Owensboro Catholic had no trouble taking down Meade County 83-54 to advance to the regional championship on Sunday. Jenna Krampe had a big game in the post for OCHS as she led the team in scoring with 28 points.
Hailee Johnson was honored with the first basket of the game to close out her career with the Lady Aces. Johnson suffered an ACL injury at the beginning Owensboro Catholic’s first round game against Grayson. The senior was ruled out for the rest of the tournament, thus ending her season and high school career. OCHS head coach Michael Robertson said he wanted to make Johnson’s last memory at the Sportscenter a good one.
“She needed to go out like this,” he said. “She’s done a lot in her four years over here. She meant a lot to this program, to the girls and to us. I wanted her last memory to be good on this court, so I talked with Dina and she was able to let me do that. I appreciate her a lot for letting me do that. What we had planned kind of didn’t work out, but she still took care of Hailee. That was a great honor for her, and we were able to give her one last ‘hoorah’.”
Catholic allowed Meade a bucket to tie at 2-2, and the two teams began playing for their spot in the championship. Both teams struggled to get the lid off the basket in the first few possessions, but Krampe got things moving with a score from the post. OCHS got a stop on the next possession to set up Aubrey Randolph with a three pointer. Krampe continued to work in the post with another bucket and 2 free throws before Karmin Riley hit her first three of the game and put the score at 14-7. Meade pushed back with a steal, two layups and a free throw before Krampe made a three at the top of the key to end the first quarter 19-11 in favor of OCHS.
Catholic opened the quarter with a steal that led to Riley assisting on Layla Martin’s three pointer. The Lady Aces built up momentum with a quick steal and layup by Randolph followed by a three from Claudia Munsey. OCHS held a firm grip on the game after Krampe converted an and-1 play to put the score at 31-14. Riley and Randolph both hit another three each before Meade’s layup at the buzzer sent the game into halftime at 40-20.
Meade scored from the post to open the second half, but Delaney Cooper responded with a corner three to keep the Lady Aces’ momentum going. Krampe had two big plays back-to-back minutes later as she converted an and-1 play just before a stop on the following possession set her up for another converted and-1. Krampe closed the quarter out with another score from the post off an assist by Munsey. Catholic held a 60-41 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The Lady Aces didn’t take their feet off the gas in the final quarter despite their lead as they shut down Meade with multiple back-to-back steals to go on a 19-5 scoring run that ended with a three from Cooper, a converted and-1 from Riley and then a three from Randolph. Meade hit a final three pointer after Owensboro Catholic scored two more baskets, and OCHS closed out the game at 83-54.
Krampe scored 28 points while shooting 9 of 9 from the free throw line to lead the Lady Aces in scoring. Randolph followed behind with 17 points, 3 threes and 6 of 6 on free throws. Riley had two threes to go with her 13 points on the night as well. Robertson acknowledged Krampe and Randolph’s effort in pushing the tempo early on, and he refers to the two as the unsung heroes on the team. He feels Randoph doesn’t quite get the love her performances deserve, he said.
“They’re kind of the unsung heroes,” he said. “Jenna’s been getting it, but Aubrey probably hasn’t gotten as much love this year as she got last year. She’s still the same Aubrey. She’s still doing everything that we’ve asked her to do. Now she realized, ‘hey I’ve got to step up.” She’s done that, so I’m really proud of her. She’s playing with confidence and she’s playing well.”
Catholic moved on to the championship game where they will face off against rivals Owensboro in a rematch of last year’s championship. The Lady Aces beat the Lady Red Devils last year 46-37, and now OHS has a chance for revenge on the reigning Region 3 champions. Robertson knows Owensboro will be high octane, he said.
“We got a day and half to get ready for Owensboro, and they’re high octane,” he said. “They’re going to be tough. We got to rebound the basketball a little bit better. We did there for a little bit in this game, but at the end we kind of got sloppy. We just got to play a full game.”
