In a back-and-forth affair at Apollo High School on Friday night, it was the Apollo E-Gals who claimed victory by a final score of 66-53. The E-Gals (4-4, 1-1) defeated the Lady Devils (5-4, 0-2) thanks in large part to terrific guard play from their two senior stars. Shelbie Beatty finished the game with 18 points, while Amaya Curry chipped in with 14 points of her own.
In the first quarter, it was the Lizy Phillips show at Apollo High School. The sophomore forward poured in 10 points of her team’s first 12 points en route to a game-high 20 points. Her 20 points were also a career-high, and something she will certainly hope to build off of in games to come.
The second quarter was played tightly on both sides, and Apollo took a 32-23 lead into the halftime break. It was in the third quarter, however, that the E-Gals began to distance themselves from the visitors. After jumping out to a 43-27 lead on an Amaya Curry layup with 4:28 to play in the third period, Owensboro clawed back to a ten-point deficit as time wound down. Shelby Beatty’s three-pointer on the last possession of the quarter gave the E-Gals a 13-point lead at 50-37 going into the fourth quarter, helping to acquire just enough breathing room to trade buckets in the final period of play.
The fourth-quarter lead never shrunk smaller than nine and expanded back to 13 to finish the game at 66-53. Though the Lady Devils fought hard, all the smiles were had in the opposite locker room after the final horn. The E-Gals had been in a tough stretch of contests, only winning one of their last four. A district victory in a great home environment was just what Apollo head coach Natalie Payne had been hoping for to get her girls back to their winning ways.
“It feels tremendous to get a win in district play tonight,” Payne said. “The biggest takeaway for us was our bench stepping up and making plays in tough situations for us tonight. I felt like this was our most complete game all season, and I told my girls that tonight. We bent a little bit but we didn’t break. We want to continue working on our defense and rebounding, but I’m more than happy to get our first district win tonight, so we’re going to enjoy it for a little while.”
Complimenting the E-Gals senior scorers on Friday night was eighth-grade standout Kennedy Lane, who finished the ballgame with 11 points of her own. Sophomore forward Jenna Dant added 14 to the final scoreline as well, rebounding well and playing hard defense against the aforementioned Lizy Phillips. The frantic offensive performance from the E-Gals was nearly matched by the visiting Lady Devils, with the exception of a few big runs from the home team in the second and third quarters.
“For Kennedy, it’s more about proving to herself that she can compete at this level,” Payne said. “We see what she can do in practice every day, but to see her put it all together in a game tonight was so great. It’s a big step up from College View to a Varsity environment in a district game, but once she saw a few shots go in, you could just see her confidence boost. She came up huge for us tonight, and she is going to be a great player when all is said and done.”
Lady Devils head coach Jansen Locher was left to dream of what could have been after the contest, acknowledging the strong shooting performance from Apollo when the game was on the line.
“We knew it would be a back-and-forth game all week,” Locher said. “I told the girls before the game that the team who went on the last little run would be the team that would come away with a victory and that’s exactly what happened in the game. They got up early, we clawed our way back into it, but ultimately when they needed some big shots Curry and Beatty put it away for them. Props to them for doing that, they were clutch tonight. I was proud of the way the girls played and both teams fought hard all the way to the end.”
Up next for both teams are separate holiday tournaments from Monday-Wednesday of next week. First up for the Lady Devils is a 3:45 tipoff against Evansville Reitz at the Owensboro Sportscenter on Monday. For the E-Gals, it will be a 1:30 tipoff in Elizabethtown against Central on Monday.
