Future Murray State Racer Hannah McKay persevered her way to game highs in points (21) and rebounds (13) Tuesday to lead the Owensboro Catholic High School girls’ basketball squad to a 77-54 win at Christian County.
McKay, an MSU commit, earned every bit of her output despite a strong defensive effort from the Colonels’ Eniya McGee, who requested the defensive assignment during OCHS preparation.
With McKay frustrated offensively early in the contest, CCHS took advantage by building a seven-point lead in the first quarter. The Lady Aces, taking advantage of mounting County turnovers, used a key 16-5 run in the second quarter to reverse their fortunes, however, and went up 33-22 by the halftime break.
Catholic didn’t trail during the second half. The loss, which snapped the Cols’ three-game winning streak, came in the regular season home finale for County.
Junior Amari Brown and sophomore Destinee Catlett-Watkins, who entered the night each averaging just less than seven points per outing, combined for 36 of Christian County’s 54 points, with Brown nabbing a team-high 20 points in defeat.
Brown drilled half of the Lady Colonels’ six 3-pointers at Lyle Dunbar Gymnasium, and showed some interior prowess in the third quarter, despite her team trailing by 20 points for most of the quarter.
Watkins acted as a spark plug late in the third frame, taking advantage of a stolen inbounds pass to score four straight points in the closing seconds and pull County (10-13) within 15 points, but that’s as close as CCHS would get. The Lady Colonels eclipsed 20 turnovers in the loss.
McKay, Spencer Harvey and Catherine Head began to heat up from the field in the second half, with the trio missing just four combined shots. Harvey and Head also reached double digits, racking up 14 and 11 points, respectively, helping Owensboro Catholic improve to 18-9.
The 77 points scored were the most in a game this season by the Aces, surpassing the 75-mark from a Dec. 20 contest against Fern Creek in a holiday tournament.
Christian County plays twice more this week, including a regional matchup at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Hopkins County Central and a pairing with Murray High School on Saturday in the Daviess County Valentine Shootout.
— Chris Jung
SCORE BY QUARTER
1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
OCHS (18-9) 9 24 21 23 – 77
CCHS (10-14) 12 8 17 15 – 54
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
OCHS: Isabella Henning 9, Maddie Hayden 2, Spencer Harvey 14, Tierney Johnson 6, Catherine Head 11, Hannah McKay 21, Ally Maggard 2, Kinsley Goetz 10 ; CCHS: Destinee Catlett-Watkins 16, Amari Brown 20, Mikayah Killebrew 5, Eniya McGee 6, Treliyah Thomas 1, Lamontavia Forte 4, Lydashe Bell 2
3-POINTERS
OCHS: 5 (Harvey 2, McKay 2, Johnson); CCHS: 6 (Brown 3, Catlett-Watkins 2, Killebrew)
