The Lady Panther’s strong start defensively paired with strong guard play was the key to success on Tuesday night, as Daviess County was able to grab its second home win of the season by defeating Hancock County 63-48.
Sophomore Emme Roberts and senior Madison Spurrier got the Lady Panthers going to start the night, as Roberts got a pair of layups and Spurrier followed with a transition bucket to take a 6-0 lead within the first minute of the night. Daviess County’s was the biggest key to the hot start, using a myriad of defensive schemes to get turnovers and lead 12-7 going into the second quarter.
Hancock County kept trying to claw its way back to a lead to start the second, this time using a 6-0 run of their own to make it a 15-13 game with 4:42 left in the first half. But the Lady Panthers defense held strong, while getting six points from freshman Rachel Moran off of the bench in the second to help take a 29-21 lead into halftime.
Head Coach Stephen Haile was proud of Moran and other Lady Panthers efforts off of the bench against the Lady Hornets, getting a spark from them while facing foul trouble in the second and third quarter.
“Rachel just moved here from Missouri,” Haile said. “She’s been here since August so I’m still getting to know her a little bit, but she plays hard and rebounds hard. And she can finish around the basket.”
Daviess County picked up right where it left off coming out of the locker room, quickly making it a 35-25 game with 5:04 left in the third quarter. Ayer played a key part in the Lady Panthers offensive success throughout the quarter, grabbing a layup and dishing out an assist to freshman Briley Henry to make it 47-33 going into the fourth.
Ayer and Spurrier led the way in the final quarter of play, grabbing five points each to combine for 10 of the team’s 16 in the fourth en route to the 63-48 win. Ayer led all scorers with 22 points on the night, while Roberts had 13 and Spurrier finished with 10 to combine for 45 points in the contest.
Roberts was a threat on both sides of the floor for Daviess County, grabbing points in bunches and helping limit Hancock County senior Bailey Poole to 15 points on the defensive end. Haile said that she’s steadily improved since the end of last season and is happy with the progress despite the learning curves.
“Emme’s still learning,” Haile said. “She had a good summer for us, but she’s still learning a little bit of that point guard responsibility of being able to bring the ball up the floor with a little bit of pressure on you and not getting too antsy and trying to pass before two people come to trap you. She’s getting better… She’s learning on the go.”
The Lady Panthers feel confident at the guard position, as they know that they have a number of weapons with experience and younger players that seem to be up to the challenge coming off of the bench.
“Now we’ve got Emme, Adylan and Briley too, so in those regards we’ve been pretty good,” Haile said. “Hopefully we’ve got Molly and a couple of others off the bench that can come in if we get in foul trouble and can handle the ball with a little bit of confidence. Because we’re going to see pressure from a lot of teams. Especially Friday.”
Haile was also happy with their ability to control the tempo and handle the fullcourt pressure from the Lady Hornets, knowing that they are going to need to count on that as the season progresses.
“With them you have to handle their pressure,” Haile said. “They’re going to press you all game long and they’re looking to play a more fast-tempo game, whereas that’s not really our strong suit. We’re more of a half-court team and they have more speed than we do, so I thought we did a good job of [controlling] that.”
The Lady Panthers expect to play another team looking to play up-tempo on Friday, as they will travel to take on Owensboro in the district regular season opener at 5:30 p.m. Haile said that it’s going to be a hard-fought battle with the 4-0 Lady Devils, knowing that they will have to limit unforced errors in order to come away with the win.
“I’m expecting a good basketball team,” Haile said. “They’re gonna play fast and they’re going to press us I’m sure. They’re going to be up in our grill on defense… They (Hancock County) came after us a little bit there the last few minutes, so the girls have to get used to that… We’ve gotta play without fouling and handle their pressure and I think it’ll be a really good girls basketball game Friday night. So come watch.”
