Owensboro Catholic won their second big game in as many nights at the Sportscenter when they met Apollo on Tuesday for a 9th District tilt.
The Lady Aces only allowed three E-gals to score in the game as they took down Apollo 48-39.
Catholic beat 2nd Region power Henderson County by one on Monday night and while Aces coach Michael Robertson could have been worried about his team’s legs Tuesday, they didn’t show it on the glass.
“We were sloppy at times but the one thing I’ll take for tonight is we did rebound the basketball,” he said. “That’s something I’ve been harping on with them for the last week and a half, that they haven’t been. They did a great job rebounding today … Every one of them went to the glass and did a good job. I’m proud of them for that.”
Apollo held a 10-9 lead after the first but that’d be the only lead they’d have at the end of the quarter.
Catholic went up 22-21 at the break before kicking its offense into gear in the third as they outscored Apollo 17-7 before icing the game at the free-throw line.
Kassidy Daugherty finished with a game-high 19 points as she was a point of emphasis in Robertson’s gameplan, along with Amaya Curry and Zoe Floyd.
“Make sure we had a contested shot anytime Daugherty had it and we did not do a very good job of that at times,” he said was their plan. “We wanted to make Curry shoot over top of us. We gave her a lot of easy buckets early. I think we did a better job in the second half. We wanted to contain Zoe. Zoe can be a beast inside.”
Curry finished with 12 while Floyd added 9 points in the loss.
Apollo coach Natalie Payne told her team the game was going to be a battle.
“I give credit to Catholic,” she said. “We said at the beginning of the pregame and even leading into it that the more aggressive team would win the game and they were just more aggressive than us. I felt like their aggressiveness led to key steals that got them out in transition and they scored a lot in transition and in second chance points.”
With a couple of players out, the E-gals weren’t at full strength and they haven’t been at full strength since the season opener against Webster County when senior Amber Dunn went down with an injury.
Payen said they’ve got to use this time to clean everything up until everyone is clicking again.
“I feel like we’ve got to turn it up a notch with our overall second effort,” she said. “We’ve got to be a second and third effort team. We’ve got to be the aggressor, we’ve got to be the first to the floor. We’ve got to be the team that doesn’t give up key offensive rebounds. It boils down to that. We stared and let them get in passing lanes, just those small things. We’ve got to get back to those basics and that’s what we’re going to harp on in practice.”
Catholic freshman Hailee Johnson led the Lady Aces with 14 points while Maddie Hayden added 12.
With a few weeks until the district tournament, Robertson said the message is simple.
“Just keep getting better each game,” he said. “I think our man-to-man defense has gotten night and day better but we still can get better. We’ve got to lock down people and keep doing what we’re doing. Hopefully, be ready district time. We’ve got them again in two weeks, we’ve got Daviess County again, we’ve got Louisville Butler on Saturday … We’ve got our hands full so we’ll keep battling.”
Owensboro Catholic hosts Muhlenberg County Friday while Apollo plays at Union County on Thursday.
OWENSBORO CATHOLIC 48, APOLLO 39
AHS (5-4) 10 11 7 11–39
OC (10-6) 9 13 17 9–48
AHS: Kassidy Daugherty 19, Amaya Curry 12, Zoe Floyd 9
OC: Katie Riney 4, Hailee Johnson 14, Lexie Keelin 4, Maddie Hayden 12, Catherine Head 2, Lauren Keelin 2, Ally Maggard 5, Kinsley Goetz 5
2021 basketball coverage is presented in part by Rhoads & Rhoads Attorneys at Law.
