After losing to the Lady Devils for the first time in 14 years just under two weeks ago, Owensboro Catholic came ready to play tonight, defeating Owensboro 52-43 to secure the Ninth District crown.
The two teams split the season series, so anticipation was high heading into tonight’s district final at Owensboro High School. Each team started off a bit slow offensively, until Owensboro’s Lindsey Gibson knocked down a three-pointer to put some points on the board after nearly three minutes of play.
The floodgates opened soon after, as the Lady Aces went on a 16-0 run led by junior Jenna Krampe. Owensboro Catholic’s defense was locking the Lady Devils out of the paint, forcing them to turn the ball over and take tough, contested shots that led to instant offense on the other end. They would go on to lead 18-4 at the end of the first quarter.
“I think their experience showed [in the first half],” Owensboro’s Head Coach Jansen Locher said. “They executed a lot better than we did. We settled for too many jump shots and didn’t try to attack them.”
Sophomore guard Keeley Harris came off the bench and gave the Lady Devils life, scoring eight points and drilling two triples in the second quarter alone. This didn’t faze the Lady Aces though, as they continued to dominate on both ends of the flooron their way to an 18-point lead at the break.
Hailee Johnson knocked down her third three of the night straight out of the locker room, and by the looks of it, Owensboro Catholic was going to run away with it. Owensboro never faded away though, as they went on a run of their own for almost the entire quarter, outscoring the Lady Aces 14-2. Harris and Unique Carter-Swanigan led the charge to put the Lady Devils right back in it.
“We made some shots and started believing in ourselves,” Coach Locher said. “We got some steals and got them flustered a little bit. We kept playing our game and playing hard.”
The Owensboro Catholic lead was cut all the way down to four when Gibson hit her third triple of the game with just under three minutes left. Owensboro’s late game heroics would fall just short, as the Lady Aces made 11/12 from the free throw line to close it out.
“I wanted to jump on them early, they didn’t quit though,” Owensboro Catholic Head Coach Michael Robertson said. “They play super hard…they’re very athletic and get after us. They’re going to be a tough out in the region tournament.”
Aubrey Randolph put together an impressive performance, scoring 17 points while having just come off an injury. Johnson poured in 16 points as Krampe added nine. Harris showed out, leading the Lady Devils with 13 points. Gibson and Carter-Swanagan added nine each.
“I’m proud of our girls,” Coach Robertson said. “We were the underdog today coming into their house. We took care of business in the first half and played really well.”
Johnson and Randolph were named to the All-District team for Owensboro Catholic, as Carter-Swanagan and Alyrica Hughes were recognized for OHS. Kennedy Lane (AHS), Zoey Beehn (DC), and Adylan Ayer (DC), who won Ninth District player of the year, rounded out the squad.
Both teams will be back in action next week at the Owensboro Sportscenter for the Third Region tournament. The brackets for the girl’s and boy’s region tournaments will be finalized this Saturday.
