It may have been a tale of two halves, but Simon Kenton’s girls basketball team made history Friday night.
The Lady Pioneers advanced with a 63-50 victory over Owensboro Catholic in the girls KHSAA Clark’s Pump-n-Shop Sweet 16 quarterfinals.
They can thank their first 16 minutes for moving on to their first Final Four in program history.
Simon Kenton scorched the nets and played with high efficiency in the first half, shooting 55% from the half with just four turnovers committed. It helped them to a 42-23 lead by the break.
“I think our win last night definitely gave us a high coming to this game,” Lady Pioneers junior Brynli Pernell said. “I think it showed, I mean, we shot really good. We had only a few turnovers. I think the high was from last last night’s game. I think we came into it knowing that we didn’t want our season ending tonight.”
Then things got sloppy and it opened the door for the Lady Aces. Simon Kenton went 4-for-18 in the second half and Owensboro Catholic capitalized with a 18-3 run to get within nine at 50-41 near the end of the third quarter.
“We like to make things hard,” Lady Pioneers coach Jeff Stowers said. “Got off the start that we wanted, then we kind of bogged down.”
The Lady Pioneers were led by Brynli Pernell’s 18-point effort, but their balanced attack came up big. Anna Kelch’s 3-pointer to close the third quarter was vital in stopping the Lady Aces momentum to make it 53-41 headed to the fourth.
“Really big, really big and we needed that,” Stowers said. “We needed that because we needed to keep it above 10. Just keep them above 10, because once they see it’s not in double figures, it’s going to give them a little life.”
PHOTOS: Slideshow provided by Charles Bolton
It happened to be the Lady Pioneers ninth 3-pointer of the game, setting a program record in the state tournament.
Then a slogfest ensued, just six points scored from both teams over the first 5:37 of the fourth until two Kelch free throws made it 57-45 with 2:23 to play.
The Lady Pioneers would go 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the final 2:23 to seal the deal.
After Pernell’s 18, Haylie Webb added 15 points and eight rebounds, Thursday’s hero Angela Kabeya with 10 points, Bella Ober with nine points and Kelch providing all the intangibles with eight points, eight assists and five steals.
“When Anna’s shots are not going well, we tell her you got to go get rebounds. You got to do other things,” Stowers said. “Her first shot doesn’t go in and she’s hanging her head or whatever. And we’ve been telling her you’re more valuable to us when you go get rebounds and not rely on Haylie to get rebounds. She was a little physical tonight.”
While both teams shot 21-of-49 from the field, the two key differences in this one was turnovers and free throw shooting. Owensboro Catholic had 17 turnovers to Simon Kenton’s seven while the Lady Pioneers went 12-of-17 from the free throw line to the Lady Aces 2-for-6 from the charity stripe. Simon Kenton held a 20-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
Sophia Newby led Owensboro Catholic with 14 points and 12 rebounds. It marks the second time a Northern Kentucky team has picked up a big win in the season over them. Holy Cross defeated them in the All “A” championship.
Now they await the Franklin-Simpson and George Rogers Clark in Saturday’s semifinals that will start at 1:30 p.m. The winner heads to Saturday night’s championship at 7:30 p.m.
LADY PIONEERS 63, LADY ACES 50
OWENSBORO CATHOLIC — 10-13-18-9 — 50
GEORGE ROGERS CLARK — 23-19-11-10 — 63
Scoring
Owensboro Catholic (50) — Newby 14, Mannahan 10, Munsey 9, Hagan 8, Martin 7, Riley 2
Simon Kenton (63) — Pernell 18, Webb 15, Kabeya 10, Ober 9, Kelch 8, Wiggins 3
Game Stats
Field Goals: Owensboro Catholic 21/49, Simon Kenton 21/49
3-Pointers: Owensboro Catholic 6/14, Simon Kenton 9/24
Free Throws: Owensboro Catholic 2/6, Simon Kenton 12/17
Rebounds: Owensboro Catholic 34, Simon Kenton 25
Assists: Owensboro Catholic 16, Simon Kenton 16
Turnovers: Owensboro Catholic 17, Simon Kenton 7
Steals: Owensboro Catholic 4, Simon Kenton 8
Blocked Shots: Owensboro Catholic 2, Simon Kenton 1
Fouls: Owensboro Catholic 15, Simon Kenton 9
Records: Owensboro Catholic 27-10, Simon Kenton 33-2