By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Holy Cross winning the 9th Region All “A” Classic girls basketball tournament is nothing new. When the Indians took down Newport Central Catholic, 61-32, in the championship game on Saturday at Bellevue, they claimed the title for the fifth straight year and 16th time overall.
This time, however, they won three tournament games by wide margins with their best player, D’Myah Williams, sitting on the bench with a brace strapped to her left leg.
Williams was averaging a team-high 16 points and shooting 52.7 percent from the field when a torn ACL ended her season in late December. The injury occurred a few days before the 5-foot-11 junior announced her commitment with Youngstown State University, one of several Division I college teams that have been recruiting her.
“You can’t just replace D’Myah. But, you know, we’re rallying around it,” said Holy Cross coach Ted Arlinghaus. “It sounds very cliche, but it’s like, ‘Hey, let’s play for D’Myah out there.'”
The Indians came out strong in Saturday’s region final. They took a 20-4 lead in the first quarter and stretched it to 31-11 by halftime.
At the break, their trapping half-court defense had forced 13 turnovers and NewCath was shooting 23.8 percent (5 of 21) from the field.
“Just because you know it’s coming doesn’t mean you’re prepared to face it,” NewCath coach Trevor Steiner said of his players falling victim to the Indians’ swarming defense like they did in a 66-29 loss to the Indians on Dec. 28.
The Thoroughbreds committed only three turnovers in the second half, but putting the ball in the basket continued to be a problem. They made only 9 of 31 field goal attempts in the final two quarters and ended up shooting 27 percent (14 of 52) compared to the Indians’ 49 percent (23 of 47).
The only double-figure scorer for NewCath was junior guard Kendall Thompson, who got 12 of her 15 points in the second half. The leading scorers for Holy Cross were junior point guard Jai Johnson and sophomore shooting guard Avery Sturgeon with 16 points each.
Sturgeon, who filled the vacancy in the stating lineup after Williams was injured, made 6 of 8 field goal attempts with four 3-pointers.
“Avery’s a gifted shooter,” Arlinghaus said. “We know she can shoot the ball and that’s what she put on display (Saturday). What we’re working more on with her is developing something outside the 3-pointer. What I was happy to see was we had a couple of baseline drives and we were finding her cutting. So she’s more than just a 3-point shooter. She taken the next step in her game.”
Johnson was named most valuable player on the region all-tournament team for being the Indians’ floor leader.
She’s looking forward to returning to the All “A” Classic state tournament that begins Jan. 21 at Owensboro Sportscenter even though Williams won’t be taking part in the playoffs.
“You know, it’s going to be challenging, but we’ve got to overcome it and just be positive about the whole thing,” Johnson said of her missing teammate. “If we just come in and do what we need to do and get the job done, we should be good.”
Holy Cross won back-to-back All “A” Classic state championships in 2023 and 2024, but last year’s team lost in the opening round. The first opponent on Jan. 21 will be the winner of the 7th Region championship game between Kentucky Country Day and Louisville Collegiate on Tuesday.
“It’s unfortunate that D’Myah went down, but I told all of our girls that we don’t lower our expectations,” coach Arlinghaus said. “Our teams in the past worked way too hard to set a standard … and we’re not lowering those standards based on someone getting hurt. So we think we have a very good chance to go on a deep run and, if we can, cut down some nets at Owensboro in two weeks. That’s our goal.”
HOLY CROSS 20 11 18 12 — 61
NEWCATH 4 7 10 11 — 32
HOLY CROSS (12-2): Johnson 6 3 16, A. Arlinghaus 3 0 7, Eberhard 3 0 6, P. Arlinghaus 3 0 8, Hunt 1 1 3, Sturgeon 6 0 16, Broering 0 2 2, B. Saalfeld 1 0 3. Totals: 23 6 61.
NEWCATH (8-5): Thompson 6 2 15, Schill 2 0 4. C. Geisler 2 0 4, Cole 2 0 5, Wilson 1 0 2, Mumper 1 0 2, Totals: 14 2 32.
3-pointers: HC — Sturgeon 4, P. Arlinghaus 2, A. Arlinghaus, B. Saalfeld, Johnson. NC — Cole, Thompson.
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
Holy Cross — Jai Johnson (MVP), Avery Sturgeon, Riley Eberhard, Alyssa Arlinghaus. NewCath — Kendall Thompson, Brooklyn Cole. St. Henry — Kenadi Sieg. Villa Madonna — Addison Nine. Ludlow — Addy Garrett. Bellevue — Hayleigh Wite. Beechwood — Kennedy Sturgeon.