With one game now left on their district schedule, Owensboro Catholic will be riding some momentum into their matchup with Apollo Saturday after they took down Daviess County Thursday at the Owensboro Sportscenter.
Despite a slow start from both teams and only 10 combined points in the first quarter, the Lady Aces caught fire in the second and didn’t let up as they grabbed the 62-35 win over the Lady Panthers.
Even though Catholic’s lone double-digit scorer was senior Ally Maggard with 11 points, eight other players finished with at least five points in the win.
Aces coach Michael Robertson said when they’re clicking, good things happen.
“It’s really hard to guard us because you can’t just rely on guarding one person, you’ve got to guard all five of us out there,” he said. “When all five of us are clicking, we’re really good.”
Even with the slow start, Catholic bounced back with 25 points in the second quarter and outscored DC 31-19 in the second half.
Robertson said he knows his team will always battle.
“It shows we’re resilient,” he said. “Our defensive pressure finally got to them and they started throwing the ball away. As soon as you see that one ball fall, it’s just a snowball effect. I still don’t think we shot the ball extremely well. I think we had a lot that rolled in and rolled out but I thought our passing was excellent against their zone and I really liked our ball movement.”
Robertson said one area that they did excel at in the first quarter when their shots weren’t falling was their defense.
The Lady Aces forced several turnovers in the opener and despite not capitalizing, were still able to put pressure on the Panthers throughout the game.
Robertson said he had some advice from a state champion coach.
“Defense travels. Rod Drake said that,” Robertson added. “When they won it all, he said defense always travels so you’ve got to be ready. Your offense isn’t always going to be there. You’ve got to be ready to play defense and give it your all.”
Daviess County senior Brooklyn Daugherty led the Lady Panthers with 17 points and was the only DC player in double figures as Adylan Ayer finished with 9 points in the loss.
Even with the defeat, Daviess County coach John Kirkpatrick said the season isn’t anywhere close to being over.
“I love my team,” he said. “We know we can compete in this district. I’ve got some great kids. We’ve just got to get in the gym and get to work. It’s obvious that there’s a lot to work on but I know I’ve got the kind of kids that are going to bounce back and be ready to do that.”
DC is off until Tuesday when it heads to Breckinridge County while Catholic takes on Apollo Saturday at AHS.
OWENSBORO CATHOLIC 62, DAVIESS COUNTY 35
DC (7-10) 4 12 8 11–35
OC (12-8) 6 25 22 9–62
DC: Katie Mewes 3, Madison Spurrier 2, Riley Tanner 2, Ella Payne 2, Brooklyn Daugherty 17, Adylan Ayer 9
OC: Katie Riney 9, Hailee Johnson 8, Lexie Keelin 5, Maddie Hayden 6, Catherine Head 6, Camille Conkright 6, Lauren Keelin 7, Ally Maggard 10, Kinsley Goetz 5
2021 basketball coverage is presented in part by Rhoads & Rhoads Attorneys at Law.
