Despite a stellar shooting performance by the Simon Kenton girls basketball team, Holy Cross did what great teams do…survive.
The Indians, who came in ranked fourth in the state in the latest Kentucky media poll, escaped with a 75-68 win over the Lady Pioneers Wednesday night in Covington.
Simon Kenton hit 13 three-pointers and led for most of the game, but their youth and Holy Cross’ defensive pressure caught up with them down the stretch.
“No matter what happened, we learned,” Simon Kenton coach Brenden Stowers
said “We’re not in our district or our region, so it’s just a good learning game. We’re
going to come back stronger, but I do love the effort that our girls played with. That
was great.”
Julia Hunt was the game changer for Holy Cross. She led the team with 20 points, but
opened up the offense in many ways.
“They’ve been throwing double and triple teams at me since my freshman year so
that was nothing new,” Hunt said. “I just knew that if the ball was thrown to me, that means there’s two other people open so that’s where I passed the ball out if I could.”
The focus on Hunt led to a golden opportunity for others. Aaliyah Hayes took that
opportunity scoring 15 points and making an impact on the defensive end.
“Staying focused. That’s what I kept trying to do since we were down for most of the
game,” Hayes said. “They’re a fast group of a girls, but we were eventually able to get our offense going and execute.”
Aumani Nelson and Miyah Wimzie also made significant dents in the scoring
column. Nelson scored 15 points, all of which came in the fourth quarter and Wimzie
added 12.
Simon Kenton had the momentum from the beginning, up 22-15 at the end of the
first quarter and 34-31 at halftime. By the end of the third quarter, they still had a
three-point lead, 52-49.
For the first time since they led 5-4, the Indians gained the lead back midway
through the fourth quarter, 64-63.
They outscored the Pioneers the rest of the way 11-5. Their defensive pressure had finally got to Simon Kenton.
“That’s been the staple of our team this whole season,” Holy Cross head coach Ted
Arlinghaus said. “We turned our defense into offense. We couldn’t get as many
points off turnovers, but eventually the pressure wore them down. They were trying
to pressure us and it’s hard to full court press somebody when you’re getting
pressured, so I think that also wore them down.”
The Pioneers were led by Anna Kelch with 20 points, Haylie Webb with 18 and
Brynli Pernell with 16. They fall to 17-8 and their schedule doesn’t get any easier.
They head to the top-ranked team in the state Sacred Heart next and follow that up
with games against Highlands, Campbell County and Newport Central Catholic.
The Indians get their eleventh straight win to go to 23-5. They have just two games
left of the regular season against Lexington Catholic and Conner.
“Holy Cross doesn’t get recognized as much as it should,” Julia Hunt said “This was a
very big win. We’ve won eleven games in a row, but it’s not over. We’ve got two more to go and then onto districts and regionals.”
INDIANS 75, PIONEERS 68
HOLY CROSS — 15-16-18-26 — 75
SIMON KENTON — 22-12-18-16 — 68
Scoring
Holy Cross (75) — Hunt 20, Hayes 15, Nelson 15, Wimzie 12,
Arlinghaus 8, Carter 5
Simon Kenton (68) — Kelch 20, Webb 18, Pernell 16, Gadzala 5,
Blevins 4, Ober 3, Flynn 2
Game Stats
3-Pointers: Holy Cross 6, Simon Kenton 13
Free Throws: Holy Cross 10/19, Simon Kenton 10/14
Fouls: Holy Cross 14, Simon Kenton 19
Records: Holy Cross 23-5, Simon Kenton 17-8