Shortly after the buzzer sounded, signifying Daviess County’s 61-45 win over Owensboro Catholic in the 3rd Region Championship, Lady Panthers head coach Natalie Payne pointed to her family in the stands. Moments later, she found her father and gave him a massive hug.
“I told the girls before the game that my dad has fought cancer for over 10 years,” Payne said. “He’s a fighter and it’s about more than a ball game. If he can fight, then we can do anything for 32 minutes. The last thing he told me before I left his house last night was not to let them play harder than us. I told the girls before the game that we had to be fighters.”
And that they did, battling their hearts out – culminating in the program’s first ever 3rd Region Championship.
“I feel super grateful,” junior Kennedy Lane said. “We worked super hard for this all season. We knew we had a chance to win the Region, and we did it.”
A massive milestone, it was only a few months ago when pundits were out on the Lady Panthers after their 1-5 start to the season. Yet, it was that exact start that included tough losses against some of the toughest teams in the state, which Payne believes morphed her team into what they have become.
“I knew we could do something special coming into the season,” Payne said. “I know we had a lot of people on the outside that doubted us when we went on that losing steak, but we just kept these kids heads into it, kept building them up. Doing whatever we needed to do to get back on track.”
Junior Molly Hancock said shortly after the losing streak that they came together and decided it wouldn’t define them as a team. They used the adversity as motivation to turn their season around.
“We had a very tough schedule, and I knew we would push through the adversity and fight like no other,” senior Lily Hoagland said. “I knew we would get to this point. …We came out strong, and we knew where we wanted to go, which was Rupp. We came into practice every day and fought.”
On Thursday, the Lady Panthers will play in the State Tournament at Rupp Areana, a dream come true for the entire team.
“It’s kind of crazy being able to go out on a win and end my career at Rupp Arena,” senior Zoey Beehn said.
Junior Briley Henry is thrilled at the opportunity to arrive and play at Rupp with her best friends and freshmen Riley Hayden echoed her sentiments.
“We didn’t get to play at Rupp last year, but I am glad we get to,” Hayden said. “I’m happy to do it with this team.”
Winning the programs first ever Region title and playing at Rupp aren’t the only major milestones the team accomplished yesterday. This was the first time Daviess County has beaten Owensboro Catholic in 14 years.
“It feels great to beat them,” Hancock said. “Never in my life have I beaten Catholic and then all of a sudden this just happens.”
Beehn stated that because of the 14-year loss streak, the team entered the game with the mindset that they didn’t have anything to lose and just to try their hardest.
“It feels really good. I have always wanted to beat them,” Hoagland said.
With their first-round match with Danville Christian only a few days away, the Lady Panthers will be back in the practice gym this week to make sure it won’t be a short stay at Rupp. The girls will be ready to get back to work, but as of now, the moment still hasn’t dawned on them. But one thing is for sure.
“We are going to go down in history as one of the best girls’ basketball teams at Daviess County High School,” Henry said.
