All "A" Semifinals: Danville upsets NC

G. Michael Graham Photo. Newport Central Catholic senior Nikki Kiernan takes the pass and scores a fast-break lay-up in Saturday's All "A" Semifinal loss to Danville. Kiernan scored 16 and grabbed 17 rebounds for a double-double.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

FRANKFORT – It did not look good at halftime.

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds trailed the upstart Danville Lady Admirals, 34-24 at that point of the All “A” State Semifinals despite a size advantage because of a bad second quarter. The fears came to fruition as Danville (13-4) pulled a second straight upset, 71-55 Saturday at the Frankfort Convention Center.

Danville finished the game with a 22-2 run in the game’s final six minutes. The Lady Admirals upset Bishop Brossart, 60-58 in the tournament quarterfinals.

“Foul trouble didn’t help us in the first half at all,” said George Stoll, NewCath Head Coach. “Against any team when your leading scorers get in foul trouble, that’s going to hurt you. They’re real quick. We had a hard time keeping them in front of us. They outplayed us.”

NewCath (19-3) hoped to get back to the title game for the fourth time in the last five years. The Thoroughbreds own the most wins in tournament history with a record of 28-11. The Thoroughbreds won the tournament in 2010 and have finished runner-up four times including the last two seasons. This marks the fourth semifinal loss for NC in its eighth straight trip to the tournament. Monroe County beat NewCath, 54-50 in the 2011 semifinals.

“To be honest, I wanted to be behind at halftime,” said Judie Mason, Danville Head Coach. “We’ve not been ahead in this tournament until the fourth quarter. We won that game with heart. (NewCath) is better than us. If we played them 10 times, they probably beat us nine and a half.”

Both teams tried to make things happen with their full-court pressure. That’s been a NewCath staple for years. NewCath had 13 turnovers to 11 for Danville. The Thoroughbreds recorded seven steals to four for the Lady Ads.

The Thoroughbreds had plenty of looks just a few feet from the basket in their transition and half-court sets, but missed many of them. NewCath made 22-of-59 shots for 37 percent, including just 2-of-9 from three-point range for 22 percent. Danville made 19-of-48 shots for 39 percent, including 7-of-12 from three-point land for 58 percent.

“I felt like we were rushing (our shots),” said Stephanie Lewis, NewCath senior. “We were not taking our time.”

The Lady Ads pulled away from the free-throw line. Danville made 26-of-35 for 74 percent and NewCath made 9-of-12 for 75 percent.

Danville nearly saw all five starters reach double digits. Essence Grey led the way with 23 points with Alyvia Walker making 3-of-4 three-pointers for 16 points. Cameron McPherson had 13 with Ne Ne Chenault and Laken Grey following with 10 and 9 respectively.

NewCath saw two players reach double-digits. Ms. Basketball candidate Nikki Kiernan had 16 and Lewis had 14. Kiernan scored 10 points in the fourth quarter before Danville switched from a 2-3 zone defense to a box-and-one. Kiernan added 17 rebounds for a double-double.

“We’ve never run a box-and-one since I’ve been at Danville,” Mason said. “Something just came to me to run the box-and-one. It may look like I’m over there coaching like crazy. But I’m going to be honest. They do it. I’m just over there cheering them on. It just worked.”

NewCath scored the game’s first six points before Danville came back to tie the game at nine. Michaela Ware stole a pass in the final second and fed it ahead to Loren Zimmerman for an easy shot with a few seconds left to give NewCath a 13-10 advantage after the first quarter.

Things fell apart for NewCath in the second quarter. Danville won it 24-11 as the Thoroughbreds continued to struggle from the field. The Lady Ads finished the quarter with an 11-0 run.

NewCath fought back to tie the game at 47 entering the fourth quarter winning the third, 23-13. Lewis tied the game on a nice pass from Zimmerman with 23 seconds remaining.

NewCath appeared to take control early in the fourth quarter. The Thoroughbreds went on a 6-0 run to go up 53-49 with 6:05 left in the game. Zimmerman made a three-point play and Ansley Davenport made two free throws before Lewis hit 1-of-2.

“Once we got the lead, we had a couple chances to get it up to eight or 10,” Stoll said. “We had some turnovers. If that would have happened, we’d have tried to hold it more.”

But Chenault hit two three-pointers to start the game-ending run. The first one cut the lead to 53-52 with 4:51 left. After Danville took the lead on two Essence Grey free throws, Zimmerman made two free throws to put NewCath up 55-54 with 4:42 left in the game. Chenault then gave Danville the lead for good with another three from the left wing with 4:34 left.

The Thoroughbreds are making their 12th appearance in the state tournament. That is second in tournament history behind Louisville Holy Cross (18) and Lexington Christian (14). No girls team has won more than two state titles in tournament history.

Danville is making its first appearance in the title game after making the semifinals for the first time in school history. Mason won the All “A” crown in 2000 as Head Coach of Somerset.

“We talk about that,” Mason said. “I told them I have one (title) on them. I’m a state champion and they’re not yet. I gave them a hard talk about it. But that’s okay. They want one.”

Danville will face the Glasgow Lady Scotties (17-6) in the title game at Noon Sunday. The Lady Scotties took down defending champion Owensboro Catholic, 54-39 in the earlier game. NewCath beat Glasgow, 54-50 on Dec. 27 on its way to winning the Gateway Holiday Classic at Montgomery County.