Nearly losing the lead thanks to a late surge from Union County in the fourth, the Lady Panthers were able to hold on for a 52-48 win in its first game of the Independence Bank Kentucky-Indiana Classic.
The game got off to a slow start in the first quarter, but it was Daviess County who was able to grab a 13-11 lead going into the second.
With sophomore Amelia Mackey being in foul trouble, the Lady Panthers were able to hone in on junior Madison Morris and stifle the Bravettes offense in the second.
“We turned them over some in our press,” Haile said. “They made a few turnovers, we were able to switch our defenses up and then we made the extra pass and took some better shots on offense too.”
Daviess County limited them to eight points, while freshman Zoey Beehn helped open up things for the offense by being a dominant presence in the middle of Union County’s zone.
She helped the Lady Panthers tally 17 points in the quarter, as they went into halftime owning a 30-19 lead.
Slowing down a bit on offense in the third quarter Daviess County remained out in front 40-27, but just as it seemed the Lady Panthers could easily seal the deal the Bravettes came roaring back.
Up 11 with one minute to play, Union County hit a three that cut it to 51-43 and took a timeout to set up a fullcourt press.
The Bravettes forced a plethora of Lady Panthers turnovers, climbing back as the game neared its end. Union County cut it to 51-48 with another three with 9.3 seconds left to play.
Daviess County was fouled shortly after, sending them to line for a one-and-one. The Lady Panthers would miss the front end, but secured an offensive rebound that sent junior Adylan Ayer to the line with five seconds remaining.
In the double bonus, Ayer sank the second free throw to make it a two-possession game and narrowly secure the 52-48 win over the Bravettes
“We played well in spurts, did some things [well], we just had a few too many mental errors to extend the lead like I felt we should have,” Haile said.
Haile said they haven’t had a lot of games where they’ve had the lead and it’s been close like this matchup, so he takes the blame for not having worked on this in practice.
Going forward, he said they have to focus on the things like time, possession, score in practice and will have to continue to learn in order to improve against fullcourt pressure.
“We gotta get better against pressure defense to be able to be strong with the basketball and make sound decisions,” Haile said. “We were trying to hold the ball some and we took a few very questionable shots there that we did not need to take. Like I said, it’s stuff we have to work on and I’ll take the blame.”
Ayer led the way with 13 points and senior Katie Mewes put up 11 points, but it was Beehn’s offensive play (12 points) that was the catalyst for the Lady Panthers offense throughout the game.
This is Beehn’s second straight strong game after her 16-point performance against Owensboro Catholic, something Haile thinks can happen more often in the future.
“[She’s] being strong inside and taking it to them and getting to the free throw line and rebounding and just being kind of a presence inside,” Haile said. “[She’s] blocking some shots too. I know she had four or five blocks against Catholic and she had a couple early on in this game too. She’s capable of doing whatever she puts her mind to.”
Now sitting at 5-4 overall on the season, Haile and company will look to win its second game of the Independence Bank Kentucky-Indiana Classic when they take on Butler County at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
“They’re a solid team,” Haile said. “I believe they’re undefeated this year… They bring fullcourt pressure so we gotta be able to handle that. We’ve struggled a little bit against it, but we should be able to play them close and hopefully win a basketball game. But it’s gonna be a battle.”
