Saturday afternoon games are difficult for many teams because nothing about it is routine. This was on display Saturday afternoon in the early going as Daviess County and Apollo met at DC in a 9th District showdown.
After a shaky few minutes from both sides, the Apollo E-gales composed themselves and never looked back as they took down Daviess County 54-32.
Apollo coach Natalie Payne said she knows how difficult Saturday afternoon games can be but she also knows one thing they can do even when they’re in a rut offensively.
“Our message early on was just defend, defend, defend,” she said. “We really have to focus on that end of the floor and that always gets us in an offensive flow. Our shots aren’t always going to be falling and what is going to be consistent night after night has to be our defense and we’re still working on that. We’re not where we want to be. We struggle a little bit guarding penetration, we’re making some adjustments. Defense and rebounding was our main focus to get going.”
The E-gals led 28-19 at the break and extended their lead in the second half to give them their seventh win of the season.
One player that hasn’t seen the court in many of those wins is senior Amber Dunn. Dunn went down with an injury in the season opener and recently returned when the E-gals beat Union County.
Saturday was Dunn’s first start since opening night and while she started slow, it didn’t take her long to find her rhythm as she finished with a game-high 14 points.
“This was key for her and for us,” she said. “She grew tonight and she got that rust off versus Union County. She just brings that experience factor and a been there, done that-type thing. Now that she’s had a game like this to settle in, it’s huge for us because she does so much defensively and on the boards. Without her, Zoe has had to do a lot on her own so that helps.”
Kassidy Daughery (13 points) and Amaya Curry (12 points) also finished in double digits for the E-gals in the win.
DC coach John Kirkpatrick knew he saw pieces of solid basketball Saturday as the Lady Panthers did go on a couple runs in the game.
He said it’s about doing that every day.
“I think just getting them to click like that consistently and when we can do that, I think we’ll be very difficult to handle in the very near future,” he said. “There were glimpses of great basketball out there where they were sharing the ball and they looked great. A lot of times, when things are going well, it’s really easy to do that. It’s really easy to stay together and play great basketball.
“Then when Apollo pieces together a run and that adversity hits, we just need to figure out as a team how we can come together even more and that’s when that ‘good basketball’ has to happen.”
Adylan Ayer and Ella Payne each finished with 11 points to lead the Lady Panthers.
Daviess County is back on the court Monday at Logan County.
Apollo has another district matchup Monday at Owensboro as the Lady Devils are currently riding a five-game winning streak.
Payne said they’ll continue to focus on defending in the weeks leading up to the 9th District Tournament.
“We’re really focusing on sharpening up the defensive end and being able to switch things up to change the space,” she said. “Know when we can kind of get after people a little bit and when we need to reel it in and be smart and get good solid stops. We’re focusing on that and cutting down on our turnovers, just valuing possessions.”
APOLLO 54, DAVIESS COUNTY 32
AHS (7-4) 16 12 11 15–54
DC (6-8) 7 12 5 8–32
AHS: Amber Dunn 14, Kassidy Daugherty 13, Amaya Curry 12, Zoe Floyd 5, Shelbie Beatty 3, Addison Carter 3, Gracie Survant 2, Jenna Dant 2
DC: Adylan Ayer 11, Ella Payne 11, Katie Mewes 6, Brooklyn Daugherty 3, Madison Spurrier 1
2021 basketball coverage is presented in part by Rhoads & Rhoads Attorneys at Law.
