By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
HIGHLAND
HEIGHTS – The third meeting would either be another charm or go the other way
depending on the side.
It turned
out to be another charm for the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds girls
basketball team by a narrow 54-52 count. The Thoroughbreds (28-4) defeated the
Covington Holy Cross Lady Indians (21-8) for the third time this season in the 9th
Region semifinals Saturday at the Bank of Kentucky Center on the Northern
Kentucky University campus. NewCath also edged Holy Cross, 39-37 in the 9th
Region All “A” semifinals on Jan. 17 on a Michaela Ware lay-up in the final
seconds and 62-43 on The Hill on Feb. 8.
“That’s the reason why we play the tough schedule we
play,” said George Stoll, NewCath
Head Coach. “We’ve been in a few games
like that this year. It prepares us for these type of situations so we’re not
overwhelmed when we get here. Credit the girls. They didn’t panic when we got
down. They kept playing and executed their sets there at the end.”
The
Thoroughbreds battle defending champion Notre Dame (22-8) for the region crown
at 6 p.m. Sunday. NewCath is seeking its first title since 2011. Notre Dame won
the regular-season game, 39-26 on Feb. 13 on The Hill.
NewCath
could not pull away despite getting the 6-foot-1-inch junior twins Cessie and
Ally Mayhaus to foul out allowing posts Nikki Kiernan and Alexus Mayes have big
nights. Kiernan had a double-double of 24 points and 13 rebounds with Mayes
scoring 11. NewCath won the rebounding battle, 31-29.
“We didn’t do a good enough job attacking when (the
Mayhaus twins) were out,” Stoll said.
“But we made key baskets down the
stretch. That’s what we needed to do. It’s not easy to beat a good team three
times.”
Kiernan has
1,830 points for her career. The Thoroughbreds needed the three free throws she
hit in the game’s final 11.8 seconds to get there to win the game. The first
two came with NewCath trailing 52-51. After a Holy Cross miss, Kiernan grabbed
the rebound and made 1-of-2 with 2.8 seconds left to make the final score as
Holy Cross’ desperation heave missed.
“I was really confident knowing the first two were
going in,” Kiernan said. “With the second two, I was happy I made
one of them. We all bring something to the team. I encourage them to keep pushing
throughout the whole game.”
Dajah
McClendon put Holy Cross on her back and scored 25 points giving the Lady
Indians a chance. The sophomore made 9-of-13 free throws.
Cessie
Mayhaus added 13 points for Holy Cross and her sister had four. The twins had
to sit most of the second half picking up their third and fourth fouls early in
the second half.
“We go against each other in practice,” Mayes said. “We
will bring in taller people to go against in practice. Coach Stoll has friends
who play basketball who are tall. He’ll ask them to come in and we’ll practice
against them. That gets us prepared mentally.”
Missed free
throws also didn’t help NewCath’s cause. The Thoroughbreds made just 17-of-33
attempts for 52 percent compared to 14-of-21 for 67 percent for the Lady
Indians. Holy Cross had 21 fouls and NewCath had 19 with one player in Loren
Zimmerman fouling out compared to the two for Holy Cross.
“We played well,” said Kes Murphy, Holy Cross Head Coach. “We had our chances late. The kids that got minutes stepped up. They
made their shots late.”
NewCath
shot a little better from the field. The Thoroughbreds hit 18-of-42 shots for
43 percent compared to 18-of-43 for 42 percent for the Lady Indians.
The
turnovers were also about even at 12 for Holy Cross and 11 for NewCath. But the
Thoroughbreds recorded 11 steals to four for the Lady Indians.
NewCath
point guard Michaela Ware again had a big game with four steals. She also led
the Thoroughbreds with seven assists. NewCath had 16 assists to four for Holy
Cross.
The
Thoroughbreds started the game off strong. They finished the quarter with an 11-0
run to go up 15-7 after the first quarter. Kiernan scored six during that run
and Stephanie Lewis had four.
But Holy
Cross fought back and tied the game when Cessie Mayhaus hit a three-point play
with 4:03 remaining. The Lady Indians finished the first half with a 14-1 run
to go up 28-20 at halftime. Cessie Mayhaus and McClendon had nine each in the
second quarter.
But NewCath
came out stronger in the third quarter scoring the first 15 points of the half.
Mayes led the run with seven points as the Thoroughbreds built a 35-28 lead.
But Holy
Cross rallied again behind McClendon. She hit a three-point play to tie the
game at 39 with 17.8 seconds left in the quarter before Kiernan’s offensive
rebound gave NewCath a 41-39 lead with two seconds left in the third.
“(McClendon) absolutely killed us,” Stoll said. “She’s
a great basketball player. In tournament time, that’s what great players do.
They step up. We were fortunate to get the last punch.”
The game
stayed tight in the fourth quarter with neither team leading by more than two
points. A Kiernan score gave NewCath a 48-47 advantage with about two 2:30
remaining before McClendon hit two free throws.
The
Thoroughbreds led 50-49 when Kiernan passed to Ware out of a double-team and
she hit a jumper. Ware then hit a free throw with 55.1 seconds remaining to put
the Thoroughbreds up 51-49.
Holy Cross
came down and took the lead again. Michelle Hungler hit the second of two
three-pointers from the left corner to put the Lady Indians up 52-51 with 40
seconds remaining setting up Kiernan’s heroics.
Holy Cross
should be a region contender again as just three seniors graduate. They are
Hungler, Kristen Stanley and Kendall Sebastian.
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