The defending 10th Region champion Bishop Brossart Lady ‘Stangs girls basketball team (20-10 overall) knew it would be a battle to earn that 20th win of the season and advance in the 10th Region Tournament.
The 39th District runner-up Bracken County Lady Bears (14-11) led 24-17 at halftime at Nicholas County. But 37th District champion Bishop Brossart battled back to win 43-37 advancing to the region semifinals for the third straight season.
Bishop Brossart will face highly-ranked George Rogers Clark (28-2) at 6 p.m. Friday back at Nicholas County. The two did not play during the regular season.
Bishop Brossart turned up the pressure in the third quarter outscoring Bracken County, which has no seniors, 15-2. The Lady Stangs’ held the Lady Bears scoreless for more than eight minutes during one stretch.
The Lady ‘Stangs contained Bracken County freshman guard Nicole Archibald better in the second half. She scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half. The Lady ‘Stangs had 15 turnovers to 12 for the Lady Bears.
“Archibald’s a great player. She handles the ball really well,” Bishop Brossart Head Coach Garren Parker told the Maysville Ledger-Independent. “What we wanted to do was keep rotating people on her and keep fresh legs on her just to try to wear her down and we tried to front her. When she would give the ball up, don’t let her get it back. When she would drive to the rim, we wanted to make her make a couple of moves and expand a lot of energy.”
Junior guard Olivia Lloyd led the comeback effort with 12 points and senior guard Madison Parker scored 10. Junior forward Molly Kramer and junior guard Bella Rowe scored eight points each.
Both teams made six three-pointers. Junior forward Macie Sharp scored 11 points with freshman guard Ella Johnson adding 10 for Bracken County.
Bishop Brossart won the rebounding battle, 33-30. Kramer and Lloyd led the way with five each.
One area the Lady ‘Stangs could improve on is free throws. They made 10 of 21 for 48 percent compared to 9 of 13 for 69 percent for the Lady Bears. Bracken County had 19 fouls to eight for Bishop Brossart.
George Rogers Clark lost 60-44 at Notre Dame to conclude the regular season. But the Lady Cardinals have won their three postseason games by an average of 36 points since that game. They jumped on top of Pendleton County, 31-0 after one quarter Monday on their way to a 70-33 victory.
“If you look down our schedule, yeah we’re playing GRC – the top team in the region and top five team in the state and deservedly so, but we come ready to compete,” Coach Parker told the Ledger-Independent. “We plan on coming to compete on Friday and not just rolling over.”
George Rogers Clark has won the 10th Region Tournament five times in the last eight seasons. That includes four in a row between 2017 and 2020.
10th Region Girls Basketball Tournament at Nicholas County:
Quarterfinals on Monday, Feb. 28:
Bishop Brossart 43, Bracken County 37
George Rogers Clark 70, Pendleton County 33
Quarterfinals on Tuesday, March 1:
Nicholas County (15-12) vs. Montgomery County (19-12), 6 p.m.
Mason County (17-9) vs. Campbell County (11-18), 7:45 p.m.
Semifinals on Friday, March 4:
Bishop Brossart (20-10) vs. George Rogers Clark (28-2), 6 p.m.
Tuesday winners, 7:45 p.m.
Championship Game on Saturday, March 5:
Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.