Trailing the game for more than 31 minutes, Notre Dame pulled off a late comeback to take down Simon Kenton on Monday night at Notre Dame.
The Pandas dug themselves a 12-0 hole and didn’t lead until Sophia Gibson’s layup with under a minute to play and come back for a 49-44 victory.
The Pioneers led 44-38 with under three minutes to play before the Pandas closed on an 11-0 run.
“It comes down to our defensive stops,” Pandas coach Kes Murphy said. “When Sophia is engaged we’re a much better team. First half she wasn’t engaged and that’s been our struggle is consistency throughout the game. I could tell in our pregame our attention to detail was not existent. Then we decide we want to play the second half and we pull it out. We need to figure out how we can start out of the gate and finish all the way through.”
It’s the fourth straight victory for the Pandas, improving to 13-2 on the season. Six of their first 11 games were against opponents out of state, making it hard to get a gauge on where the Pandas stood in the region and across the state. Wins over Dixie Heights, Russell and Simon Kenton has helped solidify their position as a top 10 team in the state to date.
“For these girls to be in this situation and come back and win, that’s a big deal,” Murphy said. “Last year we would have lost by 20. We would have not been able to get over ‘poor me’ bad attitudes so that poor me attitude has gone away.”
Sophia Gibson was the gamechanger in the second half, who happened to grab her 500th career rebound in the 17-point, 13 rebound performance for the junior.
Held scoreless in the first half, Gibson came out in the second half with a purpose.
“I was very frustrated with myself (at halftime) because I wasn’t showing up,” Gibson said. “Then I came out second half, wanted to win this game, win it as a team and my teammates helped pull me up and we were good.”
Some halftime motivation helped, too.
“Just had to push buttons,” Murphy said. “I’ve known Sophia since fifth, sixth grade. John (Sophia’s father) and I grew up together, I know his family, he knows me, so I know how to push her buttons. She doesn’t want to hear it, she knows I love her, but when she doesn’t show up I got to push and pull. You saw her in the second half, she was really good.”
Gibson scored nine of the 11 points in the game ending run, her layup with 50 seconds to play followed by three free throws to close the game out sealed it. She also added two blocked shots and three steals, a couple of them coming late in crucial moments.
“Definitely a learning experience. You learn more when you’re having to fight back than win by 20. It’s building up our toughness,” Gibson said.
Simon Kenton was in control for 29 minutes. It was the final three that did them in with five turnovers and a blocked shot to show for it on top of being held scoreless.
“Just got to learn how to finish games,” Pioneers coach Brenden Stowers said. “We played so hard that whole game to let it come down to a couple plays that we don’t do what we’re supposed to do. It’s a growing lesson against a top 10 team.”
Brynli Pernell and Anna Kelch came out on fire, the two hitting a pair of 3-pointers each to jump them out to a 12-0 run. They’d lead 18-5 after the first.
“Great start. Wish we would have built on it a little bit,” Stowers said. “We knew they were going to come back, they’re a good team, well coached, disciplined and they’re a bunch of fighters as well. We knew they were going to come, we just needed to weather the storm.”
A 8-0 Pandas run got them going to start the second quarter fueled by Addie Lawrie and Amelia Stallard, but Pernell got the Pioneers back on track with a triple and headed into halftime with a 27-20 lead.
Simon Kenton continued to remain in front, stretching the lead to eight after a Haylie Webb 3-pointer with four minutes remaining in the quarter, but were held scoreless from there as a Gibson putback and Ryan Burden layup made it 34-30 after three quarters.
Pernell hit two free throws with three minutes and change remaining to make it 44-38, but things went south from there. Lawrie hit a layup and Gibson scored nine straight to close things out fueled by the Pioneer miscues.
“Think we had something like six straight turnovers at the end,” Stowers said. “A lot of them were unforced, dribbling off our leg, turning into somebody, throwing the ball out of bounds. Some things we got to fix and have some young girls that need to learn to play in these types of games.”
Pernell led the Pioneers with 18 points, knocking down five 3-pointers. Kelch had 10 with seven rebounds, Webb with seven points and four rebounds despite battling through foul trouble. Bella Ober chipped in seven points and four assists.
Simon Kenton returns to action on Wednesday at home against Conner at 7:30 p.m.
Lawrie added 11 for the Pandas, Emma Holtzapfel chipping in nine, hitting on three 3-pointers. Maya Lawrie filled the stat sheet with four points, six rebounds and four assists. Notre Dame hosts Great Crossing on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
PANDAS 49, PIONEERS 44
SIMON KENTON — 18-9-7-10 — 44
NOTRE DAME — 5-15-10-19 — 49
Scoring
Simon Kenton (44) – Pernell 18, Kelch 10, Webb 7, Ober 7, Gadzala 2
Notre Dame (49) – Gibson 17, A. Lawrie 11, Holtzapfel 9, M. Lawrie 4, Stallard 3, Collins 3, Burden 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: Simon Kenton 15/41, Notre Dame 17/42
3-Pointers: Simon Kenton 9/22, Notre Dame 6/14
Free Throws: Simon Kenton 5/7, Notre Dame 9/11
Assists: Simon Kenton 10, Notre Dame 6
Turnovers: Simon Kenton 7, Notre Dame 13
Steals: Simon Kenton 9, Notre Dame 8
Blocks: Simon Kenton 2, Notre Dame 5
Fouls: Simon Kenton 14, Notre Dame 13
Records: Simon Kenton 10-5, Notre Dame 13-2
