Many may have expected the two 9th Region contending Ryle Lady Raiders and Notre Dame Pandas girls basketball teams to battle to the end.
Except that did not happen.
The teams struggled offensively for nearly the first five minutes of the game. But senior guard Lacey Bradshaw hit a triple from the left wing for the hosts with 3:06 left in the quarter on her way to a game-high 17 points. The Pandas (20-3 overall) rolled to a 63-34 victory from there.
“We just wanted to focus on us to prepare for really the postseason,” said Kes Murphy, Notre Dame Head Coach. “It’s the final week of the regular season. We’re a defensive team. That’s where we excel. When we execute that well, it normally equates to offense. I thought we really did well.”
This game served as a measuring stick in terms of how they currently stack up against each other. Notre Dame moved to 7-0 in region play. Their three losses have come against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 poll. The Pandas have lost twice to third-ranked and defending state champion Louisville Sacred Heart and the other to fourth-ranked Bullitt East.
This marked a tie for the largest margin of defeat for Ryle (18-7). The Lady Raiders lost by 29 (65-36) against Baxter (Tennessee) Upperman on Dec. 31 in the Andrew Johnson Bank Classic in Greeneville (Tennessee). Ryle fell to 9-2 in region play. It’s other region loss came 63-56 against 33rd District rival Conner on Jan. 22.
“It’s life lessons. How are you going to adjust?” said Katie Haitz, Ryle Head Coach. “We played pretty well there at the beginning true to what we needed to do. Then we fell apart as a group, as a whole.”
Turnovers made the difference in this game. The Pandas used a pack line full-court pressure. The teams mostly played man defenses in the half-court. Ryle had 20 turnovers to 10 for Notre Dame as a result of the pressure.
The Pandas won the rebounding battle, 38-34 overall including 18-10 on the offensive glass. Senior forward Drue Disken led Notre Dame with eight rebounds including five on the offensive glass.
“I think we just knew we couldn’t jump with them,” Disken said. “We knew we to put a body on them and box them out. We couldn’t let them get in our heads and played as hard as we can. We’re learning and improving every day. That’s really important to us.”
Notre Dame senior guard Macie Feldman led the charge running the offensive with 12 points and nine assists. Freshman guard Maya Lawrie added 12 points including eight in the first half to help the Pandas pull away.
The Pandas made 26-of-63 shots for 41 percent including 2-of-11 from three-point range for 18 percent and 7-of-11 free throws for 64 percent. The Lady Raiders made just 10-of-40 shots for 25 percent including 2-of-8 three-point shots for 25 percent and 12-of-16 free throws for 75 percent.
The Lady Raiders saw just one player score in double figures in sophomore forward Quinn Eubank with 15 points. Notre Dame held Ryle junior guards Austin Johnson and Abby Holtman to six and four points respectively.
“One thing that plays into it is we have a deep bench,” Murphy said. “We try to use that to our advantage. So when our kids are a little fatigued, we’ve proved that we can put kids in and maintain the same level.”
Feldman hit two free throws just 34 seconds into the game and the Pandas held the lead the rest of the way. They finished the first quarter with a 10-0 run to expand a narrow 4-3 lead to 14-3 entering the second quarter.
Ryle trimmed the margin to 16-7 after Eubank found sophomore center Sarah Baker for the score with 6:34 left in the half. But Notre Dame scored the next 14 points to go up 30-7.
The Lady Raiders did not break double digits on the scoreboard until Holtman made two free throws with 8.7 seconds left in the half. Notre Dame led 34-11 at halftime.
Neither team had any big runs in the third quarter. The Pandas led 50-24 entering the fourth quarter. They used an 11-2 run to go up 63-29 with 2:09 left in the game allowing the reserves to see some varsity action.
The teams played each other in the past three region tournaments. Ryle beat Notre Dame in the semifinals in 2019 and in the championship game in 2020 on the way to three straight region championships and the 2019 state championship.
“That’s a group of (seven) seniors that are hungry,” Haitz said of the Pandas. “We talked about that. We told them they’re a disciplined team. Hat’s off to them. They had a great game plan and it worked.”
Those three teams won at least their first game in the state tournament. The 2020 team beat 13th Region champion Letcher County Central, 59-36 in the first round. But the Coronavirus-2019 Pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 state tournament.
Notre Dame stopped Ryle’s region tournament win streak at 10 with a 53-50 victory in the region semifinals last year. The Pandas then lost 45-43 to Dixie Heights in overtime in the region title game at Covington Holmes.
“We have to remember the disappointment we felt the last three years and keep that as a motivation going into the postseason,” Feldman said. “We have to go out and play as hard as we can so we don’t have any regrets for the last postseason we have together. We’ve been preparing for this moment for 10 months now but as seniors, for four years. We knew we needed to get on a roll going into the postseason.”
Haitz and Murphy have guided teams to the two lone girls basketball state championships in 9th Region history. Murphy helped the Covington Holy Cross Indians to the state championship in 2015.
Notre Dame concludes the regular season Thursday in another big game. The top-ranked George Rogers Lady Cardinals (25-1) bring their 23-game winning streak to Park Hills for a 7:30 p.m. contest. George Rogers Clark has won the 10th Region five of the past eight years.
“In the past, I feel as though we’ve peeked early,” Murphy said. “We were not always as experienced, not mature to handle different situations. But based upon the past three year and gaining more experience, I think we’re now to the point to where we’re good. We understand what’s in front of us and we’re smart enough to realize that we’re not where we want to be. We’ve got areas where we can be better. I think it’s all starting to come together at the right time.”
Ryle concludes the regular season against Sacred Heart (25-3) in Union. Game time is 7 p.m.
