The Lady Aces were resilient. Down by 10 points at halftime, Owensboro Catholic ramped up the pressure and stormed back to claim their third straight 9th District tournament title with a 55-44 win over Apollo Thursday at the Sportscenter.
“We just had a little heart-to-heart with them at halftime,” said Catholic head coach Michael Robertson. “There wasn’t a whole lot of yelling going on. (Apollo) took it to us. We didn’t match their intensity, and that’s what it came down to. In the second half, I thought we were focused and played hard.
The turning point came midway through the third quarter. Catholic (22-10) started the half on a 6-0 run, but Apollo’s Amber Dunn converted a traditional three-point play to put the E-Gals up 33-26 with a little less than four minutes to go in the period.
In just more than a minute, the Lady Aces went on a 7-0 run that included a few steals and a pair of buckets down low by Hannah McKay. Her and-1 drew Catholic even for the first time in the second half at 33-all.
After the teams traded buckets in the paint, Dunn scored the next five points to give Apollo (21-9) a 40-35 advantage with 27.9 seconds left in the third quarter.
Queue a wild sequence to end the third for the Lady Aces.
With 5.3 seconds on the clock, Ally Maggard hit her first free throw but missed the second. Isabella Henning got the offensive rebound and was fouled on the failed putback attempt.
With 3.3 seconds, Henning made the first but missed the second free throw. McKay got the rebound, got the putback, got the foul. Her ensuing free throw knotted the game at 40-all with 1.5 seconds left in the third, and Apollo didn’t have time to get a shot off before the buzzer.
“The momentum changed there in the third quarter,” said Apollo head coach Natalie Payne. “We made some costly turnovers that led to direct scores. Any time you make a turnover against a team like that, it’s just going to multiply. They’re going to make those turnovers count.”
Catholic scored first in the fourth on a long jumper by Henning, but Dunn had an answer at the other end.
With 6:00 minutes to play, a steal by McKay led to a layup by Henning for a 44-42 advantage. The Lady Aces led the rest of the way, draining the clock with long possessions and putting the game away by going 11-for-12 at the free throw line over the final 2:19.
Though they didn’t close it out, Apollo put together an impressive first half on both ends of the court. They missed some shots early, but six points from Dunn had the E-Gals within 10-8 after the first quarter.
Shelby Beatty drained a 3 to give Apollo their first lead at 11-10 to start the second. Dunn added a pair of 3-pointers and inside basket to help the E-Gals push their advantage to as much as 30-18 late in the half.
“She’s out there flying around, giving us second chances,” Payne said of Dunn. “She’s just so scrappy. It’s those intangibles that she brings. You know when she’s on the floor.”
Robertson also gave high praise to Dunn, who is still playing through a back injury.
“She played a heck of game, hurting like crazy,” Robertson said. “Kudos to her. I thought she was phenomenal. She kept them in the game. I was really impressed with the way she played.”
Dunn led all players with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Beatty added eight points for Apollo, while Zoe Floyd had 10 boards.
Catholic got 14 points each from Henning, McKay and Spencer Harvey. McKay had 10 rebounds and Henning grabbed five. McKay and Harvey each recorded four steals and Henning added three.
Both teams still move on to next week’s 3rd Region tournament. The draw to determine the schedule and opponents will be held Saturday morning.
“Both of us are going to be tough outs,” Robertson said. “I think both of us will compete. That’s a great team we just defeated. They’ve been playing really well all year long, so that was a good win for us.”
BOX SCORE
AHS 8-22-10-4—44
OCHS 10-10-20-15—55
AHS (44): Amber Dunn (24), Shelby Beatty (8), Kassidy Daugherty (6), Amaya Curry (4), Zoe Floyd (2)
OCHS (55): Isabella Henning (14), Spencer Harvey (14), Hannah McKay (14), Ally Maggard (7), Catherine Head (4), Caroline Reid (2)
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2019-20 basketball coverage is presented in part by Rhoads & Rhoads Attorneys at Law.
