Owensboro Catholic used a quick start and a strong finish to take down Owensboro in a 9th District showdown at the Sportscenter on Friday but the Lady Devils used a run late in the first half that lit a fire under the Lady Aces.
Catholic won the matchup 51-34 for their first district win this season as Owensboro moved to 1-1 in district play after they beat Daviess County earlier this season.
Ace coach Michael Robertson was pleased with his team grabbing the win.
“We found a way to pull that one out,” he said. “I thought they played really hard. I thought at times we didn’t play hard, we didn’t match their intensity. They’re much improved. (Alyrica) Hughes is the real deal. She gets after it. We’ve got to be able to contain. One thing I didn’t like is on our press, we let them dribble way too much through. We’ll get better. We’re still trying to get everybody in practice right now.”
Devil coach Jansen Locher liked what he say from his team and thought they were within striking distance throughout the contest.
“We could have played better,” he said. “I know how they’re going to play defense and try to turn you over. At times when we took care of the ball, good things happened. Toward the end we kind of panicked when we were trying to make a comeback. I thought the score looked a little worse than how the game felt.
“I really felt like we had a chance all the way through. We know it’s a good possibility this is a team we may play in district and we saw some good things out of our girls and again, we’re going to have to continue to build and handle that pressure a little bit better but I was proud of the effort tonight, especially the first half and that second quarter where we kind of we on a little run to keep it close.”
Catholic jumped out to a 12-6 lead after the first quarter but the script would be flipped in the second frame as the Lady Devils made their run.
Stout defense and the Aces missing a couple of key players in the quarter with foul trouble proved to be the recipe for success for Owensboro.
The Lady Devils took a 18-17 lead late in the quarter but Camille Conkright hit a shot before the half ended to give the Lady Aces the lead right back.
The game was back-and-forth at the beginning of the third but Catholic would build their lead and not give it up the rest of the way as they sealed the victory in the fourth quarter, despite not shooting the best in the third and only hitting one 3-pointer.
“I don’t mind shooting them, I think we’ve got a lot of shooters,” Robertson said. “But at the same time, we weren’t connecting. We’re a good 3-point shooting team, I’ve got a lot of them and they’re over here ‘Why aren’t they going in?’ First off, it’s all between your ears. If you’re worrying about making it, it’s probably not good. Just got to play through those things.”
Robertson said he knew they’d be able to turn it around after they struggled in the second.
“I thought we were going to be alright,” he said. “I thought we started fairly well in the first quarter. We weren’t hitting shots but I feel like if we can get out in transition we can get easy buckets and we can make that happen. Tonight, I’m not real sure. We’ve got to get back to work. We’ve got to get back to the basics. I’ve kind of been soft on them I guess you could say, they might not say the same, but we’ve got to get back after it. Yesterday all we did was go over plays and then we don’t even know how to run a play when we get out there. That’s disappointing but I still love my team. We’re going to be fine. We’re young.”
On Monday, the Lady Devils were running clocked by Breckinridge County and to come back the way they did Friday, Locher said was a very good thing.
“They went in and they were really focused in practice,” he said. “Not that we would have beat Breck but we shot ourselves in the foot a lot in that game. We really focused this week in practice on making the easy pass and doing the fundamental things. It started a little rough but once we calmed down and got the nerves out of our system then we really made the right plays and gave ourselves a chance.”
Brooklyn Williams led the Lady Devils with 11 points as Lyric Lawrence also finished in double digits with 10 points.
Williams was all over the court in the game, grabbing rebounds and being physical throughout the game.
Locher said he’s ready for her to continue that and get everyone clicking.
“I’m proud of her for not only what she did defensively but offensive rebounds, getting some putbacks, hitting some free throws,” he said. “We just have to have everybody together. We’re having girls one night is on, another night is off. Once we get everybody on the same page, we’re going to be okay and I think we can be a very scary team when it comes playoff time.”
Catholic’s Maddie Hayden finished with a game-high 14 points while Catherine Head added 10 in the win for the Aces.
Robertson said they haven’t been relying on their defense and when they do that, they could be dangerous the rest of the season.
“Right now, we allow our shooting to dictate our defense instead of our defense dictating our shooting,” he said. “Once we get that switched we’ll be alright. We’ve got to know our defense is going to create offense and as long as we can do that, we’ll be alright.”
Catholic hits the road today to take on Bishop Brossart in the Statewide Mortgage Valentine Shootout while Owensboro is also on the road at McLean County.
Owensboro Catholic 51, Owensboro 34
OHS (4-7) 6 12 6 10–34
OC (7-2) 12 7 12 20–51
OHS: Krystell Pappas 2, Alyrica Hughes 9, Brooklyn Williams 11, Lyric Lawrence 10, Kaylyn Sowders 2
OC: Hailee Johnson 2, Lexie Keelin 3, Maddie Hayden 14, Catherine Head 10, Camille Conkright 8, Lauren Keelin 5, Ally Maggard 7, Kinsley Goetz 2
2021 basketball coverage is presented in part by Rhoads & Rhoads Attorneys at Law.
