After a lopsided result in the first meeting, Friday night’s girls’ basketball game between Owensboro Catholic and Apollo was a much more tightly contested 9th District matchup. The Lady Aces (13-6, 4-0) were again victorious, though the 66-56 win was tougher to come by against an improved E-Gals (10-10, 2-2) squad.
Apollo head coach Natalie Payne said was able to take care of the ball and knocking down jump shots to keep the score closer. Catholic head coach Michael Robertson attributed the smaller margin to a lack of energy from his team, something he was disappointed in after the victory.
“I think we just showed up and assumed we would win tonight,” Robertson said. “You have to show up ready to play and we did not do that tonight. Apollo was ready to play and they hit shots. Tonight could have been a display of a ‘hangover’ from the All A tournament we’re competing in right now, but we need to be ready to play district games like this one.”
Though the game was neither easy nor pretty for the Lady Aces, in the end, Robertson was relieved to take home a victory and remain perfect in district play. He credited a strong display from Spencer Harvey in the absence of injured guard Caroline Reid.
“Spencer played well tonight,” Robertson said. “She’s leading the team right now and we are putting her in a new role to be able to do that on the floor. She’s done a good job for us and we just need to continue to get better all around her.”
The biggest moment in the game came with 3:33 to play, when Apollo’s Amber Dunn caught a pass in the right corner and connected on a long-range effort to cut the lead to six at 56-50. On Catholic’s ensuing possession, the E-Gals managed to steal the ball. However, a missed layup attempt led to a fast break layup by Hannah McKay for the Lady Aces.
Twice more with less than two minutes to play, the E-Gals were able to cut the Lady Aces’ lead to six. However, Apollo was forced to foul as time wound down. Catholic converted enough of their free throw attempts to ensure the victory was never in jeopardy down the stretch.
The Lady Aces converted 21 of 30 free throw attempts on the night, compared to the E-Gals going 6-for-10.
Payne said she was still proud of our team’s effort despite a few mistakes.
“I’m frustrated with some unforced turnovers, but we shared the ball well and finished with 16 assists,” she said. “With us, we have really started to focus on our game lately. We certainly prepare for other teams, but our execution is the main focus in practice. Our girls can shoot and we’ve really been working on sharing the ball, spacing out and making the extra pass.”
Owensboro Catholic hits the road Wednesday to play in the All “A” State Tournament held at Eastern Kentucky University. Their first round matchup will be with Brown (10-8) with a 12 p.m. CST tipoff time.
Apollo will be back in action Monday night when they travel to Grayson County at 7 p.m.
Scoring
O. Catholic 15-18-15-18–66
Apollo 10-16-10-20–56
O. Catholic: Hannah McKay 17, McKenzie Keelin 15, Sara Beth Clemens 14, Spencer Harvey 11, Isabella Henning 6, Ally Maggard 3
Apollo: Lexi Shadowen 13, Addison Carter 9, Kassidy Daugherty 9, Amari Sanders 8, Amber Dunn 8, Zoe Floyd 5, Brylee Rhodes 4
