The Holy Cross girls basketball team can now claim something no one else in the state can.
With their fourth All “A” state championship in a 60-42 victory over Owensboro Catholic, they became the first girls basketball program in state history with four All “A” state titles.
It marks their third title in the last four seasons, winning the other title in 2015, when they also won the KHSAA Sweet 16 state championship.
“One of the things that was important to me when taking over this program six years ago was wanting our team to be considered the top All A school in the state,” Indians coach Ted Arlinghaus said. “The All “A” has been important to me, played in two as a player. It has a lot of meaning to me outside of basketball.”
This year’s run was impressive. They ran through competition, winning by an average of 23.5 points per game and all four wins in the tournament by double-digits. Holy Cross defeated Kentucky Country Day (60-20), Lyon County (59-47), Lexington Christian Academy (54-30) and Owensboro Catholic (60-42) on their way to the title.
After winning their first two rounds against KCD and Lyon County, the tournament was postponed a week due to the winter storm that hit last weekend. Despite the delay, the Indians handled business on Sunday, first in the semifinals in the morning and then in the championship in the afternoon.
“The biggest challenge was we’re all creatures of habit,” Arlinghaus said. “We tried to get in a routine the best we could last week. We were lucky to get a game in last week because I didn’t want to go over a week without playing a game. Wanted to stay in rhythm and stay fresh. We had an advantage in the first game and that helped they got to play and ease into the flow of the game. That helped for the finals.”
Jai Johnson was named tournament MVP while Alyssa Arlinghaus, Riley Eberhard and Avery Sturgeon were named to the All-Tournament team.
“Every game was a little different, it could have gone to any four of them honestly,” Ted Arlinghaus said.
While those four stood out and had big games, Arlinghaus was most impressed with the depth the team displayed. Sturgeon, Paige Arlinghaus and Lacey Hunt all had big moments in the tournament themselves.
“When any of our top three got in foul trouble, they helped in a lot of ways,” Arlinghaus said. “They’d help beat the press, scored and contributed in a variety of ways. To have that adaptability when D’Myah (Williams) went down has been huge. I feel like it added some confidence for them too.”
That added confidence to their depth could be critical down the final games of the season here for Holy Cross. They face a tough stretch ahead with Ryle, Cooper, Campbell County and Bishop Brossart all on the docket here in the final three weeks of the regular season.
“We may take a few losses down the stretch, we’re still learning about our team and facing different styles and wanting to be prepared as possible going into the postseason,” Arlinghaus said. “If some things don’t go our way, we’ll see how we respond.”
Holy Cross improved to 19-2 on the season with the title, the lone two losses coming in overtime to Notre Dame and Campbell County.