Turning defense into offense throughout the game, the Lady Aces defended their home court by defeating Daviess County 57-45.
The Lady Panthers grabbed the lead first, holding Owensboro Catholic scoreless for nearly three minutes to open up play. The Lady Aces slowly began to figure it out, with their defense really kick starting their offense.
Creating opportunities offensively by forcing turnovers, Owensboro Catholic jumped out to a 16-13 lead going into the second quarter.
Junior Adylan Ayer was huge for the Lady Panthers early on, leading them in the second quarter by sparking some chaos on the defensive end herself. She also was hitting just about every shot she looked at, scoring half of Daviess County’s 14 points in the quarter.
However, the Lady Aces hadn’t taken their foot of the gas and remained out in front 30-27 going into halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, senior Camille Conkright was tasked with limiting Ayer who had been the centerpiece of the Lady Panthers’ offense.
Face-guarding her, Conkright and Owensboro Catholic were able to silence Ayer, helping it extend its lead a little. They got a little help at the line as well, thanks to a questionable foul call on a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to end the third.
“Conkright is a competitor,” Owensboro Catholic Head Coach Michael Robertson said. “When I challenge her, she usually rises to the occasion. She doesn’t like to lose. My goal for her was ‘you’re going to shut her down’ because she was hitting everything. She did a good job. She made her take difficult shots in the second half if she got a shot or touched the ball.”
Following junior Maddie Hayden sinking all three free throws, the Lady Aces went into the fourth quarter with momentum on their side and a 46-39 lead.
Owensboro Catholic continued to stifle Daviess County’s offense in the fourth quarter, limiting them to six points to wrap up a 57-45 home win.
“It was a good team win,” Robertson said. “Everybody did a little bit of something tonight. It wasn’t a one-person [game].”
Freshman Karmin Riley led the way with 14 points and sophomore Haillee Johnson finished right behind with 12, but nearly every Lady Ace that played scored on the evening thanks to continuous ball movement.
“We did a good job of passing the ball,” Robertson said. “First half I thought we passed up a lot of shots and in the second half I don’t think we passed up very many. When we pass the ball and move and look to score we’re very dangerous.”
Ayer finished with 12 points on the night for Daviess County, but it was freshman Zoey Beehn who stepped up when they needed a scoring lift and finished with a team-leading 16 points.
“She did a good job of finishing around the basket, getting to the free throw line and taking it to them,” Daviess County Head Coach Stephen Haile said. “She did a good job of guarding the big girl, No. 50, when she needed to. She played well.”
Turnovers were a major factor in the Lady Panthers loss to Owensboro Catholic. Haile said you expect to have some when you constantly play against fullcourt pressure like they did, but there were some unforced turnovers that could’ve been cut down.
“They switch up their defenses a lot and they’ve got some athletic girls that trap and play hard,” Haile said. “Some of it definitely we could’ve done a little bit better job, but when you play against them and they’re fullcourt like that all game you’re going to turn it over some. A few too many times [there] were unnecessary turnovers where we had people open or just bad passes and stuff like that.”
Despite the loss, Haile was pleased with his team’s play and is thrilled with how they are progressing as the season continues in its early stages.
“To bounce back we’ll take the day off tomorrow, get back in the gym on Sunday and get some shots up and work on our defense and handling a little bit of pressure,” Haile said. “That’s going to be a constant battle all season, but I was proud of the girls’ effort. We could’ve won the game… I feel pretty good about us growing into contenders.”
The Lady Panthers will look to find their way back in the win column when they take on Union County at 2:15 p.m. on Monday.
Meanwhile, Owensboro Catholic has now won four straight and Robertson hopes that his team will continue to prove doubters wrong when they take on Bethlehem at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday.
“We weren’t ranked in the Top-25 in the preseason,” Robertson said. “And I want them to have a chip on their shoulder for that. Eleven out of the 16 teams are ranked in the Top-25, so let’s go up there [to play Bethlehem] and see what we’re made of and hopefully we’ll be ready to play.”
