No one doubted the Notre Dame Pandas had the size advantage in the Ninth Region Quarterfinal battle against the St. Henry Crusaders on Sunday at Truist Arena.
St. Henry (18-13) tried to slow the pace down taking good shots in order to have a chance at the win. It worked for a half before Notre Dame outscored the Crusaders, 11-1 in the third quarter to pull away for a 39-25 victory.
“At halftime, it was just more focus on taking pride in our defense, keep it simple and rely on your training. That was it,” said Kes Murphy, Notre Dame head coach. “We came out and we looked like we’ve never been on this stage before. We were here this summer. We’ve been here every year (since Murphy took over in 2018). But it’s essentially a team that’s never been together in this moment so I told them with last year’s team, things didn’t go our way and we crumbled. This year, things started going that route where we weren’t making shots. They were making a run. We stuck together. Defensively, it’s one of those things where we finally started figuring things out, sticking with the game plan, contesting and rebounding the ball.”
Turnovers and second-chance points made the difference in this game. Notre Dame recorded 12 steals off 20 St. Henry turnovers while yielding two steals off seven turnovers outscoring the Crusaders, 15-7 off those turnovers. Sophomore guard Maya Lawrie led the Pandas with four thefts.
“We had a game plan pretty much to stop their starts,” said Todd Smart, St. Henry head coach. “That was ultimately what we wanted to be able to do and we did that. It’s one of those things where multiple possessions (with turnovers) killed us. I’m proud of our girls. They executed everything we needed them to. I’m already looking forward to next year.”
Both teams had 29 rebounds. But Notre Dame had 13 offensive rebounds to six for St. Henry outscoring the Crusaders, 13-5 in second-chance points.
The standouts often neutralize each other in postseason games. It is often an unexpected player who steps forward, especially on offense that makes a difference. Notre Dame junior Rosemary Miller made that difference nearly recording a double-double with a season-high 11 points and eight rebounds making 5-of-7 shots.
“I just play defense and then the rest will come. That’s what I’ve always been taught,” Miller said. “I’m here to make hustle plays. I feel like (shooting) comes natural. I don’t think when I play. I just play.”
No one else from either team scored in double figures. St. Henry held Notre Dame’s lone senior in Noelle Hubert, who will play at Truist Arena for the Northern Kentucky Norse in November, to just three points. Hubert came into the game averaging 17.3 points per game.
Notre Dame sophomore 6-foot-4-inch center Sophia Gibson and Lawrie scored seven points each – just below their season averages of 7.9 and 7.2 respectively. Gibson added six rebounds making it tough for St. Henry to penetrate and make things happen in the paint.
“I use (my height) to my advantage, which is a gift,” Gibson said. “We had an upset last year (53-51 to Ryle in region quarterfinals) so I feel we have a revenge aspect of it. We work on defense every day in practice so we take a lot of pride in it.”
St. Henry junior guard Kayla Unkraut played a huge role helping the Crusaders back to the region tournament for the first time since 2018 averaging 14.2 points per game. Unkraut and junior guard Josie Knollman scored nine points each. Knollman hit all three St. Henry three-pointers.
“We wanted to make her work for everything she got,” Murphy said. “We knew she’d be able to get off shots. But we wanted to make it difficult. No matter how many times we do it in practice. Out here on this stage, it’s different. We rotated kids and we just wanted to wear her out. Kids on her did a good job and kids off the ball did a good job with the help.”
The turnovers gave the Pandas 15 more shots. Neither team shot it well, Notre Dame 28% from the field, St. Henry at 29%. Each team hit three 3-pointers, Notre Dame 10-of-14 from the free throw line, St. Henry 4-of-7.
St. Henry started the first quarter strong scoring the game’s first two baskets when senior forward/guard Chilota Iloegbunam had an offensive putback and Knollman made a three to give the Crusaders a 5-0 advantage with 4:42 left in the first quarter before Miller scored Notre Dame’s first points with 4:15 left in the quarter.
Gibson made a free throw with 11.1 seconds left to make it 8-6 St. Henry. But Unkraut scored on a lay-up with 3.2 seconds left to make it 10-6 Crusaders after the first quarter.
Notre Dame scored the first 10 points in the second quarter employing a 1-2-1-1 press to go up 16-10. Gibson scored four points during that run.
“It’s token because they like to use their size and we struggled with that,” Smart said. “We just have a hard time with bigger teams length-wise. That’s it.”
Unkraut hit a lay-up in the center for St. Henry’s first points of the second quarter. Unkraut then hit an old-fashioned three-point play after junior forward/guard Liz Mason scored trimming the Notre Dame lead to 18-17 with 1:27 left in the half. Miller hit a lay-up with one minute left to put Notre Dame up 20-17 at halftime.
Notre Dame expanded its lead to 10 at 27-17 after a Miller score with 6:10 left in the third quarter. A Gibson lay-up made it 31-17 Pandas before Unkraut hit a free throws with 20 seconds left to make it 31-18 Notre Dame entering the fourth quarter.
The Pandas did extend the lead to 37-19 with 4:10 left in the game after Hubert hit her lone field goal of the game. But Knollman hit two straight threes to make it 37-25 Pandas with 2:54 left in the game. Lawrie made two free throws with 38.4 seconds left in the game to make the final score.
Notre Dame has four days to prepare for Ninth Region favorite Cooper (27-3). The two play in the 9th Region semifinals on Friday at 6:30 p.m. back at Truist Arena.
St. Henry returns every player including Unkraut except two seniors. They are Iloegbunam and guard Jadyn Danbury.
ST HENRY — 10-7-1-7 — 25
NOTRE DAME — 6-14-11-8 — 39
St. Henry (25) — Josie Knollman 9, Unkraut 9, Iloegbunam 3, Bollman 2, Mason 2
Notre Dame (39) — Miller 11, Gibson 7, Lawrie 7, Collins 6, Hubert 3, Holtzapfel 3, Kirtley 2
