Owensboro held off Breckinridge County to win a close 41-38 game and send them to the regional championship on Sunday. Both teams’ defenses stood their ground which led to a low-scoring game, but Owensboro’s ticket to the championship was punched after Breckinridge missed a last second three pointer that would have sent the game into overtime.
Breckinridge opened the scoring on the night at the free throw line as a shooting foul helped them go up 2-0. Owensboro came out aggressive on defense early as they utilized a full court press in the opening minutes. This paired with Breckinridge locking down the paint early on saw a low scoring first quarter. Heleina John broke through however and scored 4 points from the post to help put Owensboro up 8-7 going into the second.
With the Lady Red Devils mounting high defensive pressure early on, some of the Lady Red Devils began to accumulate fouls early on. Despite this head coach Jansen Locher said that their defense was capable of limiting Breckinridge’s scoring, so they locked in and utilized their tight defense to get them going on offense.
“We had some girls that were a little upset because of fouls early, but we knew that with the way that our defense plays we could stop them from scoring a lot of points,” he said. “Lucas is so tough, especially on her left hand. She’s a great player. Grimes as well. Those are just some great girls out there playing. I thought every possession we were locked in. Even if we gave up a basket, we came back and we were locked in the next possession.”
“That’s how you beat good teams,” he continued. “That’s how you win championships. It’s just defense night in and night out. Offense will come and go, but defenses will win you championships and our girls did a great job of that tonight.”
Breckinridge took the lead at the start of the second quarter with a cut to the basket. Owensboro were stopped on the other end, but they stole the ball back to set up Shalyn Sprinkles with her only three of the night. Breckinridge tied the game up twice in the next two possessions, but a converted and-1 play by A’Lyrica Hughes sent the Lady Red Devils into halftime with a 16-13 lead.
John along with Abby Sapp and Unique Carter-Swanagan all hit mid-range jump shots to give OHS a 22-17 lead early in the third. The teams went back and forth scoring on each other for the next couple of possessions, but Breckinridge brought the gap to just 1 point going into the fourth quarter after Lady Tigers guard Caroline Lucas scored off a drive to the basket, a fast break layup and finally a converted and-1 play to put the score at 30-29.
Breckinridge took the lead with a short jump shot to start the final quarter. Breckinridge got a stop and nearly extended their lead before Hughes got a steal and found Keely Harris open under the basket. Both teams pulled off multiple stops and the ball changed possession plenty during the final minutes, but after making 2 free throws Hughes got a big steal that led to her making a single free throw at the line.
Breckinridge scored the basket that brought the game to 37-35 with just a minute on the clock. The Lady Red Devils were able to extend their lead to 40-35 with free throws, and another big steal by Sprinkles put the ball in Owensboro’s possession with 25 seconds left. After Sprinkles made a free throw, Breckinridge raced down the court and hit a three to put the score at 41-38 with 11 seconds left. Breckinridge got a quick steal and raced down to find an open shooter in the corner, but the three pointer that would have taken the game to overtime missed and OHS took the win 41-38.
John led the Lady Red Devils in scoring with 15 points. Hughes followed behind shooting 7 of 7 from the free throw line to contribute to her 11 points. John had most of her points come from buckets in the paint, and she said that this was the game plan as the team is stronger when playing the ball down low.
“We were really just trying to get it down low because that’s where we’re stronger at right now,” she said. “We can shoot outside, but we’re not trying to set up shots because we’re stronger down low. I think we’re really good down low, we’re doing great on defense and we’re hustling. I’m just really proud of my team.”
Owensboro will have a chance at revenge as the championship game on Sunday will be a rematch of last year’s regional title game against rivals Owensboro Catholic. Locher said that since the team was just happy to be in the championship game before, they are coming for the whole thing this time around.
“We’re going to have our words cut out for us, but we’re excited to be there,” he said. “We’ve now been there before, so we’re not just happy to be there. We’re coming to win the whole thing now.”
