Despite two starters going down with injuries during Friday’s 9th District battle at Owensboro High School, the Lady Devils persevered and grabbed a big victory over Daviess County to get their first district win of the year.
The game was back-and-forth throughout but it was Owensboro that put together enough in the end for the 52-46 win to hand the Lady Panthers their first lost of the season.
Senior Tamia Smith and freshman Alyrica Hughes were injured during Friday’s contest but other players stepped up for coach Jansen Locher. He said that’s something they go over often.
“We preach every day mental toughness,” he said. “Things aren’t going to go our way and that’s in life. Things aren’t going to go your way and you have to battle. I told them tonight it’s next girl up because I have trust our girls know how to play basketball and they know how to do what we want to do. Ankle injury, next person comes in. Bangs her head on the floor, next person comes in. Everybody did their job, listened to what we asked them to do and we came out with the win.
“It’s really big for us, especially we play each district team only one time this year but we’re not satisfied. We’re going to celebrate it tonight but we’re not satisfied and we’re going to get ready and work to get better at the end of the season.”
Daviess County coach John Kirkpatrick said his team missed a lot of shots they normally hit, which hurt them in the end.
“I give credit to Owensboro,” Kirkpatrick said. “Their energy level and strength inside, they played a very impressive game tonight. That’s a good Owensboro basketball team, without a doubt.”
One aspect Locher also preaches to his team is creating turnovers but this year’s team does something different than some teams the past few years as they’re using those turnovers and turning them into points.
“We’re able to finish off of those turnovers now,” he said. “Even when we’re not, we’re much better at putting them back up. Getting the rebound and putting it back up.”
On the flip side, Owensboro has struggled with turning the ball over at times but Locher said Smith, along with several other players, have changed that trend this season.
“Last year those are turnovers and this year, they’re using more ball fakes, using the bounce passes a little bit more,” he said. “The length doesn’t affect us as much and now it’s more our length is affecting other teams.”
The Panthers led 11-9 after the first but just as they did Tuesday against Grayson County, the Lady Devils went on a run in the second and grabbed a 26-25 lead at the break.
DC’s Adylan Ayer finished with a game-high 20 points, including nine in the second quarter.
“It’s always nice to have a player that can do that, that can get in there and create for themselves, kind of keep you in ballgames,” Kirkpatrick said of Ayer. “Something we really want our kids to work on is making their teammates better too and I think she’s starting to get even better at that, becoming an all-around player in that regard. Definitely came through big there in the second quarter.”
Locher said he knew what Ayer was capable of.
“Ayer is a great player,” he said. “We know she’s a great player. She got hers tonight but we were able to feel like we slowed everybody else down in order to get that win.”
Owensboro led 39-37 heading to the fourth as they were able to hold off the Panthers in the final frame.
Friday was the second game in a row the Lady Devils used a big run in the first half and Locher said he knows the teams they’re playing are capable of doing the same to them.
“We know it’s a game of runs and our thing is we want to be the team that goes on the last run,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate enough for most games to be that team that goes on the last run but we know when we go on a run, the other team is going to come back … In previous years where it’s been they go on 10,15,20-0 runs, now we’re limiting it to 4,6-0 runs and we’re getting back in.”
Lyric Lawrence and Brooklyn Williams led OHS with 9 points while Hughes and Krystell Pappas each finished with 8. DC’s Lily Hoagland also finished in double digits for the Panthers with 10 points.
Owensboro hits the road Monday as it starts a four-game road trip with a matchup at Hancock County.
Daviess County plays today at Evansville Reitz.
“We just need to learn from this,” Kirkpatrick said. “We get right back at it tomorrow. I think I’ve got a pretty resilient group of kids so back to the drawing board and get back to what we do best.”
Owensboro 52, Daviess County 46
DC (1-3) 11 14 12 9–46
OHS (3-2) 9 17 13 13–52
DC: Adylan Ayer 20, Lily Hoagland 10, Ella Payne 8, Katie Mewes 4, Madison Spurrier 2, Brooklyn Daugherty 2
OHS: Lyric Lawrence 9, Brooklyn Williams 9, Alyrica Hughes 8, Krystell Pappas 8, Tamia Smith 7, Lindsey Gibson 5, Lizy Phillips 4, Jaylyn Sowders 2
2021 basketball coverage is presented in part by Rhoads & Rhoads Attorneys at Law.
