A late rut did Notre Dame no favors.
The Pandas went cold at the wrong time and ulitmately their season came to a close in the girls KHSAA Clark’s Pump-n-Shop Sweet 16 quarterfinals in a loss to Taylor County, 44-36.
Going into the fourth with a 32-29 lead, the Pandas hit just 2-of-11 shots from the field and committed five turnovers.
“We got a couple good looks that just didn’t fall and credit to Taylor County,” Pandas coach George Stoll said. “They did a good job defensively. I thought that throughout the game, they played the last four minutes with the best defense.”
It was a back-and-forth affair throughout. No one led by more than three points in the first half, Emma Holtzapfel’s triple in the third quarter giving the Pandas their biggest lead of the game at four, 30-26 with 1:30 to play in the quarter.
“That game was a war. Whoever won that game, a good team was going to win it,” Lady Cardinals coach Donnie Swiney said.
Then Notre Dame’s downfall came. They scored just six points from the Holtzapfel triple to the end of the game. Taylor County responded with a 8-2 run for the lead before Sarah Young’s putback tied things up at 34 with 5:27 to play.
The Pandas had held Taylor County leading scorer Kennedy Deener in check for the game’s first 28 minutes as she was 4-of-14 from the field with nine points. Then on consecutive possessions, the freshman hit two 3-pointers to make it a 40-34 game and in this one felt like a 20-point lead.
“Great players make great plays at big times,” Swiney said. “We ran that set a couple times and she got to the rim. She may not have made both layups or whatever, but she felt confident with that. So we kind of went back to it and she pulled off that one and then buried the next one too. I mean, that’s what great players do.”
Joslyn LaBordeaux-Humphrey got it to 40-36 with 2:17 to play on a layup, then neither team wanted to win it as five combined turnovers on consecutive possessions kept it at 40-36 with under a minute to play.
Notre Dame had their looks to cut the deficit, but unlike their opening round victory over Pikeville when they hit a state tournament record 17 three-pointers, they hit just 4-of-22 from three.
“I liked the looks we got for the most part, they just didn’t fall today,” Stoll said.
It puts an end to their season at 25-8, winning their first region championship since 2013. In five state tournament trips in program history, they’ve won at least a game in four of those trips.
PHOTOS: Slideshow provided by Charles Bolton
Leading the way for the Pandas was Holtzapfel with 13 points, adding seven rebounds and named to the All-Tournament team as she’s one of four seniors on the roster along with Kylee Wagner, LaBordeaux-Humphrey and Addie Lawrie.
“It means a lot. We were the team to win the region and that was the biggest goal we had,” Holtzapfel said. “We really don’t need to be ashamed of ourselves or sad. I’m really proud of everybody on this team.”
Wagner shined bright on the big stage, providing big moments in both games at Rupp, finishing with six points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal in her final game.
“I think it definitely was part match up,” Wagner said. “I realized that I could kind of get to the rim off the dribble with who was guarding me, but a lot of it was I just wanted to play as hard as I could so that we can maybe come out with the win and extend our season even longer.”
LaBordeaux-Humphrey came over from Boone County after her sophomore year and made her presence felt immediately. She tallied six points and four rebounds Friday.
“I played varsity my freshman and sophomore year, so I was used to the speed, but it wasn’t really much success,” Labordeaux-Humphrey said. “So coming to Notre Dame, I was very grateful how far we got in the region. The excitement of winning this time was so much joy and I was so proud of this team and I was so grateful coming over and joining these girls was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Lawrie overcame a lot of adversity, battling through multiple surgeries to even get on the court. She was a key reserve who made the All-tournament team at the region tournament.
“I’ve had a lot of support this whole time, and I’m really grateful for that, and I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to come back,” Lawrie said. “But I’m just even more proud of everyone here that everyone we got to come here all together. I wouldn’t want to be here with anyone else.
Stoll finishes his first season in Park Hills with losing four key pieces, but things are still on the up with Sarah Young, Amelia Stallard and Erin McGraw returning as key foundational pieces.
“I’m just extremely proud of my basketball team and extremely proud of these seniors over here who have just done a great job of of buying into me,” Stoll said. “This year is my first year coaching out here at Notre Dame and they’ve been nothing but supportive and embraced me as their coach. It’s been a really fun year.”
CARDINALS 44, PANDAS 36
TAYLOR COUNTY — 9-11-9-15 — 44
NOTRE DAME — 11-8-13-4 — 40
Scoring
Taylor County (44) — Deener 19, Raikes 14, Bradstreet 6, Vernon 5
Notre Dame (36) –Holtzapfel 13, Young 8, Wagner 6, LaBordeaux-Humphrey 6, Stallard 3
Game Stats
Field Goals: Taylor County 16/43, Notre Dame 15/41
3-Pointers: Taylor County 7/16, Notre Dame 4/22
Free Throws: Taylor County 5/6, Notre Dame 2/6
Rebounds: Taylor County 22, Notre Dame 34
Assists: Taylor County 10, Notre Dame 11
Turnovers: Taylor County 9, Notre Dame 17
Steals: Taylor County 9, Notre Dame 4
Blocked Shots: Taylor County 3, Notre Dame 7
Fouls: Taylor County 9, Notre Dame 17
Records: Taylor County 29-6, Notre Dame 25-8