Lady Aces use second half to bury Lady Panthers

December 15, 2018 | 1:03 am

Updated December 15, 2018 | 2:33 am

Mackenzie Keelin (34) led Owensboro Catholic to a dominant win over Daviess County on Friday. | Photo by Ryan Richardson

Though Daviess County kept the score relatively close through two quarters, the Owensboro Catholic girls’ basketball team dominated the second half for a 57-17 win.

The Lady Aces (4-1, 2-0 9th District) came out slow and got in early foul trouble in Friday night’s 9th District game at Daviess County, but some adjustments after halftime allowed them to pull away quickly.

“We became more disciplined,” said head coach Michael Robertson. “We sat down on defense and really paid attention to the game plan and quit trying to gamble. We gambled way too much in the first half and got out of position, which in turn led to  a lot of bad fouls.”

He said after a sluggish week of practice, the energy level was not good through two quarters.

“We would have three people playing hard and two people not,” Robertson said. “In the second half, all five played hard and got after it. That was the difference.”

Daviess County vs. Owensboro Catholic | Photo by Ryan Richardson
Daviess County vs. Owensboro Catholic | Photo by Ryan Richardson
Daviess County vs. Owensboro Catholic | Photo by Ryan Richardson

The Lady Panthers (0-6, 0-2) kept the pace slow to stay within 10 points until back-to-baskets in the final 8 seconds of the half gave Catholic a 25-12 halftime lead. Out of the break, Daviess County had trouble getting open looks, and they scored only once in each of the final two quarters.

Brooklyn Daugherty hit a jumper at the end of the third, and Claire Johnson’s 3-pointer bounced around before falling in a few seconds ahead of the final buzzer.

The Lady Aces used an active defense to create fast-break opportunities, and they got scoring from seven different players in the second half.

Mackenzie Keelin opened the third with five points, and Madelyn Lyon followed that up with back-to-back baskets. A layup and 3-pointer from Sara Beth Clemens quickly had the lead at 39-12, and Catholics continued to pull away the rest of the way.

Daviess County vs. Owensboro Catholic | Photo by Ryan Richardson
Daviess County vs. Owensboro Catholic | Photo by Ryan Richardson
Daviess County vs. Owensboro Catholic | Photo by Ryan Richardson

Keelin finished with a game-high 14 points, while Clemens added 13. The two combined for 16 points in the second half.

The Lady Aces return to action Saturday against DuPont Manual, who lost in the Elite Eight of last year’s state tournament. They play at Franklin County as part of the Central Metals/Penn Station Shootout.

“We’ll get a wake-up test tomorrow, Robertson said. “If we’re not ready to play, we’ll get embarrassed.”

The Lady Panthers will hit the road Monday to take on Madisonville-North Hopkins.

Owensboro Catholic stats: Mackenzie Keelin (14 points), Sarah Beth Clemens (13 points), Hannah McKay (7 points), Spencer Harvey (7 points), Isabella Henning (6 points), Madelyn Lyon (4 points), Kinsley Goetz (4 points), Camille Conkwright (2 points), Katie Riney (1 point)

Daviess County stats: Claire Johnson (6 points), Brooklyn Daugherty (5 points), Emma Anderson (3 points), Shealyn Mason (3 points)

December 15, 2018 | 1:03 am

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