Wow! Complete domination by ND tonight in all aspects of the game. Game was never in jeopardy. They came to play for sure. Very physical and pushed the Birds all over the court. ND only made two shots outside the paint that I can remember and probably shot 25 layups. They looked like the old Lakers tonight! Nice game by the Pandas.

 

I should probably save my comments on the Birds for now.

Speechless again

Good bounceback for NDA.

Wow! Complete domination by ND tonight in all aspects of the game. Game was never in jeopardy. They came to play for sure. Very physical and pushed the Birds all over the court. ND only made two shots outside the paint that I can remember and probably shot 25 layups. They looked like the old Lakers tonight! Nice game by the Pandas.

 

I should probably save my comments on the Birds for now.

 

I know this feeling. :lol:

Wow. The 9th region is really wide open this year. Notre Dame seized control early in the game and didn't look back. The Pandas' ability to drive inside the lane and get easy buckets and the Birds inability to stop penetration was the key difference in the game IMO, followed closely by a number of unforced turnovers by the Birds.

 

The Birds' shooting was off tonight but as the saying goes, good shooters have to keep shooting. They'll eventually fall but didn't last night. Good perimter defense by the Pandas had a lot to do with it. It also didn't help that the Birds' best 2 outisde shooters (Adler & Combs) fouled out.

 

Should be an interesting horse race in the 9th region as any one of 5 or 6 teams could win it and play in Bowling Green in March.

Nice game for the pandas! Looked like they were playing inspired. When they get Ogle back, they should get back to being a force. They just made it a race for the ninth again!

 

Have to admit, I was a little surprised by the lack of adjustments by the highlands staff. Highlands continued to press notre dame without much effect and Notre Dame got layup after layup.

 

Good luck to both teams.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

A couple big things needed to happen for the Highlands Bluebirds girls basketball team to pull off another big win.

They did not allowing the Notre Dame Pandas to leave Fort Thomas with a 67-59 9th Region win Friday. This game marked the first meeting since the 9th Region title game at Northern Kentucky University in March that the Pandas won 63-44 on March 4, 2013. Notre Dame finished state runner-up last year before Head Coach Nicole Levandusky left for Cooper.

Highlands needed to control the rebounding. Notre Dame won that battle 31-25 including 20-11 on the defensive glass.

“We talked before the game about how we really had to limit their shots,” said Jaime Walz-Richey, Highlands Head Coach. “(Notre Dame) did a good job crashing the boards. They had a lot of offensive putbacks. It was like they wanted it more and they stood and watched it.”

The Bluebirds also needed to hit a good amount of three-point shots because the Pandas had a size and length advantage. Highlands made just 5-of-20 three-point shots for 25 percent.

Highlands (11-3) came into the game on a three-game winning streak. But Notre Dame (8-5) entered on a three-game losing streak after losing 63-53 to Holmes on Wednesday.

“We’re a young team and we just have to learn from it,” Richey said. “It’s about getting better. As a team, we felt we didn’t get better. We have a huge stretch of games where we have to get better each game. We felt we went backwards for a stretch. But you have to give Notre Dame credit. (The Pandas) played a great game.”

First-year Head Coach Wyatt Foust’s crew played without three players including starting guard Elly Ogle. Notre Dame also didn’t know if Paige Kellam would play. Kellam led the way with 19 points making 9-of-13 free throws.

“We played scared and on our heels against Holmes,” Foust said. “We weren’t going to let that happen again. We didn’t know if (Kellam) would play at Noon. She stayed on the attack the whole game. That was a great turnaround to have her in the capacity we had her.”

The Pandas saw four players reach double-digits. Hillary Hellmann followed Kellam with 17 points with post Haylee Smith and Sydney Stallman scoring 12 and 10 respectively.

“We were able to go in and out of their zone and get different lineups in to combat their speed,” Foust said. “They played mostly guards. They made a lot of shots. They’re too good of a shooting team. But that’s the kind of defense we can play.”

Despite the loss, Highlands saw three players reach double-digits. Lydia Graves made 3-of-5 three-point tries on her way to 16 points. Posts McKenzie Leigh and Alex Combs followed with 11 each.

The teams combined for 44 fouls. Combs and Briana Adler fouled out for Highlands while four finished with four fouls for the Pandas. Highlands made 22-of-30 free throws for 73 percent and Notre Dame hit 16-of-23 for 70 percent.

Notre Dame made 24-of-43 shots for 56 percent and Highlands hit 16-of-48 for 33 percent. The Pandas made 3-of-6 three-point tries for 50 percent.

Notre Dame used a 10-0 run in the first quarter to go ahead for good. The Pandas led 34-27 at halftime.

Highlands travels to Cooper (7-6) on Tuesday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

 

Fort Thomas Sports: Notre Dame bests Highlands girls; NC-CovCath boys game suspended

If I wouldn't have seen the score posted and just read the game comments, I would have thought the Panda's won by 20+. Game started 10 - 0. Halftime was 7 point spread. Final was only an 8 point margin.

 

After the bad start, HHS actually outscored NDA by 2 points the rest of the way. Why all the comments about how one-sided the game was?

If I wouldn't have seen the score posted and just read the game comments, I would have thought the Panda's won by 20+. Game started 10 - 0. Halftime was 7 point spread. Final was only an 8 point margin.

 

After the bad start, HHS actually outscored NDA by 2 points the rest of the way. Why all the comments about how one-sided the game was?

 

It tetered from 7-15 the entire game. Birds also hit some late 3's. HHS played just good enough to keep it close. It was never in jeopardy. ND outplayed them in every category and it was obvious who was in control if you were at the game. They physically controlled both ends. They pressured our kids and made them look out of sync on most trips, while they got easy buckets on almost every trip. All while ND's best player (top 5 in the region) didn't even play. But I would agree. Watching the game...if there was no scoreboard in the gym, I would have guessed the birds did lose by 20.

 

Trust me, I will give them credit when it's due. But I was surprisd by several things last night. Especially by the amount of layups the Birds gave up.

It tetered from 7-15 the entire game. Birds also hit some late 3's. HHS played just good enough to keep it close. It was never in jeopardy. ND outplayed them in every category and it was obvious who was in control if you were at the game. They physically controlled both ends. They pressured our kids and made them look out of sync on most trips, while they got easy buckets on almost every trip. All while ND's best player (top 5 in the region) didn't even play. But I would agree. Watching the game...if there was no scoreboard in the gym, I would have guessed the birds did lose by 20.

 

Trust me, I will give them credit when it's due. But I was surprisd by several things last night. Especially by the amount of layups the Birds gave up.

This surprises me since HHS has played such good defense. Sometimes teams are just bad match ups. I love the parity and how you need to bring your A game every night, or anyone can be beat. Seems a lot of these teams rely on their defense a ton and if they aren't shooting well its wide open in the 9th. Congrats to the Pandas and I'm sure Coach Richey will rebound from this with her young team. :thumb:

I was surprised at the height Highlands has on this team. Tall girls and very capable.

Panda Power!!