A strong second quarter for Owensboro Catholic bled into the second half of a 46-37 3rd Region Championship win over Owensboro on Sunday, as the Lady Aces’ stifling defense plus a big fourth quarter from junior Jenna Krampe helped them secure a spot at Rupp Arena for the first time in three years.
The Lady Devils wasted no time getting to work offensively, as a layup from junior A’Lyrica Hughes and a three from senior Lindsey Gibson had them up 5-0 in the first two minutes of play. Owensboro Catholic continued to struggle to find a rhythm throughout the quarter. A layup from senior Chandler Worth and an and-one from her the following possession later stretched Owensboro’s lead to 11-0 with three minutes to go in the first quarter.
Senior Lauren Keelin got a pair of free throws to break Catholic’s scoring drought with 2:30 to go in the quarter but they wouldn’t find the bottom of the net again, and a late three from senior Melia Moorman sent the Lady Devils into the second quarter holding a 14-2 lead. Owensboro Head Coach Jansen Locher said that they were a free-flowing team early on, staying sharp mentally and playing their game.
“We were just loose,” Locher said. “We weren’t overthinking things and we ran the court really well. Once Chandler got in there she ran the court well also. We were getting stops on defense [too]. We were getting rebounds. It was one shot, one rebound, so we were able to get it out [in transition].”
Owensboro Catholic Head Michael Robertson agreed with the sentiment, while also noting that his team was in their heads and played a little stiff to start the night.
“Nerves,” Robertson said. “It looked like we hadn’t been here before. I give credit to them, they play so freely. They don’t care. They’re just gonna play. They’re going to get up and down the floor. They don’t care to take a shot. Whether it’s a good shoot, bad shot, it doesn’t matter. They’re going to take the shot.”
The Lady Aces looked like a different team in the ensuing quarter though, as a nice baseline drive and pass by senior Lexie Keelin found senior Hailee Johnson for a mid-range jumper and kickstarted an 8-0 run that cut Owensboro’s lead to 14-10 with 6:42 to go in the second quarter. The run stretched to 14-0 with two minutes to go in the first half with the help of a switch to a 1-3-1 zone defensively, as a bucket by Johnson gave Owensboro Catholic their first lead at 16-14.
“Our girls were taking good shots, but we were tight,” Robertson said. “We were tight and you could see it. Once we saw a few go down everything started clicking and we got going.”
The Lady Devils responded swiftly though, as an offensive rebound led to a three for Moorman and a 17-16 lead for Owensboro with 1:30 to go in the first half. But the Lady Aces would get the last word in the half, as a three from senior Lauren Keelin would be the only other bucket of the quarter as the Lady Aces took a 19-17 lead going into the locker room.
The Lady Devils tried to get going again early out of halftime though, as a floater from freshman Unique Carter-Swanagan less than 30 seconds into the second half knotted things up at 19-19 before 1-2 at the charity stripe for A’Lyrica Hughes had Owensboro leading 20-19 halfway through the third quarter. Lauren Keelin was able to get a layup to put the Lady Aces on the board in the quarter with a layup though, helping them reclaim the lead at 21-20 with 3:40 to go in the third.
A pair of threes from Riley and a three from Lauren followed, as the guard tandem combined for an 11-0 run to help Owensboro Catholic take a 30-20 lead with two minutes to go in the third. Holding onto a narrow lead at halftime Robertson told the Lady Aces to keep fighting and Keelin heard the message loud and clear, getting the last five of her 10 points on the night in the third to help swing momentum their way.
“We knew it would be a tough game,” Keelin said. “We knew we would have to play all 32 minutes. In the locker room at halftime he told us ‘just 16 more minutes. That’s all it takes. Just keep playing hard and you got it.’”
The Lady Devils weren’t going away though, as a late three from Carter-Swanagan, as well as a three and a free throw from Moorman cut Owensboro Catholic’s lead to 32-27 heading into the fourth. Riley hit her third three of the night to start the fourth for the Lady Aces, but the rest of the way was the Jenna Krampe show.
Owensboro was never able to bring things to any less than a two-possession game in the fourth, while Krampe scored 11 points off of the bench in the quarter to help secure the 46-37 win and a trip to the state tournament for the Lady Aces. Robertson was on cloud nine after the win, excited to see his team’s hard work pay off.
“You’re not going to wipe this grin off my face right now,” Robertson said. “I’m so happy for those young girls. Those seniors like I said before didn’t get that opportunity (to play when we were supposed to three years ago) and now they get that opportunity. We went through a lot of trials and tribulations this year. We fought. We had a tough schedule. We started off on fire and then we had that ending where we really just struggled, but I think that helped us. We didn’t go to All-A state, but at the beginning of the game I said ‘we might be upset that we didn’t go, but we can ruin all that stuff with one victory.’”
Lauren Keelin was one those players who missed out on the state experience because of the pandemic, as she was one of two players to finish in double figures (10 points) to help Owensboro Catholic to the win on Sunday afternoon. Keelin said afterwards that she’s beyond excited to finally get to experience a trip to state, as she told her teammates that they were not going to fall short this year.
