Switching up its defenses to cause mayhem with Apollo’s offense, a strong third quarter turned the tides to help the Lady Aces come away with a 69-56 district win.
Neither Owensboro Catholic nor the E-gals were able to gain much momentum offensively in the first. However, it was Apollo who had a slight edge. as the Lady Aces missed three layups before the buzzer to head into the second trailing 9-8.
Taking a more disciplined and patient approach in the second, the E-gals began to make some ground offensively. Also getting key contributions on the glass from sophomore Jenna Dant, Apollo was able to pick apart the Lady Aces’ zone for 19 points.
However, Owensboro Catholic didn’t go away thanks to the trio of freshman Karmin Riley (six points), junior Maddie Hayden (five points) and senior Kinsley Goetz (four points) combined for all of the team’s points to keep its deficit at 28-23 going into halftime.
The E-gals were able to stay out in front early in the second half, owning a 35-34 lead with five minutes left in the third quarter. But the Lady Aces switch to a 3-2 zone bamboozled Apollo’s offense and led to a plethora of turnovers.
This led to plenty of offense for Owensboro Catholic, specifically the guard tandem of sophomore Hailee Johnson and Riley. Johnson tallied 11 points in third while Riley had nine as they took a 46-45 lead into the fourth.
The Lady Aces didn’t take their foot of the gas either, as Johnson continued to pour it in and Goetz controlled the fourth and made Dant foul out with Owensboro Catholic up nine and 2:51 left to play.
Johnson had 11 in the fourth and Goetz had 10, as the E-gals had no answer defensively and fell to the Lady Aces 69-56.
Johnson led all scorers with 22 points while Riley chipped in 15 points. Head Coach Michael Robertson said that while Johnson and Riley have been thriving as of late, it’s the help of fellow teammates setting each other up that has led to some of the duo’s success.
“I like to have people that can put the ball in the basket, but I will say this,” Robertson said. “We’ve got guards that are also distributing the ball and getting them the ball in positions to score. Katie Riney is doing a great job of doing that, Maddie Hayden does a good job of that. Camille Conkright came in and played well tonight.”
Goetz also had an extremely efficient night in the post, doing a good job of getting position deep into the paint to finish with 21 points.
“I thought we did a really good job in the second half, especially focusing on getting Kinsley the ball inside,” Robertson said. “She went to work. She did a good job in there. She was strong and physical and then when she got fouled and maybe didn’t make the shot she went up there and hit free throws. So I’m proud of her for that.”
Beatty led Apollo with 20 points, while Dant followed closely behind with 16 points and eighth grader Kennedy lane chipped in 11 points.
Senior Amaya Curry was limited to just four points on the night, as Head Coach Natalie Payne said Owensboro Catholic cut Curry off before she could make a move to score throughout the game.
“They showed double a lot on Curry and keyed in on her,” Payne said. “They did a good job of picking her up early in transition where she is at her best.”
Robertson said that in the third they also switched up their zone defenses in order to cause more chaos for Apollo’s offense.
“We changed kind of what we were doing,” Robertson said. “We were in more of a flat 3-2, trapping in certain areas of the floor and certain people on the floor. They turned it over quite a bit early, but we were extended too far… I kind of crunched it in and we kind of moved it down and compacted it a little bit. [It] made those passes difficult and we quit letting them drive baseline.”
The win pushes Owensboro Catholic to 15-6 overall while advancing to 3-0 in district play, as they have a tough week ahead with a matchup against Owensboro on Monday at 6 p.m. and All-A play coming up.
The E-gals loss snaps a three-game winning streak as they fall to 9-9 overall and despite the loss, Payne and company are holding their heads high.
“We showed that we can compete with Catholic and we have what it takes to compete at a high level,” Payne said. “I think we continue to work on improving our defense. That is the key for us to be ready come tournament time.”
Looking to bounce back with a quick turnaround, Apollo will hit the road for a matchup with Graves County at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
