With the season more than likely over for the Aces, they are left with a mixture of disappointment and pride.
Owensboro Catholic found all the answers they were looking for down the stretch, making a remarkable run that led to a 3rd Region championship and only the second berth in the KHSAA Sweet 16 in school history.
“It was very, very special for our team,” said Aces head coach Tim Riley. “Just to make that run was special. To beat Owensboro and the great program they are, it was a special moment. You won’t be able to take that away from them. That regional championship game is a tough game to win.”
However, chances are they’ll never make the trip to Lexington. On Thursday, KHSAA suspended the remainder of the girls’ state tournament as well as the entirety of next week’s scheduled boys’ tournament amid concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Friday, KHSAA implemented a dead period that extends through April 12 during which athletes cannot play, practice or train with their high school teams.
“I think that they (the KHSAA) want to play this tournament,” Riley said. “They need to play this tournament. But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to. It’s disappointing for a lot of people, but I’m not upset with anybody.”
Riley said while there’s plenty of disappointment to go around, there’s also reason for the Aces to hold their heads high.
Catholic was a bit up and down in the early going, but they came together with a renewed sense of focus over the final month of the season.
“There’s a point in time this year if someone would have told me we were going to cut the nets down, I wouldn’t have thought so,” Riley said after their region championship win. “I did think all along it was just going to come down to us having to get here to this game and have a big night against Owensboro. There was never a point I didn’t think we could get here to this championship game, but I knew once we got here we were going to have to play really well.”
And that’s what they did. Aggressive out of the gate, the Aces were in control from start to finish and shocked a packed house at the Sportscenter with a 56-45 win over the Red Devils.
If that was truly the end of the season, Riley said he can’t complain about going out like that. And, he’s excited for what might be in store next season.
“If we can’t go back to the Sweet 16, that was still a special night, there’s no doubt,” Riley said. “Five of our top seven guys will be back. We’ll have a really nice team again. I like our group coming back.”
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