No loss is necessarily easy to swallow, but the Apollo girls’ basketball team has plenty of reasons to hold their heads high after finishing as the 3rd Region runner-up to Owensboro Catholic in Tuesday’s championship game.
Two months ago, the E-Gals were in a dangerous downward spiral that could have sent their season an entirely different direction. They ended December with five consecutive losses, and after picking up a pair of wins to begin the new year, Apollo dropped three more to bring their record to 10-10.
“It was the lowest of the low,” said head coach Natalie Payne. “We were saying we could lose out if we don’t get down to the nitty gritty and figure out, ‘ok, this is who we are and this is where we’re headed.’ We were able to do that.”
Oddly enough, it was a 66-56 loss to Catholic on Jan. 18 that really turned the season around for Apollo. It’s the closest any team in the region came to taking down the Lady Aces, and it gave the E-Gals confidence they could hang with any opponent on the schedule.
Apollo finished the year 10-3 with a handful of impressive victories including wins over Muhlenberg County and Madisonville-North Hopkins in the regular season. They then took down a pair of district champions in Edmonson County and Muhlenberg County in the region tournament to earn a fourth meeting with the Lady Aces.
For two and a half quarters Tuesday night, the E-Gals had year-long region favorite Owensboro Catholic on the ropes, but they didn’t quite have enough to close out the game. The Lady Aces used a tight defense to limit Apollo, and an 8-0 run to end the third quarter was all it took for Catholic to take control for a 52-38 victory.
“We knew they were going to amp up the pressure,” Payne said. “We knew it was coming. It was a matter of keeping our composure, staying tuned in to the plan as far as what we wanted to do against their pressure, and we just didn’t carry out that piece of the puzzle. It showed and it led to easy baskets. Their pressure can do that because of their height and their length.”
Still, Payne said she was proud of her team for staying mentally tough and earning a spot in the title game. It’s the second time in the past three seasons Apollo has made it to the championship, but Payne said they defied expectations to make it back this year.
“I guarantee you before the season and at Christmas, no one would have said the Apollo E-Gals are going to be in the finals of the region,” she said. “Hats off to my kids. They were buying in. They were believing. They were coming to practice hungry, taking it upon themselves to stay after and work with me. We had kids step up and do that, and it paid off.”
Apollo is only starting their run as region contenders. The biggest loss this season will be senior Lexi Shadowen, who led the team in scoring. The other four starters — Zoe Floyd, Addison Carter, Kassidy Daugherty and Amber Dunn — are part of a sophomore group that is the core of a rising squad that Payne expects to only get more successful.
“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Payne said of making their way back to the championship. “We got a taste of it. We’ve been to the regional finals two out of the last three years, and now these sophomores have two more years. I think that’s the key with any team, just making them more hungry. They know what it feels like. We’ll be back.”
