Apollo E-gals coaches Natalie Payne and Willis McClure returned to the sideline at AHS in 2016 and the duo was able to bring a 9th District Tournament championship to the school that season.
On Friday, the E-gals did it again as they took down Owensboro Catholic 53-31 at the Sportscenter for their first district crown since 2017.
“These kids have fought through a lot of adversity and obviously we’re not done yet,” Payne said. “I’m so proud of the work that they put in with all the setbacks and all the unknowns. For them to be able to grind it out and start really believing in each other and the plan, this is the fun part of coaching to see the smiles on their faces.”
The E-gals have been through the ringer this season as they had multiple Covid shutdowns and injuries.
Payne said there was almost a new setback every week.
“I call coach McClure almost every night and it seems like every time I call him, he’ll say ‘oh no, what’s next,’” she said. “That’s the way it was for several weeks in a row.”
One of those setbacks was an injury to senior Amber Dunn in the season opener against Webster County.
Dunn returned a few weeks ago and finished with 12 points in Friday’s win.
“She deserves this,” Payne said. “She’s started for me since she was a freshman. I’ve just seen her grow and just turn into such a competitor. She’s one of those kids when she came in if basketball was her sport and I think she soon realized with effort and repetition that she could be a dominant and an impact player. That’s what she’s turned out to be.”
From the opening in-bound, the E-gals were the aggressor in the championship matchup.
Payne said they wanted to focus on their grit on the defensive end to grab the win.
“The gameplan was to sit down on defense and keep them out of the paint,” she said. “Don’t let them get to the foul line because (Hailee) Johnson’s a great free-throw shooter. She scores a lot from the foul line and they’re a great offensive rebound team. Those guards are gritty, they stick their nose in there. We didn’t want them to have second shots and I thought we did a great job of boxing out, putting a body on them. And we wanted to take care of the ball. Those are three things we really focused on.”
With the game tied 7-7 midway through the first, Apollo went on a 16-0 run that carried into the second quarter as they built a 23-7 lead over the Lady Aces.
Payne said the run really got them going.
“It was huge,” she said. “It stemmed from our defense and when we’re able to knock down some shots, you can just get on a roll when everything’s clicking like that. We’re just believing in each other. We have confidence right now, ever since the Graves County game. That was a huge game for us. It’s just special. I don’t know any other way to describe it. It’s just special.”
The defense Payne and her team pride themselves on held Catholic to just 10 field goals in the game.
“I love it,” she said of their grit. “When we can sit down and play defense like that, that just carries over on the other end of the floor and our offense just flows. We talk about it and we talk about it but now they are seeing it and feeling it. I think that’s the difference. They know it and they believe it now. If we can continue with that mindset on defense, I think we’re going to be a tough team to beat whether our shots are falling or not.”
Apollo extended their lead into the second half and never looked back as they cut down the nets at the Sportscenter but those weren’t the only nets they’re planning on cutting down.
Senior Kassidy Daugherty was named the 9th District Player of the Year after the game and she said there’s still more work to be done.
“It’s a big deal but it isn’t,” she said of Friday’s win. “This isn’t the one that we need and the one that we’re striving toward. It proved a point tonight, that’s what we wanted to do. It wasn’t a close game. We just wanted to prove a point and that’s what we did.”
With several seniors, Daugherty said it’s a great feeling to get the trophy with them.
“It’s everything,” she said. “It’s been taken away from all of us, it’s our last year. I think the biggest deal now is we’ve got to get going. It’s been about a month since the last shutdown, we’ve been practicing every day. Sunday, sometimes two a days, and that’s what it takes to have moments like these.”
Junior Amaya Curry led all scorers with 13 points while Daugherty added 10 in the win.
Catholic was led by Hailee Johnson’s seven points.
OC coach Michael Robertson said he had to give credit to the E-gals.
“They played exceptionally well,” he said. “I don’t know if it was one individual person, I think they played well as a team. You can’t get down to them. You get down and they just pull the thing out and spread you out and make you chase all over the place. We were not able to get them to turn the ball over. Our offense was very stagnant. We didn’t hit shots like we did the other night, I think we left them on Wednesday. Just got to get back to work.”
With only two seniors on the roster, the Lady Aces have several younger players that contributed but given how deep they are into the season, Robertson said it’s for those players to be veterans.
“The young is not an excuse anymore,” he said. “We’ve grown up and we can’t use that as an excuse anymore … We’ve just got to play basketball. Tonight, they were the team that wanted it, we weren’t. They were a lot hungrier than we were. They were the ones diving on the floor for loose balls. We’ll come back, we’ll fight back. I love my team. I love what we’ve got. We’ll be alright.”
Apollo and Catholic will know who they play Saturday morning after the 3rd Region draw at the Sportscenter.
APOLLO 53, OWENSBORO CATHOLIC 31
OC (14-11) 7 6 9 9–31
AHS (13-6) 14 16 8 16–53
OC: Katie Riney 2, Hailee Johnson 7, Lexie Keelin 4, Maddie Hayden 3, Catherine Head 3, Camille Conkright 3, Lauren Keelin 2, Ally Maggard 1, Kinsley Goetz 6
AHS: Amaya Curry 13, Gracie Survant 3, Shelbie Beatty 5, Zoe Floyd 8, Addison Carter 2, Kassidy Daugherty 10, Amber Dunn 12
2021 basketball coverage is presented in part by Rhoads & Rhoads Attorneys at Law.
