Throwing a myriad of defensive schemes at the Lady Devils in the second half, Daviess County grinded out a 44-43 district win that went down to the buzzer on Wednesday.
Owensboro got right to work offensively in the first quarter, getting out in transition and using a rebounding advantage to rattle off 19 points. This was in large part due to the Lady Devils playing larger lineups and the effort of eighth grader Unique Carter-Swanagan, as they were without Lulu Grace.
“We got a lot of rebounds [in the first half],” Head Coach Jansen Locher said. “And even from our guards. Unique is usually the smallest person on the court and she goes and gets a lot of offensive rebounds… That’s what we teach our girls. It’s not always about size, it’s about effort and wanting to go get it. I thought we had it in the first half.”
Meanwhile, junior Adylan Ayer was keeping the Lady Panthers in it, scoring eight points with two threes as they went into the second trailing 19-13.
Early in the second Daviess County was still rattled, as the game got physical and it wore on them as they fell behind 25-15 with 4:35 left in the first half. But the Lady Panthers switched to a 2-3 zone, stifling the Lady Devils offense and going on a 10-2 run to head into halftime trailing 27-25.
Daviess County’s momentum carried into the third quarter, as its offense was more fluid and they were able to throw Owensboro off with a barrage of defensive looks.
Switching to a 2-3 zone and a pair of three’s from freshman Lily Hoagland had helped the Lady Panthers jump out to a 39-34 lead with 2:05 left in the third. Following a Lady Devils timeout, Daviess County continued to keep them on their toes by switching to a box-and-one.
Freshman Emme Roberts was the ‘one’, as she was tasked with trying to limit sophomore A’Lyrica Hughes by faceguarding her after she’d scored 11 points in the first half.
Despite Hughes being less involved in the offense because of this defensive scheme, Owensboro kept chugging. The Lady Devils got a three to cut it 43-42 with just under four minutes to play and then a lane violation cost the Lady Panthers.
Hughes was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one, but a lane violation allowed her to make both free throws and put Owensboro up 44-43. Daviess County took a timeout shortly after with 1:55 on the clock.
About a minute after the timeout, junior Madison Spurrier earned her way to the line. As one of the only Lady Panthers to score in the fourth—with Ayer being the other—she knocked down both free throws to give Daviess County a 45-44 lead with 54 seconds left.
A jump ball gave possession back to the Lady Panthers, which led to Ayer being fouled with 14.4 seconds to play. Ayer went on to make both free throws, giving Owensboro one last possession down 47-44.
Carter-Swanagan drove left and lost the ball, but was able to gain possession and throw it to sophomore Emma Wilkins in the corner. She got a clean shot off from three, but it clanked off of the rim and the rebound was secured by Daviess County, as well as the 47-44 win.
Head Coach Stephen Haile was very pleased with his team’s effort late in the game, stating that players rose to the challenge and executed what they had worked on in practice.
“We had some players step up at the end and make some big free throws,” Haile said. “We took better shots tonight and executed down the stretch, and that’s what we really worked on yesterday in practice. I was proud of that, because I felt like down the stretch we were the more disciplined team.”
One of those players was Spurrier, who scored four of her 12 points in the fourth. Ayer led Daviess County with 14, while Hoagland also finished in double figures with 11.
While Roberts wasn’t doing anything that shows up in the scorebook, she was a key player in limiting Hughes to six points in the second half.
The Lady Panthers have played box-and-one against past opponents like Henderson and Breckinridge County, but this is something they’ve worked on in practice recently. After not playing a single minute in the game, Roberts stepped up to the challenge of guarding one of the most talented players in the district in this defensive scheme against Owensboro in the second half.
“We’ve had her faceguard some people,” Haile said. “Even in practice I’ve had her faceguard Addie and Lily some in that role… It was kind of a big game thing, because 15 was getting into the lane too easy on us and we were getting into foul trouble in man-to-man… She plays hard all the time.”
The win moves the Lady Panthers to 14-10 overall and 2-3 district, setting them up to face the E-gals in the first round of district play in the postseason. However, they’ll get a tune-up match against them Friday night at 5:30 p.m.
“It’s who we’re going to play in the first round of the district, so Friday is kind of a big game because it’s a statement for us,” Haile said. “They beat us the first time at our place. We didn’t play very well. Started the game poorly and fought back and lost it at the end. So, we’ll be ready to go Friday night.”
Meanwhile, Owensboro fell just short of back-to-back district wins on Wednesday, as Locher said they just weren’t sharp late in the game.
“It was the fight that we expected,” Locher said. “We just didn’t execute the way that we needed to down the stretch and that falls on me as the coach, not necessarily on our players. But we still had a chance at the end. We still got a good look at the end, it just didn’t fall. That’s the way district games go, so we just gotta put it behind us and get ready for Catholic on Friday.”
While Hughes was limited to just six points in the second half, she still led all scorers on the night with 16 points. Carter-Swanagan chipped in 10 points along with her strong performance on the glass and on the defensive end, while junior Lindsey Gibson followed with nine points.
Owensboro falls to 13-11 and 1-4 in district with the loss, as they are the No. 4 seed and will take on the Lady Aces in the first round of the district tournament. They will also get a taste of that on Friday, as they are set for their final regular season district game against Owensboro Catholic at 6 p.m.
“We’re going to get the chance to kind of see what they’re going to want to run against some of our defenses,” Locher said. “They’re going to do the same thing to us. Michael’s probably one of the better coaches in the 3rd Region and even in the state… One thing we do know is we have athletic girls that can put some pressure on them… It’ll be nice to just see what they’re going to run, what they want to do to us, what’s going to be effective and what’s not going to be effective against them and things like that.”
