The Lady Aces and Lady Panthers struggled to open both halves up with strong offensive play, as it led to their respective road losses to McCracken and Pulaski County.
Owensboro Catholic vs McCracken County
The Lady Aces struggled to find a rhythm offensively to open up both halves on Saturday, as they were stifled by No. 7 ranked McCracken County in a 67-50 loss on the road.
Owensboro Catholic was limited to three baskets and a free throw in the opening quarter, while junior Claire Johnson tallied nine points herself to help the Lady Mustangs to a 21-9 lead going into the second. Sophomores Karmin Riley (eight) and Aubrey Randolph (five) combined for 13 to help get the Lady Aces offense going in the second, but they couldn’t slow down McCracken County and went into halftime trailing 35-24.
But Owensboro Catholic’s struggles returned coming out of halftime, as they were held to nine points in a quarter for the second time on the night and went into the fourth down 54-33. The Lady Aces went on to have their strongest quarter of the game to close out the contest, but it was too little too late as they ultimately fell 67-50.
Junior Mikee Buchanan led all scorers with 24 points for the Lady Mustangs, while Claire Johnson (17) and future Murray State Racer Destiny Thomas (16) finished in double figures as well. Riley and Randolph were the only players to finish in double figures for Owensboro Catholic, tallying 14 and 13 points respectively.
The Lady Aces fall to 13-4 overall with the loss, as they will now take a few days off before returning home to host Madisonville-North Hopkins at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Daviess County vs Pulaski County
Daviess County wasn’t able to carry its momentum from a tough district win over Apollo into its matchup with Pulaski County on Saturday, as bleak moments offensively led to a 65-51 road loss.
While the Lady Panthers were able to hold Pulaski County to 12 points in the opening quarter, they were held to single digits themselves and went into halftime trailing 12-6. Daviess County was able to bounce back the following quarter, but still were just shy of knotting things up and went into halftime down 23-19.
The Lady Panthers didn’t have the same luck coming out of the locker room though, as they were held to single digits once again and it led to a 44-28 deficit heading into the fourth. Daviess County caught fire in the fourth with a 23-point outburst—including 16 from Ayer—but it wasn’t enough as Madeline Butcher had 11 points from the charity stripe in the fourth to help secure the 65-51 win for Pulaski County.
Ayer led all scorers with 27 points on the night, while freshman Briley Henry was the only other player to score more than seven for Daviess County with 11 points. The Lady Panthers fall to 7-11 with the loss, as they’ll return home on Tuesday to take on Christian County at 7:30 p.m.
