By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Holy Cross and Brossart entered this week’s All “A” Classic girls state basketball tournament as the highest ranked teams in the field and both won their first two games to reach the final four.
Changes in the tournament schedule will give both teams a week to prepare for their semifinal games. With heavy snow expected across the state this weekend, the semifinals and finals have been moved to Sunday, Feb. 1, at Owensboro Sportscenter.
The matchups that day will be Brossart (20-1) vs. Owensboro Catholic (15-5) at 8 a.m. and Holy Cross (16-2) vs. Lexington Christian (16-5) at 9:30 a.m. The winners will meet in the championship game at 3 p.m. All times are CST.
Here’s what happened in Friday’s quarterfinal games:
Brossart 63, Danville Christian 34
Turning up the tempo was the essence of Brossart’s game plan against Danville Christian. The Mustangs carried it out by applying intense defensive pressure that resulted in 27 points off turnovers during a 63-34 victory that ended with a running clock.
With a 6-foot-10 center and two 6-foot forwards, Danville Christian had a distinct height advantage, but the Warriors couldn’t match the athleticism of the Brossart players.
“I give our kids all the credit in the world,” Brossart coach Aaron Stamm said in a post-game interview. “We had to press a lot and we had to run the court a lot … If it was a half-court game, they could’ve high-lowed us to death and it could’ve been a tough game for us.”
Brossart advances to the semifinals for the second consecutive year. The first and only time the Mustangs won the tournament was 1999.
In Friday’s win, Brossart ended the first half with a 15-0 run to open up a 36-19 lead. At that point, the Mustangs had scored 19 points off 15 turnovers committed by the Warriors.
Danville Christian continued to struggle on offense in the third quarter that ended with Brossart holding a 56-26 lead. Officials started a running clock when a 3-point goal by sophomore Kylie Smith put the Mustangs ahead 63-28 in the fourth quarter.
Smith finished with a game-high 21 points and seven of her team’s 14 steals. Junior forward Graylee Kramer made four 3-pointers to account for 12 of her 20 points and junior forward Hadley Eviston had 15 points.
The Mustangs shot 45.1 percent (23 of 51) from the field compared to Danville Christian’s 26.8 percent (11 of 41). The Warriors’ leading scorers were 6-foot junior forward Amauri Blackford and eighth-grade guard Saralyah Howell with 12 points each.
Danville Christian’s 6-foot-10 sophomore center Achan Deng was hampered by a knee injury and finished with one point and four rebounds.
BROSSART 16 20 20 7 — 63
DANVILLE CHRISTIAN 9 10 7 8 — 34
BROSSART (20-1): Meyers 1 0 2, Smith 8 4 21, Eviston 4 7 15, Kramer 8 0 20, Wietholter 2 0 5. Totals: 23 11 63.
DANVILLE CHRISTIAN (12-7): Bradshaw 1 0 2, Meyer 1 3 6, Abrams 0 1 1, Blackford 4 4 12, Deng 0 1 1, Howell 5 2 12. Totals: 11 9 34.
Three-pointers: B — Kramer 4, Wietholter, Smith. DC — Howell 2, Meyer.
Holy Cross 59, Lyon County 47
Holy Cross scored 29 straight points in the first half to take a commanding lead and held off a second-half rally to come away with a 59-47 victory over Lyon County in the last girls quarterfinal game on Friday afternoon.
This is the fourth time in the last five years that Holy Cross has made it to the final four in the small school state tournament. The Indians won back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024.
The Indians’ decisive scoring run in the first and second quarters gave them a 29-4 lead. Jai Johnson and Alyssa Arlinghaus both made three 3-point shots to account for 18 of the points.
“It was a combination of us playing really hard, making some shots and them missing some shots,” Holy Cross coach Ted Arlinghaus said of the run in a post-game interview. “But that’s impressive to do that. That’s a really good Lyon County team, so to go on a 29-to-nothing run, that’s phenomenal for us.”
The margin slipped to 15 points, 39-24, by halftime. At the break, Holy Cross was shooting 50 percent (14 of 28) from the field compared to Lyon County’s 37 percent (10 of 27).
After the Lions pulled to within eight points, 43-35, late in the third quarter, the Indians responded with a 9-2 run that put them ahead, 51-37, and they maintained a double digit lead through the final five minutes of the game.
The double-figure scorers for Holy Cross were Johnson (18), Arlinghaus (17) and junior forward Riley Eberhard (13). The Indians outscored the Lions 13-4 at the free throw line and 24-9 from 3-point range. On the defensive end, Holy Cross made 10 steals and blocked three shots.
HOLY CROSS 23 16 8 12 — 59
LYON COUNTY 4 20 13 10 — 47
HOLY CROSS (16-2): Johnson 6 3 18, A. Arlinghaus 6 1 17, P. Arlinghaus 2 0 5, Sturgeon 0 1 1, Eberhard 3 7 13, Hunt 2 1 5. Totals: 19 13 59.
LYON COUNTY (17-4): Taylor 1 1 3, Cotham 6 3 17, Collins 6 0 13, Coursey 7 0 14. Totals: 20 4 47.
Three-pointers: HC — A. Arlinghaus 4, Johnson 3, P. Arlinghaus. LC — Cotham 2, Collins.