The Daviess County girls’ basketball team nearly picked up their second win of the season, but a late score by Ohio County left the Lady Panthers with a 56-54 loss at home Monday night.
Daviess County (1-14) held several leads throughout the back and forth affair, most notably a 54-53 lead with 1:49 to go. They took their final lead on a 3-pointer by Claire Johnson, her fourth of the night.
Ohio County (13-4) made a free throw on the ensuing possession, which set up a game-winning scoop and score by with 5 seconds to play.
Lady Panthers’ head coach John Kirkpatrick was proud of the fight his team showed.
“We have a great group of girls,” Kirkpatrick said. “They showed a lot of fight and sooner or later we are going to win one of these close ones. I’m really pleased with our effort tonight. This game is further proof that we are continuing to get better. Now that we’re competitive we get to start working on late-game situations and decision-making in practice.”
After a rough start to the season for the youthful Lady Panthers, Kirkpatrick and his coaching staff have been effective in helping their players find some consistency on both ends of the floor. One component of the game that Kirkpatrick has specifically focused on with the girls is taking care of the ball and limiting turnovers.
“The first seven games of the season, we were turning the ball over on more than 50 percent of our possessions,” Kirkpatrick said, “but over the last seven games, we have cut that down to under 25 percent. Though we didn’t do a great job tonight, our halfcourt defense has been a big part of our game plan throughout the season as well.”
Daviess County will be back in action Tuesday when they travel to Trinity for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
SCORING
OCHS 16-11-16-13–56
DCHS 10-17-13-14–54
Daviess County: Kailey Bowers 14, Claire Johnson 12, Emma Anderson 9, Kattie Mewes 7, Brooklyn Daugherty 6, Shealyn Mason 3, Ella Payne 3.
