By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Watching his players cut down the nets after winning the 9th Region All “A” Classic championship game was an uplifting experience for Holy Cross girls’ basketball coach Kes Murphy.
After dealing with injuries and illness throughout the season, the team finally had something to celebrate following their 64-33 win over St. Henry in the title game of the small-school regional tournament on Saturday.
“We always had one major contributor out so we’ve been adjusting left and right since day one,” Murphy said. “We’re finally back to full strength and for us to come out and play the way we did (in the tournament) is a great feeling.”
This is the first time that Holy Cross has won the girls’ 9th Region All “A” Classic since 2006, breaking Newport Central Catholic’s eight-year reign as champions. The Indians advance to the Touchstone Energy Kentucky All “A” Classic state tournament and play the Region 12 champion in a first-round game at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the Frankfort Civic Center.
The Region 12 tournament is being played this week at Somerset High School. None of the Holy Cross players have ever competed in a state tournament before, but senior guard Deja Turner is looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Turner said. “We’re going to get everybody’s best game, just like we did (in the regional tournament) up here. We just have to go down and play like we know we can play. If we do that and don’t freak out, I think we’ll do fine.”
Turner, a Wright State University recruit, is one of the Holy Cross starters who was sidelined this season. She had to sit out three games due to plantar fasciitis, a condition that causes severe pain in the heel and underside of her left foot. The other four starters in the Holy Cross lineup also missed games because of injury or illness, but their teammates responded well during those setbacks and the Indians have a 14-3 record.
“Adversity hit us hard, but we bounced back from it all and kept going,” Turner said “It was great for our other players because they were able to come off the bench and get some confidence, which was huge because we’re able to sub them in for big games now.”
Turner is still dealing with her injured foot. She has to put on a protective boot after each practice and game. But she didn’t seem to be hampered by it during the regional championship final on Saturday when she poured in a game-high 26 points. Turner scored 21 points in the first half, including 12 of her team’s 13 points in the second quarter, and Holy Cross led 27-17 at the break.
The Indians opened the third quarter with a 16-4 scoring run that extended their lead to 43-21 and they continued to pull away. Sophomore guard Aleaha Tucker and senior forward Cessie Mayhaus each scored 10 points in the second half for Holy Cross. Junior point guard Dajah McClendon finished with seven points, four assists and eight steals in her second game back from an ankle injury.
But no one was surprised when coach Murphy selected Turner as the most valuable player on the regional all-tournament team.
“She carried us though the first half,” Murphy said. “Thankfully, she was on fire because (the score) was tight until we woke up and everybody started contributing more on the offensive end in that second half.”
The coach was also pleased with his team’s defensive effort in the regional final. St. Henry committed 17 turnovers and shot 26.8 percent (11 of 41) from the field.
“The last couple games we’ve been playing much better defensively,” Murphy said. “Early on, we had injury after injury and so many issues that we struggled. We were subbing different people in and it was hard for them to get adjusted to how we operate on the defensive end. Now that we’ve got our starters back and we’ve got these other kids coming along we’re a much better defensive team.”