Locking down the Lady Mustangs all night long, Owensboro Catholic turned defense into offense as they grabbed a 63-34 win and advanced to the semifinals of the 3rd Region Tournament.
The Lady Aces offense was patient from the jump in attacking Muhlenberg County’s 1-3-1 zone, taking a 12-2 lead with minutes to go in the first. Meanwhile, the Lady Mustangs couldn’t crack double figures, going into the second down 14-5.
Owensboro Catholic went stagnant to open up the second quarter, being held scoreless for nearly three minutes until sophomore Hailee Johnson knocked down a three to make it a 17-5 game.
Muhlenberg County was having offensive struggles of its own to start the second half, as it was still looking for its first bucket down 19-5 with 3:24 left in the first half. The Lady Mustangs would knock down a three following the timeout, but they only scored once more as they went into halftime trailing 25-10.
Coming out of the locker room, Owensboro Catholic seemed to have new life and was playing with a sense of urgency. Creating havoc defensively, a 7-0 run had the Lady Aces up 32-10 with 6:25 left in the third.
The Lady Mustangs luck didn’t change either, as they continued to cough up the ball. Junior Maddie Hayden was a key catalyst in Owensboro Catholic’s defensive success, getting a barrage of steals and six points in the third as they took a 47-23 lead into the fourth.
“She’s full of energy,” Robertson said. “She plays with so much. She’s so quick and she anticipates so well, so when she’s able to get into those passing lanes she can create havoc defensively.”
The fourth quarter was no different for the Lady Aces, with senior Kinsley Goetz tallying six of her eight points to close the door on a 63-34 first round win.
“Overall, we did a really good job…” Robertson said. “I thought Kinsley Goetz for not being able to play [lately] looked really energized and ready to go so that was good to see.”
She along with freshman Karmin Riley finished with eight points on the night, while Johnson led all scorers with 16 and Hayden finished with 10.
Owensboro Catholic didn’t have its greatest night from the field, with the Lady Mustangs throwing an array of defensive sets at them throughout the night. However, Robertson said that seeing this in the first round could help them going into their second round matchup.
“I’m sure whoever we play on Friday night is going to throw some junk at us, so we’ve gotta be ready for it,” Robertson said. “I kind of like that. Gives us some things to go back and work on. We were ready for everything, the problem is we just didn’t always execute. But we were very patient in our offense once we figured out what they were in.”
The Lady Aces will face the winner of Butler County versus Breckinridge County and Robertson and company knows they will have to ramp up the pressure when they take the hardwood at 6 p.m. on Friday.
“We gotta have good intensity, limit our turnovers and make sure we rebound the basketball,” Robertson said. “Both of them are pretty big, with good size, so we’ve gotta be able to match their intensity.”
