The Owensboro High School girls’ basketball team started hot in their first appearance in the KHSAA state tournament since 1992. But a cold third quarter plagued the Lady Devils and they were never able to fully recover, falling 43-39 to Henderson County on Thursday at Rupp Arena.
Owensboro (21-12) dominated the opening quarter, hitting 8-of-13 shots and using a stingy defense to roll to a 19-9 advantage. They pushed the lead to as much as 14 points late in the second but the lead was trimmed to 26-19 by halftime.
That’s when things went south for the Lady Devils, who went 0-for-9 from the field in the third quarter.
Henderson County (26-7) tied the game on a 3-pointer from Atylia Green with 4:33 to play in the third. Green drained another triple on the next possession, putting the Lady Colonels on top for good.
The only points in the third from Owensboro came on a pair of free throws by Shalyn Sprinkles with 1:16 to play in the frame. Green hit a jumper a few seconds later to put Henderson up 31-28 heading into the fourth.
OHS Head Coach Jansen Locher said he thinks the halftime break killed all the momentum OHS had, and they were never able to really get it back.
“I think we had good things going (in the first half),” he said. “We had to take that little break. I think without that break, we probably would have kept things rolling. That’s just part of the game. We just couldn’t hit shots. I thought we played hard, and hats off (to Henderson because) they made some shots to get back into the game. We just couldn’t get things going offensively (in the third quarter). Anybody that’s watched us play knows that once we can make some shots and get our defense set up, that’s when we really get going. It was hard to get our defense set up the way that we wanted to without making a shot.”
The Lady Colonels took their biggest lead when Adalyn Gish hit a 3-pointer to start the final quarter.
Owensboro’s Unique Carter-Swanagan then scored the next 5 points of the game to cut their deficit to 1. After another Henderson bucket from Green, Owensboro’s Heleina John hit a mid-range shot to get OHS within 36-35.
That was as close as the Lady Devils could get the rest of the way. Henderson once again was able to create a little breathing room with a timely 3-pointer.
John got Owensboro within 2 points with 3:16 to play, and the Lady Devils were able to turn up the pressure and create a few opportunities to either tie or take the lead. However, they went 1-for-6 over the final minutes, ad Henderson was able to hit enough free throws to stay on top.
Henderson County Head Coach Stephen Haile said they were able to rely on a tough defense and made just enough key shots to keep Owensboro at bay.
“I just can’t talk enough about the defensive effort in the second half,” he said. “To allow 13 points there in the second half is just a testament to the defensive effort that they put forth all season. (The 3-pointers) were just huge shots, and in a low-scoring game that put us in a good position to win the basketball game.”
Locher said he was proud of his team for fighting until the end.
“Defensively we played so well. I thought we’d rebounded the basketball well. (Henderson) just went on the run and we couldn’t quite get back over the hump,” he said. “Our girls played great. They did the best they could out there. I was so proud of them for the hustle that they showed, the poise they kind of showed. I thought the sportsmanship (was great). They all kept their heads held high. As upset as they are, they were just excited to be able to be out here and show everybody kind of how we play basketball at Senior High.”
Carter-Swanagan paced the Lady Devils with 15 points and John added 13. Also pitching in were Alyrica Hughes (5), Sprinkles (4), and Gizelle Whitlock (2).
Henderson’s Green led all scorers with 17 points. The Lady Colonels also got production from Rideout (8), Gish (6), Anna Kemp (6), Rashia Cansler (3), and Janyla Locher (3).
After shooting 61.5% in the first half, OHS finished the game at 27.1%. Henderson shot 39.5% from the field, including 50% in the second half.
The Lady Devils forced 14 turnovers and had 27 rebounds (9 offensive). The Lady Colonels forced 9 turnvoers and blocked 6 shots to go along with 32 rebounds (7 offensive).
