A fierce defensive effort by the Owensboro Catholic girls’ basketball team left them with a 22-0 lead after the first quarter, and they went on to beat Apollo 53-21 at home.
Friday’s 9th District win for the Lady Aces (3-1, 1-0) was their third victory in a row, and it halted a two-game win streak by the E-Gals (2-2, 0-1).
Catholic used five 3-pointers, three of which came from Caroline Reid, to build the first-quarter lead, and head coach Michael Robertson said they found success by being unselfish.
“We came out ready to play,” he said. “I think we shot the ball extremely well in the first half. I think that was due to getting the extra pass. We made sure we hit the person that was open. When we make good passes, we’re going to hit our shots.”
The first basket for Apollo came early in the second quarter on a short jumper by Cassondra Green. The only other scores of the half were a bucket from Kassidy Daugherty and a pair of free throws by Zoe Floyd.
Another strong quarter by the Lady Aces was led by Mackenzie Keelin, who drained a pair of 3-pointers early, and the halftime lead was stretched to 36-6.
Keelin said the team was happy with the scoring barrage, but defense is what they really want to lean on to win games.
“Our defense is what really helped us come out hard and we played aggressive,” she said. “We really need to focus on our defense. I think that’s the key to winning games.”
Robertson said defense will be key in making a postseason run, but he also hopes to get more efficient production from the bench.
“We’re going to keep working on defense,” he said. “For us to be where we want at the end of the year, we have to get better defensively. We were lackadaisical in the second half. Offensively, we have to get fundamentally sound and be able to score in the half court without our starting five in there. We struggled to score tonight when we pulled our starters out.”
As the Lady Aces continue to move forward, Robertson said the goal will be to improve each game. He said playing three tough contests to start the season helped them prepare for the district-opener against Apollo. With the decisive win, he said Catholic was able to show signs of their season goals.
“Our statement we’re trying to make is we want to get better each and every game,” he said. “We looked really good in our man-to-man defense in the first half. We held them scoreless in the first quarter. We just have to keep playing hard and each time we step on the court. We want to get better.”
Owensboro Catholic stats:
Mackenzie Keelin (13 points), Hannah McKay (12 points), Caroline Reid (9 points), Spencer Harvey (8 points), Camille Conkright (3 points), Kinsley Goetz (2 points), Isabella Henning (2 points), Ally Maggard (2 points), Sarah Beth Clemens (1 point), Madelyn Lyon (1 point)
Apollo stats:
Zoe Floyd (7 points), Kassidy Daugherty (4 points), Amari Sanders (4 points), Amber Dunn (2 points), Cassondra Green (2 points), Lexi Shadowen (2 points)
Looking ahead:
Owensboro Catholic is off for a week before making the short trip for a 5:30 p.m. 9th District meeting with Daviess County on Friday.
Apollo returns home Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. game against South Warren.
