Survive and dance.
Notre Dame Academy did both on Friday night at Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena, defeating Holy Cross 40-39 in overtime in the girls 9th Region championship.
Despite squandering a 15-point second half lead, the Pandas prevailed in a game that needed four extra minutes to determine who was headed to Rupp Arena next week.
They got stops in the final possession of regulation and overtime to win it.
“We said one stop and we’re regional champions,” Pandas coach George Stoll said. “One more stop, one more stop and we did a good job of talking on all their screens when they’re inbounding the ball and just not letting them get anything easy.”
Facing each other for the third time this season and both looking to break long region championship droughts, the two knew it would be an all-out war.
In the end the Pandas height and balance prevailed. They had five players score at least five points while also blocking 10 shots, tournament MVP Sarah Young with seven of them, including one in the final possession of overtime to help the Pandas win it.
“I don’t even know how to describe it,” Young said of the MVP honors. “I was so excited, but honestly it could have gone to anybody tonight. We all played so well and everyone deserved it.”
Young had five points to go with 14 rebounds and the seven swats. Joslyn LaBordeuax-Humphrey added nine points and Addie Lawrie chipped in seven, the three named to the All-Tournament team.
“That was probably the toughest decision of the night,” Stoll said of picking the All-Tournament team members. “There’s a lot of them that deserve to be on the all-tournament team that didn’t get it. But the thing is, they all just want to win. They don’t care. They truly don’t care. So all of their success was about our team winning today.”
One thing that certainly can’t be questioned is the heart that Holy Cross displayed. They nearly pulled off a second straight miraculous comeback. They battled back from a 16-point halftime deficit against Ryle in the semifinals and trailed 33-18 a couple of minutes into the third quarter Friday after an Amelia Stallard layup.
“A lot of teams might quit when you’re down 15 a few minutes through the third quarter. Not us. We don’t quit,” Indians coach Ted Arlinghaus said. “We don’t have no quit in us. We just fight and fight and fight.”
They’d end the quarter on a 6-0 run and held the Pandas to just four points the rest of regulation in an over 13-minute stretch.
They continued to chip away in the fourth, extending the 6-0 run to 13-0 after an Avery Sturgeon triple with 6:30 to play to make it 33-31. They had multiple opportunities at that point to take the lead, but Joslyn LaBordeaux-Humphrey ended a near eight-minute drought with a layup to make it 35-31 with 6:15 to play.
Riley Eberhard and Addie Lawrie traded buckets to make it 37-33, then Eberhard hit 1-of-2 from the line with 1:16 to play, the Indians able to secure the offensive rebound on the missed attempt on Eberhard’s second shot.
They got Eberhard free in the corner to tie it up on a 3-pointer with a minute to play. The Pandas were whistled for a double-dribble on the other end just seconds later, giving Holy Cross another chance to take the lead.
They held the ball for the final shot, Eberhard’s jumper from the free throw line in the closing seconds unable to go.
“I thought that shot was good,” Arlinghaus said. “It just felt like it was our time. In Riley’s hands to win the game the way she’s been playing? She comes over from Notre Dame this year, it just felt right. But I’m proud of the way they played. They battled their butt off. They never quit. They just keep battling. Just kept chipping away, chipping away. Felt like we had our chance and they made one more play than we did.”
To overtime they went.
“I just got to talk them off the ledge a little bit and just get them to to redirect our focus into what our job is to do and then to believe and and then just take one possession at a time,” Stoll said. “And and we did that on defense. Offense, not as much, but defense we did.”
Paige Arlinghaus gave Holy Cross the lead on two free throws, Emma Holtzapfel answering on the other end with a jumper to make it 39-all with 1:30 to play.
After Holy Cross was whistled for an offensive foul on the other end, Eberhard picked up her fifth foul on a blocking call on the baseline on a Holtzapfel drive. She’d hit 1-of-2 free throws with 28 seconds to play to make it 40-39, scoring all three points in the overtime for the Pandas.
“Everybody had confidence in each other and I knew they had confidence in me to make that shot and make those free throws at the end of the game,” Holtzapfel said.
The Indians first chance on the ensuing possession was swatted away by Young, then the Indians took time with five seconds left after corralling the ball off the block. Their side out pass went to Jai Johnson, her desperation 3-pointer unable to come anywhere near the mark.
“We just got anxious,” Arlinghaus said. “We tipped our hand before the referee got us the ball. We’ve been holding that play, practicing it for the last month. We’ve been holding it all season for that play and it was there. We just got a little anxious and the referee never handed us the ball.”
Eberhard led Holy Cross with 14 points, adding five rebounds and four steals. Alyssa Arlinghaus tallied nine points with seven rebounds, the two named to the All-Tournament team. The Indians should get familiar with this game, barring drastic changes in the region, they return everyone on the roster without a senior on it. They’ll most likely be the preseason favorite to win the region next year.
It’s Notre Dame’s first regional title since 2013. It’s Stoll’s second region title, also winning one with Newport Central Catholic in 2014. Getting a late start with the team and hired in July, Stoll hit the ground running with the group and they compiled a 24-7 record. They went 10-5 out of the gate before winning 14 of their last 16 games.
“Early in the off season I knew we had a shot,” Stoll said. “I hadn’t seen any of the other teams. I saw one high school basketball game last year. I didn’t know these other teams. Then as games went on, win against Holy Cross early, win against Cooper early. I knew that we weren’t where we needed to be yet and we had a lot of room to improve. You have ups and downs, injuries happen and that’s part of a season, but we started clicking here towards the end of the year. Started clicking at the right time.”
Now they head to Rupp Arena for the KHSAA Clark’s Pump-n-Shop Sweet 16, taking on the winner of the 15th Region in the first round on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The 15th Region championship is on Saturday between Johnson Central and Pikeville.
“We’re all so close,” Holtzapfel said. “I’m going to miss everybody so much next year, I don’t even want to think about going to college because we’re all best friends. Leaving everyone is going to be so difficult that I don’t want it to happen so we’re going to go all the way.”
PHOTOS: Slideshow provided by Charles Bolton
PANDAS 40, INDIANS 39 (OT)
HOLY CROSS — 11-5-8-13-2 — 39
NOTRE DAME — 14-14-5-4-3 — 40
Scoring
Holy Cross (39) — Eberhard 14, A. Arlinghaus 9, Sturgeon 9, P. Arlinghaus 5, Johnson 2
Notre Dame (40) — LaBordeaux-Humphrey 9, McGraw 8, Holtzapfel 8, Lawrie 7, Young 5, Stallard 3
Game Stats
Field Goals: Holy Cross 14/49, Notre Dame 14/42
3-Pointers: Holy Cross 6/20, Notre Dame 6/21
Free Throws: Holy Cross 5/6, Notre Dame 6/8
Rebounds: Holy Cross 38, Notre Dame 28
Assists: Holy Cross 9, Notre Dame 9
Turnovers: Holy Cross 11, Notre Dame 9
Steals: Holy Cross 5, Notre Dame 8
Blocked Shots: Holy Cross 2, Notre Dame 10
Fouls: Holy Cross 14, Notre Dame 13
Records: Holy Cross 28-6, Notre Dame 24-7