Pressing early and often, Trinity (Whitesville) had no answer for Owensboro Catholic’s pressure, falling in the 3rd Region All-A semi-final 80-26. The Lady Aces stole 16 passes and forced 37 turnovers and at one point held the Lady Raiders to only 14 points in the first half.
“We wanted to press them early, speed them up, and make them play faster than they wanted,” Owensboro Catholic head coach Michael Robertson said. “We were anticipating passing lanes, tipping the ball, and being active on defense. When we are active on defense a lot of good things happen.”
Despite the Lady Raiders struggles, Robertson praised their intensity and energy.
“I was very impressed with them,” Robertson said. “They struggled against our pressure, but they played hard and never gave up. They are a really young and are going to be as long as they keep working.”
Sophia Newby and Aubrey Randolph combined to score 19 of the Owensboro Catholic’s first quarter points. After a slow start scoring only two points in the first quarter, guard Karmin Riley exploded in the second quarter, finishing with 11 points including three threes. She also finished the night with six assists, four steals, and two rebounds.
For Trinity, Preslee Meserve led the team in scoring with six points, while Sarah Payne and Sophie Hatfield each added five points. Trinity head coach Emily Hernandez lauded her team’s effort but acknowledged that they were a little over-amped heading into the game and the Lady Aces capitalized.
“We worked on making pass fakes, making back door cuts when the defense would overplay, meeting every pass, working for a good shot, and covering shooters while still keeping the ball out of the paint,” Hernandez said. “These are all the things we have been focused on. Catholic did a good job of exploiting our mistakes so now we go back to watch the film, learn from our mistakes, and continue to make progress like we have all year. It is good to play teams that are strong like them so we can continue to figure out where we are making mistakes and learn from them. We have many young girls playing a lot of minutes and they are learning. They have the want to which is key.”
30 minutes later, the Aces and Raiders took the court for the semi-finals of the boys 3rd Region All-A. Owensboro Catholic blitzed Trinity from the jump, taking a commanding 24-8 lead just five minutes into the game. After a timeout, Trinity regained their composure and began to hit their shots, cutting the lead to 34-29 with a few minutes left in the second quarter.
“I thought we got off to a great start, but then we started to lose our edge a bit,” Owensboro Catholic head coach Tim Riley said. “Trinity started to make a few plays, but we picked up our energy again in the second half.”
Calling a timeout of their own, the Aces finished the half on a 7-0 run and never looked back. In the second half, Owensboro Catholic turned up the pressure on their press, suffocating the Raiders and never allowing them back in – cruising to a 91-60 win to advance to the All-A finals.
The Aces had four scorers finish in double-digits – Solly Smith (20), Luke Beickman (17), Dre’mail Carothers (14), and Waryn Ebelhar (13). Carothers led the team in assists (6) and steals (5) and also added eight rebounds.
Will Hernandez led the Raiders in scoring with 12 points and three threes, while Connor Hatfield added 10 points. Hayden Aull and Ian Roby were third on the team in scoring with nine points each.
” I thought we came out a little gun-shy,” Trinity head coach Nathan West said. “We were playing not to mess up versus taking what they gave us. We settled down in the second quarter and made it a game. They did a great job of turning up the intensity after half-time overplaying our passing lanes and tightening up their defense along the three-point line. We didn’t adjust well to the extra pressure and it got ugly. I was proud of their effort overall, though. Cale Boarman did a tremendous job getting through their press, and we had a total team effort in the scoring column.”
Next for the Aces and Lady Aces, they take on the Hornets at Hancock County in the All-A finals this Sunday at 3 and 4:30 pm.
