Owensboro Catholic is expecting a battle today when they face off against George Rogers Clark in the first round of the 2020 Mingua Beef Jerky/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena.
Set for 7 p.m. CST, the Lady Aces (25-10) and Lady Cardinals (22-10) will square off in the final opening-round game of the state tournament.
(Note: As of the time of this publication, the tournament is going on as scheduled, with no spectator limitations. KHSAA is expected to make an announcement today regarding future plans amid coronavirus concerns. Any relevant updates will be made available here and on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.)
Catholic is making their third straight appearance in the Sweet 16, while 10th Region champion GRC has made it four years in a row.
Lady Aces head coach Michael Robertson likes his team’s chances if they can continue to ramp up the defensive pressure for a full game.
“It could go either way,” he said. “If we come and play defense, I think we’ve got a shot. Their athleticism is the one thing that worries me because if we decide to take a couple plays off or don’t want to play defense, they can turn it ugly really quick. We’ve got to complete all plays and play for 32 minutes.”
GRC has three players averaging double-digit scoring. Guard Kennedy Igo leads the team with 14.6, while Brianna Byars adds 12.5 and Tyra Flowers chips in 10.0 per night. Flowers also grabs 8.0 rebounds and Byars adds. 7.2 per game.
“We’re going to really have to make sure we know where Igo is at all times,” Robertson said. “Byars and Flowers are really athletic and strong around the rim. We’ve got to keep them off the glass.”
Catholic is paced by 18.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game from Hannah McKay, but they’ve developed other options over the last two weeks. Isabella Henning has come along as a threat on both ends of the court, and she averaged 21 points per game in the region tournament after averaging just 6.7 during the regular season.
A whole cast of players has stepped up for the Lady Aces. Spencer Harvey is the third scoring threat but is also valuable on defense. Caroline Reid, Ally Maggard, Catherine Head, Katie Riney and Camille Conkright all also took their game up a notch and can play big minutes.
“In our region, all anybody wanted to do was worry about Hannah, and that left the doors open for other people,” Robertson said. “I’m sure GRC noticed other people stepping up, so they probably won’t put as much emphasis on just taking Hannah away, so maybe that will open some things up for her.”
The Lady Aces and Lady Cardinals match up fairly even statistically. On average, Catholic scores 54.1 points and allows 45.0, while GRC scores 60.0 and allows 47.4.
Both teams have won 10 of their last 11 games. The Lady Aces have won six in a row, while the Lady Cardinals streak is at seven.
They have three common opponents this season. In games played before Christmas, Catholic lost to Bowling Green twice while GRC picked up a narrow win.
The Lady Aces edged Bishop Brossart during the All “A” Classic state tournament. The Lady Cardinals split with the Bishop Brossart, losing by one in the middle of the season and escaping with a 47-44 win in the 10th Region semifinals.
Both Catholic and GRC suffered a big loss to Sacred Heart, who will likely await them in the second round of the Sweet 16.
Sacred Heart plays South Laurel at noon today, with the winner advancing to Friday’s 7 p.m. quarterfinal against the victory of Catholic-GRC.
Robertson is excited to start another run at Rupp.
“It’s an awesome feeling just to be able to come here and do this, knowing you’re one of the top 16 teams in the state and getting to play on this big of a platform,” he said. “It gets harder each year to do it. But it’s fun, it really is.”
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