With baskets hard to come by on Friday night, it was the Lady Aces who hung on late to stay undefeated in the 9th District by forcing late turnovers to grab a 38-36 win over Owensboro.
Both teams got off to a slow start, as some missed opportunities for the Lady Devils led to the first bucket of the game being a pull-up mid-range jumper from the Lady Aces senior Lauren Keelin just over two minutes into the game. It took Owensboro two more minutes to get on the board thanks to a lucky bounce on a three from senior Lindsey Gibson, but neither team budged defensively and Owensboro Catholic left the quarter holding a narrow 7-5 lead.
But the Lady Aces started the second quarter full of intensity, using a 5-0 run to take a 12-5 lead with 5:06 left in the first half. It wasn’t until there was 3:39 left in the quarter that senior A’Lyrica Hughes gave the Lady Devils their first bucket of the second, but strong defense helped them slow Owensboro Catholic down and cut their deficit to 18-15 going into halftime.
Both team’s defenses continued to steal the show in the third quarter, as the Lady Aces narrowly outscored Owensboro 8-7 to take a 25-23 lead going into the fourth. A minute into the quarter the Lady Devils were able to even things up, as Hughes sank a pair of free throws to make it 25-25 after being put in the bonus.
However, it seemed like the Lady Aces still had a slight edge late in the fourth, getting five straight points from sophomore Aubrey Randolph to grow their lead to 34-29 with 2:27 to go. Senior CJ Paige and Owensboro weren’t going away quietly though, as she drilled a three that caused the crowd to erupt with the deficit now at 36-34 with 1:22 to play.
The Lady Devils tried to force a turnover before fouling shortly after, but took too long to do so as senior Maddie Hayden was sent to the line with just over 30 seconds left on the clock. After making the first Hayden missed the second, but Randolph quickly snagged the rebound.
It didn’t prove to seal the deal though, as Owensboro was able to force a turnover and head the other way. Paige missed the initial layup, but Hughes followed with the offensive rebound and put-back to make it a 37-36 game with 21 seconds to play.
The Lady Devils once again tried to get a turnover out of the timeout, but were unable to do so and fouled Randolph with 9.3 remaining. The sophomore proceeded to miss the first but make the second, leading to Owensboro taking a timeout looking to tie or win the game down 38-36 with 2.6 to go after a pass was deflected out of bounds in transition.
From the sideline senior K’Asia Palmer tried to float the ball down low to junior Lizzy Phillips, but the pass met by a sea of Lady Aces as they were able to corral the steal and shut the door on a 38-36 district win. While not getting the result they wanted, Head Coach Jansen Locher said that after the game he was proud of the resiliency his team showed.
“I was proud of our girls for the heart that they showed,” Locher said. “We never let them go on a big run… They’re so tough defensively and we knew that coming in, so we knew that we had to be just as tough defensively. I felt like we were. We switched up defenses a little bit to keep them off balance and then we were just trying to keep their scorers in check and make some other girls score the ball.”
They were able to limit senior Hailee Johnson (five) and sophomore Karmin Riley (one) to a combined six points on the night, while Hughes was the only Lady Devil in double figures with a game-leading 15. Lady Aces Head Coach Michael Robertson would’ve liked better play on the offensive end, but was happy with how they slowed down a run and gun Owensboro team.
“Both teams played hard, but execution was awful on our part,” Robertson said. “We’ve got to make shots. We’ve got to jump stop in the paint and finish with two feet and go through people. We’re still kind of just fading away… We did rebound the ball fairly well. I think we did limit them to one shot a whole lot. I think that might be the lowest point total they’ve got in the year… So defensively I thought we did a really good job.”
Randolph played a big part in Owensboro Catholic’s defensive efforts, while also taking on an unfamiliar role and leading the team with 13 points alongside senior Maddie Hayden’s 11.
“She was a mismatch and we knew it,” Robertson said. “When we saw Palmer on her we were like ‘alright come on, you’re going to be my point guard today.’ We kind of talked to her about that in pre-game and she one time I think she yelled ‘I’m not a point guard’ and I said it doesn’t matter, you’re going to play one today. She was a big help today. She did great and I’m proud of her.”
Historically the Lady Devils have struggled against Owensboro Catholic, as they have not won a game against them since 2009. While Locher and company weren’t able to end the drought, he knows that this game is huge mentally for Owensboro.
“It’s great for our girls’ confidence,” Locher said. “The good thing is we play again early on the road tomorrow, so we don’t have time to sit and sulk about it… It’s great for our girls’ confidence knowing that we are just as good as they are. We feel when we play defense the way we did tonight, we’re as good as anybody in the region. We just gotta work on late-game situations and hopefully next time we can end up with a close win.”
The Lady Devils now sit at 10-5 overall, moving to second in the 9th District with a 2-1 record. Now in a stretch of five games in seven days Locher hopes that how Owensboro played will help them grow as the regular season progresses, starting with a 2:30 p.m. road game against Caldwell County on Saturday.
“District atmospheres are different than other games,” Locher said. “Some girls panicked and turned the ball over, but I wanted them to know that’s one of the best crowds I’ve seen in a regular season girls only game… To play in that atmosphere and know how much the community is really enjoying both of these teams I think kind of showed tonight. When everyone comes out to give them a show, play your hardest and just learn how to play games in that kind of atmosphere.”
On the other hand the Lady Aces move to 12-4 and remain the only undefeated team in 9th District play at 3-0. Facing a couple of tough road opponents coming up in Muhlenberg County (Jan. 10) and McCracken County (Jan. 14), Robertson wants his team to be studious in preparation and grow from it every time that they take the floor.
“We want them to take ownership of it,” Robertson said. “One thing we’ve talked about is let’s go back and see what we did on film. Let’s go back on film and see what we did wrong and what we did right, not just wrong. Then we just have to start making some changes and make sure we’re not making those same silly mistakes over and over again… We’re getting the shots we want, we just gotta convert them. We have too many good shooters, so I think it’s a mental game right now. We’ve just got to get past that.”
