grateful to have played three of the best teams in the region early so we see where we stand and what we need to work on. This team of ours has fight in them. There is no quit in us when we decide to play as a team. We realized how important it is to get off to a better start, we must continue to work on cutting down our turnovers, and free throws matter.”
Following the win Locher just wants to see the Lady Devils work on stringing together more complete games, but is more than happy to sit at 6-1 and 2-0 in district play going into a home matchup against Grayson County at 7 p.m. on Monday.
“We have gotta be locked in for four quarters,” Locher said. “We put together two and a half good quarters tonight. We’ve just gotta be locked in for all four quarters. We know when it comes to district and region tournament atmospheres I can’t scream out everything because you’re not going to be able to hear me. So they’ve got to take the initiative a little bit more themselves and get themselves into a rhythm and not rely so much on us, but that’ll come with the experience that we have.”
