The team that could endure the best through long offensive drought would have the edge in a girls’ basketball game with Apollo and Owensboro.
Apollo was that team with a 35:26 win on Monday night at the OHS gym.
It was clearly a defensive fight and both coaches felt there was a certain toughness in the game after the season.
“Fortunately, if our shots don’t go off, our defense has held up the way it needed to be,” said Apollo trainer Natalie Payne. “I just have to work it out, we did that and we have to give our girls there a little credit for being a bit gritty and getting some important stops.
“We need these kind of grainy, ugly games because that’s how tournament time comes.”
The teams in the 9th district know each other, especially how to protect certain players and how to pin them down to take them out.
“It played out like a district tournament game. Low score, defense is a gong to win, ”said OHS coach Jansen Locher. “I thought we did a damn good job on the defensive. They have some really talented players there, some great shooters, they are one of the better teams in the 3rd region. “
Apollo took the lead 11-4 in the first quarter and Owensboro took the lead 15-13 in the second quarter. Apollo was between 20 and 18 at halftime.
A pair of 3-pointers from Addison Carter and Amaya Curry put the E-Gals to 26-18 early in the third quarter, and OHS wouldn’t get any closer than four points the rest of the way. The Lady Devils failed to score in the fourth quarter when Apollo was performing patient offensive sets that took a long time to complete.
Curry was on the road for Apollo, played hard defensively and scored 11 points. Curry also had three assists and three steals.
Zoe Floyd almost had a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds for Apollo.
Apollo was 13 out of 40 for 32.5% off the floor and made 5 out of 16 for 31.2% out of the 3 point range.
Owensboro had good zone defense which was disruptive for Apollo to get good shots.
“Zoe was in bad trouble on the bench (second quarter) and she really helped us against that zone, she kind of had her way,” Payne said. “When we didn’t have them on the ground, we were a bit satisfied with outside shots. So many possessions to settle in a row and the wind was just coming out of our sails. Then we had to dig deep again and try to stop and score points from our defense. “
Apollo won his third game in a row and is 8-4.
Owensboro is 9-9 and had a five-game winning streak.
Lyric Lawrence led the Lady Devils with 13 points.
Occupational health and safety was 10 out of 43 for 23% of the floor and 1 out of 9 for the 3-point area.
Alyrica Hughes scored four points but her defensive presence was tough for Apollo at times. Hughes had six steals and one blocked shot with four assists, unofficially.
“We want her to score but she does so many other things for us,” said Locher. “She’s great with the ball in her hands, she’s only active defensively.”
OWENSBORO 6-12-8-0 – 26
Apollo (35) – Curry 11, Floyd 9, Carter 5, Daugherty 5, Dunn 3, Beatty 2.
Owensboro (26) – Lawrence 13, Hughes 4, Williams 4, Gibson 2, Pappas 2, Phillips 1.
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