Simon Kenton ends Catholic's season in Girls' State Tournament
· Yahoo Sports
LEXINGTON — Owensboro Catholic did some cutting on a big deficit in the second half, but Simon Kenton was able to complete a 63-50 win in the quarterfinals of the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls’ Basketball Sweet 16.
The Lady Aces finished their season 26-10 on Friday at Rupp Arena.
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Simon Kenton will take a 33-2 record into the state semifinals against George Rogers Clark on Saturday afternoon.
Simon Kenton was a top four team in the state for a reason, and its long-range shooting Friday evening at Rupp Arena was really good.
Owensboro Catholic ran into a 3-point shooting machine with Simon Kenton hitting from everywhere in the first half. Simon Kenton built a 42-23 lead with 7-of-15 shooting from 3-point range for 46.7%.
Simon Kenton was up 23-10 after the first quarter.
“We had a second quarter where we weren’t able to take care of business and force turnovers,” Catholic coach Michael Robertson said. “I should‘ve changed my defense a little earlier. I thought we had what we wanted. If we went after them more, we would’ve had more success, but I waited too late to change the press. It is what it is.
“We watched some film, saw some people maybe we could leave. That’s a really good team, they shot ball well. They did a lot of things that on film you don’t necessarily see.”
Catholic worked its way back in the game during a third quarter when it outscored Simon Kenton 18-11. Catholic went on a 13-2 run while Simon Kenton hit a scoring drought. Catholic saw a 24-point deficit shrink to 12 going to the fourth quarter.
“This group has a lot of fight in them, they weren’t going to give up, they weren’t going to quit,” Robertson said. “We went to more of a zone press, got quicker with the traps, we sped them up. They didn’t shoot the ball as well in the second half, they were 1-for-8 in the fourth quarter, they hit their free throws and kept us at bay.”
Sophia Newby had a double-double with 14 points, 12 rebounds, and she was the leading rebounder in the game. Taylor Mannahan scored 10 points and five assists.
“I was just trying to crash the boards and do the best I can for my teammates,” Newby said.
Catholic finished 21-of-49 from the floor for 42.9% and 6-of-14 from 3-point range for 42.9%. Catholic was 2-of-6 from the line.
“We’ve been here too many times,” Catholic’s Katie Hagan said of the team’s fight back from the big deficit. “We picked each other up. We know it’s one play at a time.” Hagan had eight points and seven rebounds.
Simon Kenton cooled off in the second half, hitting 3-of-10 from the floor in the third quarter and 1-of-8 in the fourth. Simon Kenton was 2-of-9 from 3-point range in the second half.
Simon Kenton finished the game 21-of-49 from the floor for 42.9%, 9-of-24 from 3-point range for 37.5% and 12-of-17 from the free-throw line for 70.6%.
Brynil Pernell led Simon Kenton with 18 points. Haylie Webb scored 15 points. Angela Kabeya added 10 points for Simon Kenton.
ROBERTSON
We get everybody back, I love this group, If we go put in the work we can try to get back up here next year. this one stings a little bit, We ran into a good team, we’ve got to get back to work, as long as they do that maybe we can come back up here next year.