It was a slow start and tough night from the field, but the Apollo girls’ basketball team never trailed in a 47-37 win over Owensboro on Friday.
The E-Gals (13-10, 3-2) used a balanced effort and relied on defense throughout the game to limit the Lady Devils (10-14, 2-3), who combined for 145 points in back-to-back wins in their previous two contests.
Apollo head coach Natalie Payne was pleased with her team being able to get the win despite going 13-for-45 from the field.
“I was proud of our defense,” she said. “Even though we weren’t shooting well, our kids were consistent for the most part from start to finish. We had a few breakdowns, but to hold any team to 37 points is a pretty good job.”
Amber Dunn led the E-Gals with 16 points, while Lexi Shadowen scored 11 and Addison Carter came off the bench to add 10. Much of their scoring came sporadically, as they struggled against the zone defense from Owensboro.
“Offensively we never could get going,” Payne said. “We couldn’t get a flow. We haven’t seen a lot of zone for a while, so we’ll just need to brush up on that in practice.”
Despite a quick scoring burst by both teams, Apollo still only led 9-6 after the first quarter. Owensboro’s Amaya Curry hit a pair of jumpers to close the deficit to 13-12, but the E-Gals ended the half with back-to-back 3-pointers from Kassidy Daugherty and Dunn.
Curry again helped cut into the lead and Owensboro trailed 24-20 with 5:10 to play in the third, but Dunn scored 10 points — including 5 in the last 34 seconds — to put Apollo up 34-26 heading into the final frame.
Shadowen helped push the lead to about 10 points, and Owensboro was never able to really threaten down the stretch.
Curry led the Lady Devils with 11 points. Apollo’s Zoe Floyd finished 10 rebounds.
Up next: Apollo at Muhlenberg County, 7 p.m. Monday; Owensboro vs. Trinity, 3 p.m. Saturday
Scoring
Apollo 9-10-15-13–47
Owensboro 6-6-14-11–37
Apollo: Amber Dunn 16, Lexi Shadowen 11, Addison Carter 10, Kassidy Daugherty 5, Zoe Floyd 4, Amari Sanders 1
Owensboro: Amaya Curry 11, Victoria Whitlock 7, Tayonna Greer 5, Mykael Winstead 5, Nia Gonzo 4, Lyric Lawrence 3, Kaylyn Sowders 2
