The Lady Devils made a statement in the first quarter against Evansville Christian, propelling them to a 59-28 victory.
Owensboro came out of the gate looking to take control of the game, using fullcourt pressure to jump start its offense.
This worked in spades as the Lady Devils quickly jumped out to an 8-2 lead with 6:02 left in the first quarter.
Owensboro continued to apply pressure and was able to grow its lead to 19-3 going into the second quarter, getting to the rim at ease offensively.
In the second quarter Evansville Christian started to get some shots to fall and a zone defense stifled the Lady Devils offense at times.
However, Owensboro’s ability to continue to force turnovers kept them in charge, owning a 32-13 lead going into the second half.
The Lady Devils had some fits offensively in the third quarter when Evansville Christian switched to a zone defense, but they were able to break through as the quarter progressed.
Sophomore Alyrica Hughes led the way with six in the quarter, as Owensboro headed into the fourth with a 49-23 lead.
The Lady Devils continued to have control of the game in the fourth, turning defense into offense once again.
It was eighth grader Unique Carter-Swanagan who led the charge offensively, scoring nine of her team-leading 14 points to put a bow on a 59-28 home win.
“We played well,” Head Coach Jansen Locher said. “We came out with some energy and I think the girls are excited. We’re tired of playing ourselves, so this week we’ve gotten to play some other teams. And we’re young so the girls are starting to gel together.”
Defensively the Lady Devils didn’t allow more than 10 points in a quarter to Evansville Christian, holding them to three and five in the first and fourth quarter.
This was a product of their hounding defense all game, something Owensboro hopes to execute night in and night out.
“One thing I learned from Coach Drake and the boys team is when you press and you control the chaos of the game you control the speed and that’s what we want to do,” Locher said. “We want to control the game to play to our advantage and we were able to do that tonight.”
On the offensive end, along with Carter-Swanagan, Hughes (11), sophomore Alicia Phillips (11) and junior Chandler Worth (10) all finished in double figures.
“Everything that runs through our team right now is through Alyrica,” Locher said. “She’s kind of a jack of all trades… She’s a highlight every time she has the ball. She played more under control tonight and didn’t have as many turnovers as she had the last two nights.”
The zone defense from Evansville threw the Lady Devils for a loop momentarily and Locher said that they’ll continue to improve in making adjustments as the season goes on.
“We have a few more shooters this year than we have in previous years,” Locher said. “So when a team goes zone we gotta get into our offense a little bit faster, especially when we’re on the other end and I can’t just call it out for them to hear me. Our guards have to make sure we get into it.”
Now sitting at 3-0 on the season, Owensboro is looking forward to playing at the Owensboro Sportscenter against Madisonville-North Hopkins at 8:30 p.m.
“They’re just gonna play hard and they’re going to pressure us,” Locher said. “So we have to match their intensity and just take care of the basketball.”
