Basketball is a game of runs and that was on display Tuesday night at Daviess County as the Lady Panthers hosted Owensboro Catholic.
With the game tied 48-48 with 4:00 left, the Lady Aces went on a 16-6 run to put the game away 64-54 despite a valiant effort by the short-benched Panthers.
DC only had six players available for the game as coach John Kirkpatrick had to sub his lone bench player into the game every couple of minutes.
Catholic coach Michael Robertson said they used the Panthers’ lack of depth to their advantage.
“I think they wore down,” he said. “Our depth and our bench that we played in the first half, really was able to wear them down. Then I kind of shortened our bench in the second half and just rode the horses that were playing. They did a great job. I’m proud of them, they dug deep. There’s many times we could gave up, just dropped our heads but we kept fighting.”
The Aces were up 8-2 early but DC went on their first run of the game down six as the score was tied 12-12 after the first frame.
Catholic started the second quarter on an 11-0 run to go up 23-12 but then there was the Panthers clawing right back into the game as they held a 26-25 lead at the break.
The Panthers continued to hits shots Tuesday night as it was their first game since returning from quarantine.
“They shot the heck out of the ball,” Robertson said. “I don’t know what it is with teams coming out of quarantine but they shoot the lights out. We shot it when we came out, Ohio County shot it when they came out and nwo Daviess County did the same thing to us tonight.”
Down six early in the fourth, the Lady Aces went on what would be the final run of the game to grab their eighth victory of the year.
During the run, senior Catherine Head hit three 3-pointers as she scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the final frame.
Robertson said they wanted the ball in her hands.
“We started running sets for them so I’m proud we could actually remember a play and we are able to run it,” he said. “That’s a good thing … That was best for us. That helped us stretch that lead out. We were neck-and-neck and we were finally able to pull away there at the end and that was big for us.”
Hailee Johnson (15 points) and Ally Maggard (10 points) also finished in double digits for the Aces.
Despite the loss, Kirkpatrick said he was proud of his team and their effort after the layoff.
“I can’t fault them for their effort one bit,” he said. “14 days off, we have three practices. Think we’re playing Union County tonight and here we are playing Catholic, who’s arguably a top-three team in the region at least, a well-coached team that’s very deep. The fact we were able to challenge them with our six, I think it proves that when we stick together we’ve got a lot of heart and I think we’re capable of a lot of good things.”
DC was led by Katie Mewes 14 points while Ella Payne and Adylan Ayer each added 13.
Kirkpatrick said everyone is realizing what they can do for the team.
“I think everybody’s starting to get a feel for their role and really falling into those rolls and doing it quote nicely,” he said. “I think the stop in the season hurt us a little bit but you can can tell we started right back where we left off. I think we’re only going to get better and those kids are going to continue to contribute even more.”
Catholic plays Friday at home against Breckinridge County while Daviess County plays Thursday against at home against McLean County.
Owensboro Catholic 64, Daviess County 54
OC (8-3) 12 13 13 26 — 64
DC (5-4) 12 14 16 12 — 54
OC: Catherine Head 18, Hailee Johnson 15, Katie Riney 5, Maddie Hayden 2, Camille Conkright 7, Ally Maggard 10, Kinsley Goetz
DC: Katie Mewes 14, Madison Spurrier 3, Ella Payne 13, C.J. Payne 3, Brooklyn Daugherty 9, Adylan Ayer 13
2021 basketball coverage is presented in part by Rhoads & Rhoads Attorneys at Law.
