Apollo’s season came to an end Tuesday with a 51-43 loss to Muhlenberg County in the first round of the girls’ 3rd Region basketball tournament at the Sportscenter.
The E-Gals (21-10) worked their way to a 27-20 advantage at the half, but the Lady Mustangs (22-10) started the third quarter on a 9-0 run to take the lead. The teams battled into the fourth quarter before Muhlenberg pulled away down the stretch.
It was the first time all season Apollo lost consecutive games. They also lost to Owensboro Catholic in Thursday’s district championship in similar fashion — a 10-point halftime lead for the E-Gals was erased by the end of the third, and the Lady Aces put the game away late.
“I’m disappointed in our second-half performance, especially at the beginning of the third again,” Apollo head coach Natalie Payne said after Monday’s loss. “I told the kids leading into the tournament and tonight throughout the course of the game, it’s going to boil down to mental toughness.
“Muhlenberg was a couple notches above us in that category. We didn’t match their mental toughness down the stretch, and that’s what you have to do during tournament time.”
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For more photos from the game, click here.
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Apollo’s first points of the third quarter came with 5:00 minutes left when Amaya Curry hit a runner to knot the game at 29-all. Their only other field goal in the third came off a steal and layup by Amber Dunn to get the E-Gals within 35-34 with 2:35 to go, and neither team scored again in the period.
Apollo went up 38-37 on a jumper by Kassidy Daugherty — who scored her 1,000th career point earlier in the game — and their final lead came at 40-39 when Dunn scored in the lane with 3:40 to play.
Muhlenberg’s only field goal of the fourth came on the ensuing possession when Jaycee Noffsinger drained a 3 for a 42-40 lead.
Apollo went down by six before a 3 by Shelbie Beatty got them within 46-43 with just under a minute to play, but they didn’t score again.
Muhlenberg head coach Mike Harper said his team just tried to stay focused as they fought back and found a way to get ahead.
“We just didn’t panic. We just kept plugging,” he said. “We had been battling the whole second half. We didn’t blink, basically. We were able to get a four-point lead, and I thought that got us comfortable and made them play from behind for a change.”
Muhlenberg’s Destin Armour scored a game-high 25 points, and Eilsabeth Joines added 10.
Dunn led the effort for Apollo, finishing with 14 points, 11 rebounds and five steals. Daugherty added 12 points and Beatty had seven. Curry finished with six points and five rebounds, while Amari Sanders had four points and six boards.
Though it was an earlier exit than they hoped for, Payne said Apollo still put together an overall strong season.
“Any time you can get a 20+ winning season, you’re doing something right,” she said. “I thought we had kids that really stepped up and became really consistent for us.”
She pointed to Dunn, who finished the year averaging 11.1 points and 10.3 rebounds. If the E-Gals can get a few more players to step up like Dunn has, Payne said, they’ll have a good chance at success next year.
“That’s just being a warrior,” Payne said of Dunn’s season stats. “We have to have a couple more kids that can develop that warrior mentality. We do (have them), we just have to really hone in and develop it in this off-season. That’s when players are made and that’s what we’re preaching to the kids. We can do it, we’re just not there yet.”
BOX SCORE
MCHS 9-11-15-16—51
AHS 15-12-7-9—43
MCHS (51): Destin Armour (25), Elisabeth Joines (10), Jaycee Noffsinger (8), Grace Hauslein (5), Whitlee Stovall (3)
AHS (43): Amber Dunn (14), Kassidy Daugherty (12), Shelbie Beatty (7), Amaya Curry (6), Amari Sanders (4)