“I’m on top of the world right now to say the least,” Keelin said. “I haven’t been to Rupp since freshman year and one I was hurt, and two we didn’t even get to play because it was the COVID year. It feels absolutely amazing…. It was [the end goal]. I told them I do not want to lose on my home court. I want it to end on Rupp. That’s been our dream since third grade when we all started playing together.”
Krampe was the other player for Owensboro Catholic in double figures, as her 11-point fourth quarter helped her lead the team with 15 points. Krampe has been a key presence inside defensively and on the glass for the Lady Aces all season long, but now the offense is starting to follow after her teammates have been telling her to take shots more and more.
“She’s had the same role all year, she’s just finally believing in herself and doing it,” Robertson said. “For so long she’s always wanted not to step on anyone’s toes. She’s been out for two years and didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes. [She had the mentality of] ‘I don’t want to take that shot, because I’m taking away from somebody else…’ I love her to death. She plays so hard.”
Moorman led the way for Owensboro with 15 points as well, serving as the only Lady Devils to score more than seven on the afternoon. She was one of the few that was able to make Owensboro Catholic pay in their 1-3-1 zone at times, a defensive scheme that made it hard for Owensboro to play their up-tempo style.
“I was going to make them hit jumpshots,” Robertson said. “Which they did again against us early. Moorman played a heck of a game shooting the ball. But that [1-3-1] also keeps them from driving. I’m not sure how many A’Lyrica had, but I don’t think she had very many because we kept her out of the paint. That’s the key. You’ve got to keep them out of the paint. If you allow straight line drives with them or them getting out in transition and being able to score buckets, they’re a hard team to guard. If you can get into a halfcourt game, you can have some success.”
Locher said that 1-3-1 zone allows the Lady Aces to take away so much space, making it hard for them to get to the rim and make plays in the halfcourt.
“Michael always runs that 1-3-1 and he can put his girls anywhere,” Locher said. “Sometimes he can put length on the wings, sometimes he can put the length at the top. That length is just hard to go against sometimes with some of our smaller guards. We had a hard time passing through it and we didn’t attack enough. We kind of settled a little bit and turned the ball over.”
While the final result wasn’t what Owensboro wanted, the program took a big step forward this year—in large part thanks to a strong senior class. After having no seniors on the roster last season, Palmer, Paige, Worth, Gibson and Moorman were key factors for the Lady Devils this season with their experience and hard play on both ends of the floor.
“They’ve meant a lot,” Locher said. “K’Asia had one of the First Region officials tell me yesterday that she’s one of the nicest, politest players they’ve ever been around and that says a lot about her character. CJ even when she was at Daviess County had never been out of the district tournament. We couldn’t have made it without her all season long and she couldn’t have made it without us… Chandler, Gibby, Melia have been with our program from day one. They’ve done everything that we’ve asked. They’ve been there in the summer times, they’ve been there in the practices and they’ve been through the five-win seasons, so it was great for them to be able to go out with a 20-plus win season.”
Locher went on to say that he loved being a part of the wild journey that was the 2022-23 season and hopes that his players enjoyed their time together just as much as he has.
“I feel like the girls left everything out there on the floor,” Locher said. “We knew we were gonna go on a run, which we did pretty early. We knew they were going to come back on a run, but once they got up 10 points we could never close that gap again. We played hard throughout. The girls gave everything we had, we just weren’t the better team tonight… They’re going to look back and reflect on how great of a season it was and how much it meant to them. I hope they realize how much fun they’ve had, because I had a great time coaching them. We got two more weeks this season than we’ve had in the past however many seasons. So I enjoyed every step of the way. I think they enjoyed every step of the way and hopefully we’re back next year.”
The work isn’t done for Owenboro though, as Locher said that they will take a little bit of time to rest before getting right back in the gym during the off-season to make this level of success for the program last for the foreseeable future.
“We’ve just gotta keep the program where it’s at,” Locher said. “We’ve gotta keep the players’ heads on [the mentality of] keep being hungry for more. We’ve built something that we hope is going to last. This isn’t going to be a one-year thing… We have a lot coming back next year that we can definitely build upon. We have a lot of young talent, young freshmen that can come up and have a little bit bigger role next year. So we just gotta keep that intensity up and it’s going to start here in a few weeks. We’re going to get back at it and try to have another great summer and start preparing for next year.”
On the other hand the Lady Aces get right back to work on Monday, as they have just two days to prepare for their Sweet 16 matchup against Bowling Green at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. After wondering if they would get back to Rupp after having the game canceled because of the pandemic a few years ago and falling just short in recent seasons, Robertson said that he’s excited for the seniors that have been a key core for the team and hopes that they’re able to stay hot to keep their postseason going at state.
“Katie Riney is our coach on the floor,” Robertson said. “Maddie Hayden, she’s just pure heart. She plays so hard, rebounds, gets out on fastbreaks and then you’ve got the two twins who are just unconscious. They’re just ready to shoot and I need them to continue to play like that.”
