From the opening tipoff, Owensboro Catholic’s defense didn’t allow Daviess County to breathe. A team that entered the night averaging 57.4 points per game, the Lady Aces held the Lady Panthers to 10 first-half points – en route to a 55-35 win and securing first place in the 9th District.
“I think defensively we were solid and took advantage,” Owensboro Catholic Head Coach Michael Robertson said. “We made a couple of adjustments from the last time we played them, but we strictly played man-to-man again tonight. I think we did a better job of helping, and we didn’t give up so many straight-line drives. I thought we played really good team defense. “
The Lady Aces jumped out to a 12-3 lead after the first quarter and entered halftime up 29-10 thanks to Claudia Munsey hitting four of her six threes and scoring 14 of her game-high 21 points. The Lady Panthers started to find their stride in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 10, thanks to Maddie Baron, Kennedy Lane, and Riley Hayden combining for all 14 of the team’s points.
Looking to stop the Lady Panthers momentum, Robertson called a time-out and told his team they needed to finish strong.
“Last time we played them, they shot 70% in the second half,” Robertson said. “So I told them we have to make sure that we put together a complete game. We can’t be satisfied with 16 minutes of good defense. We have to put together 32 minutes of strong defense. We didn’t necessarily do 32 minutes, but we did enough to get the W and the number one seed.”
Out of the timeout, the Lady Aces started to rediscover their first-half form – making things difficult for Daviess County on both ends of the court. Sophia Newby scored seven of her 13 points in the second half, while Katie Hagan finished with 12 points.
For the Lady Panthers, Lane led the way with 19 points, Hayden scored 10 points, and Barron hit a pair of threes. It is a quick turnaround for Daviess County, as they host Bethlehem later today at 1:30 pm.
Owensboro Catholic’s three remaining regular season games are all on the road, starting later today when they travel to Breckinridge County to play North Hardin.
Jonathan Moss outduels Dre’Mail Carothers
Trailing 55-49 halfway through the fourth quarter, Owensboro Catholic’s Dre’Mail Carothers attempted to will his team to the finish line. The junior splashed a three to cut the lead to three and then on the following possession, scored through contact and hit the ensuing free throw to tie the game at 55-55. Carothers blocked Daviess County’s next shot, but the Aces failed to retake the lead.
Refusing to be outdueled, Daviess County’s Jonathan Moss responded by attacking the rim and scoring an And One of his own to put his team back up three. From there, the two would exchange baskets – Carothers banking a shot of the backboard to cut the lead to one and Moss retaliating with a mid-range pull-up.
Trailing by three, the Aces turned it over and were unable to recover, losing 62-57.
“I thought they played well and put us in some tough positions on purpose,” Daviess County Head Coach Neil Hayden said.” “I thought they made shots and were getting a lot of loose balls. They did a nice job and put pressure on us. I thought we were pretty stagnant early offensively, and I thought we were better in the third quarter.”
Playing in a loud road environment, Owensboro Catholic silenced the crowd early, taking a 20-15 lead into the second quarter behind Dylan Hagn scoring seven of his nine points. The Aces found immediate success with the three-ball in the first half, hitting six threes, compared to only two for the rest of the game.
“I thought we fought really hard. That is a really good basketball team over there,” Owensboro Catholic Head Coach Tabor Shadowen said.” We had to fight like crazy just to make sure we were keeping them in front of us. We tried doing some different things, but they have some really good players.”
Trailing 17-26 partway through the second quarter, the Panthers cut the lead to 31-29 entering halftime, thanks to Moss, Michael Acton, and DeAaron Watkins combining for all 14 of the team’s points. In the third quarter, Moss started taking over the game – hitting three of his six threes and scoring 11 of his game-high 32 points. On the other end, Carothers responded with seven of his team-high 29 points.
Moss finished the night shooting 11-16 from the field and 6-7 from deep.
“Johnathan Moss is really good, man,” Shadowen said. “There were some shots he hit where it’s just tip your hat.”
Daviess County’s DeAaron Watkins added 11 points, six rebounds, three blocks, two assists, and one steal, while Michael Acton was third on the team in scoring with 11 points, and Aidan West scored five points off the bench.
For the Aces, Jake Murphy hit three threes to go along with his 11 points, Dylan Hagan added nine points, and Solly Smith and Gavin Brasher both finished with four points.
Daviess County returns to action later today when they host Logan County at 5 pm, while the Aces travel to Ohio County on Monday evening.
