The Lady Aces lifted their third district title in a row after a climactic finish saw them beat the Lady Red Devils in the championship by just a single point in overtime at 73-72. Both teams had two players named to the All-District Team after the game, and Owensboro Catholic’s Hailee Johnson was named Player of the Year. The All-District Team included:
- Jenna Krampe (OCHS)
- Zoey Beehn (DCHS)
- A’Lryica Hughes (OHS)
- Karmin Riley (OCHS)
- Shalyn Sprinkles (OHS)
- Kennedy Lane (DCHS)
After the fourth quarter opened with an OHS steal and a breakaway layup by Abby Sapp, Keeley Harris drove through contact for a layup in the post. She then hit a big three pointer to take Owensboro’s lead to 55-46. With Owensboro on the verge of extending their lead beyond Owensboro Catholic’s grasp, a steal setup Karmin Riley with a big three pointer that set the Lady Aces comeback in motion. Delaney Cooper made a free throw to bring it to just 3 points in the dying minutes, and she tied the game with just seconds left with a driving layup. Owensboro missed a potential game-winning three before locking down the ball and taking the game into overtime.
Jenna Krampe played a key role in OCHS tying the game in the final seconds as she scored 9 of their 15 points in the quarter with most of her buckets coming from the post. Krampe also fought hard for rebounds that led to second chance baskets and an assist on a three by Aubrey Randolph. Krampe said that the team really wanted this win, so they fought hard and played real team basketball to persevere despite trailing.
Heleina John opened the overtime period with one of her many scores from the post. John’s aggression on rebounds played a big role in taking the lead back from OCHS in the third quarter. After 2 free throws from Krampe, John scored down in the post again to take the lead at 62-60. The lead changed hands three more times in quick succession as the clock winded down because of the high-intensity offensive play from both teams. With Owensboro down Shalyn Sprinkles hit two back-back clutch threes to put OHS ahead 72-70 with 24 seconds left.
The game looked said and done when Sprinkles forced a turnover and gave the Lady Red Devils possession with 8 seconds left. However, the Lady Aces quickly stole the ball, and Krampe drove to the basket and converted the game-winning and-1 play to put Catholic ahead 73-72 with 7 seconds left. Owensboro tried to race up the floor and take the win with a final drive to the basket, but the ball bounced off the front of the rim and out to secure Owensboro Catholic’s third straight district championship.
The frantic finale of the championship was preceded by Owensboro leading by 10 points at one point in the first quarter thanks to Hughes’ 9 points. OCHS took back the lead in the second and held it at halftime, but Hughes’ 6 points in the third quarter along with key free throws helped OHS take back the lead. Hughes was a problem for the Lady Aces all night according to head coach Michael Robertson. Hughes had 18 points overall thanks to her efficiency driving to the basket. Robertson said she may not score a lot of points every single game, but he regarded Hughes as one of the best players in the district.
“She’s one of the best players in the district, if not the region,” he said. “She’s just very hard to guard. She might not score a bunch, but we have to be able to contain her and the rest of their big 3. John came up real big in the post as well. There’s things that I don’t like that we did, but at the end of the day we came out with the victory, and that’s what we needed.”
Sprinkles made an impressive 6 threes and 21 to lead the Lady Red Devils. Leading the Lady Aces in scoring was Randolph with 4 threes and 18 points. Krampe and Cooper both scored 17 on the night with Krampe shooting 5 of 5 on free throws and Cooper making 4 threes. Robertson said multiple girls stepped up on the team tonight when it came to scoring, but their defense can’t continue to allow teams to go on scoring runs.
“I’m telling you; we’ve got five girls who can score,” he said. “Aubrey played a great game tonight. She hit some big shots. Delaney made a big drive here at the end, and Jenna made a big drive too. Katie Hagan played well too when she came in. We’ve got girls that stepped up, but we’ve got to do a better job of keeping people from making those runs, though. That’s got to be us making the runs and extending, not letting them back in the game.”
Both the Lady Red Devils and the Lady Aces will move on to the regional tournament, and OHS head coach Jansen Locher expressed his confidence that his team will pose trouble for whoever draws them in the first round despite this loss.
“The girls are upset because we really wanted this as a team, but we also have to have the mentality that we made it to next week,” he said. “Now somebody’s going to be upset because they’re going to be a #1 seed and then draw us. I don’t think they’re going to be very pleased with it no matter who it is. We just have to play our best game, let everything take care of itself and hopefully give ourselves a chance to play a few games over at the Sportscenter.”
