By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Holy Cross girls basketball coach Ted Arlinghaus wasn’t the least bit surprised by the final score in his team’s 39-30 win at Notre Dame on Wednesday. He knew it would be hard for anybody to put the ball in the basket during the 35th District seeding game.
“We both play defense so good it’s so hard to get a clean look,” Arlinghaus said. “Basically, the closest thing to a clean look tonight was with somebody draped all over you or somebody flying at you with a hand up where you’re not seeing the basket.”
That resulted in the two teams making 19 of 79 field goals for 24 percent with nine blocked shots and 32 turnovers to finish with their lowest point totals of the season.
But it was a big huge nonetheless for the Indians. In this week’s state rankings, Notre Dame (14-4) was No. 9 and Holy Cross (13-5) was No. 11 based on a poll of sports writers.
“We know every time we play Notre Dame it’s going to be a battle,” Arlinghaus said. “We just know each other so well and both teams really get after it on the defensive side.”
Holy Cross scored on four of its first six possessions to take a 10-3 lead. Notre Dame came back to tie it, 12-12, on a 3-point goal by Emma Holtzapfel with 6:10 left in the second quarter.
The Indians pulled ahead once again and led 22-14 at halftime. But the Pandas scored on five of their first six possessions in the third quarter and cut the margin to 28-25 on a pair of Holtzapfel free throws.
That was the closest the home team got to taking the lead during the second half.
“It was nice to see us fight through some adversity in third quarter,” Arlinghaus said. “We had a couple of breakdowns in rotations, a couple of missed shot opportunities, a couple of turnovers that were a little bit uncharacteristic for us. But we fought through it, and when you can fight through it I think that’s a sign of a really great team ”
There were only three made field goals in the fourth quarter. The last one was a layup by Notre Dame guard Maya Laurie that cut the margin to 33-29 with two minutes remaining. Holy Cross then made six of eight free throws to seal the win.
Holy Cross ended up shooting 23.8 percent (10 of 42) from the field compared to Notre Dame’s 24.3 percent (9 of 37). At the line, the Indians made 14 of 18 free throws and the Pandas went 9-of-13.
Notre Dame junior center Sophie Gibson posted a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The leading scorers for Holy Cross were senior center Julia Hunt and senior forward Aaliyah Hayes with nine points each. Hunt also had 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Holy Cross forced 20 turnovers with its aggressive trapping defense. But none of the Indians’ takeaways resulted in breakaway baskets because most of them came on Notre Dame’s end of the court.
“They’re so good on defense they’re going to get back,” Arlinghaus said of Notre Dame. “They were not going to let us score in transition.”
Notre Dame coach Kes Murphy was still talking with players in the locker room after the game and sent assistant coach Marty Rankin to answer media questions.
Rankin said the team has been practicing how to handle pressure defense, but the players didn’t do that very well against Holy Cross.
“When we execute our half-court offense, we’re really good,” Rankin said. “If we don’t get into our half-court sets or don’t get the shots we want, we struggle.”
HOLY CROSS 10 12 9 8 — 39
NOTRE DAME 9 5 11 5 — 30
HOLY CROSS (13-5): Hunt 4 0 9, Arlinghaus 1 0 3, Hayes 3 1 9, Nelson 1 6 8, Wimzie 1 5 8, Carter 0 2 2. Totals: 10 14 39.
NOTRE DAME (14-4): Resing 1 0 3, Holtzapfel 2 2 8, A. Lawrie 1 0 2, M. Lawrie 1 3 5, Gibson 4 4 12. Totals: 9 9 30.
Three-point goals: HC — Hayes 2, Hunt, Arlinghaus, Wimzie. ND — Holtzapfel 2, Resing.