By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Scoring points following defensive takeaways is the essence of the Holy Cross girls basketball team’s game plan. The Indians do it so well that their average victory margin was 19 points going into the 9th Region All “A” Classic championship game on Monday at St. Henry.
Holy Cross nearly doubled that margin in an 80-43 win over Newport Central Catholic. The Indians set a tournament record for most points scored in the region final with 14 3-point goals accounting for more than half of their total.
“This is probably the best game we’ve played in the tournament,” said Holy Cross senior guard Aniyah Carter. “We came out ready to play. We knocked down our shots and did everything else we were supposed to do.”
This is the fourth consecutive year that Holy Cross has won the small school region tournament. The Indians were All “A” Classic state champions the last two years and are now looking to become the first Northern Kentucky girls team to win three in a row.
They’ll begin that quest on Wednesday, Jan. 22 when they face the 5th Region champion in an opening round game at 10 a.m. at the Owensboro SportsCenter. Bardstown Bethlehem will play Green County in the 5th Region final on Thursday.
“Winning the All A region is always our first goal of the season,” said Holy Cross coach Ted Arlinghaus. “That’s kind of what we build for in December is to get ready for this run and I’m glad we were able to come through it.”
In the region final, Holy Cross forced 30 turnovers and limited NewCath to 15 field goals with its swarming defense. At the other end of the court, the Indians shot 51.6 percent (32 of 62) from the field overall and made 53.8 percent (14 of 26) of their 3-point attempts.
Seven players knocked down long-range shots for the Indians. The leaders were sophomore guard Alyssa Arlinghaus, the coach’s daughter, and freshman guard Jai Johnson with four each.
“We struggled shooting the ball in a couple games earlier, Alyssa in particular,” coach Arlinghaus said. “There was a stretch where, for whatever reason, she just wasn’t finding the bottom of the net, so I was happy to she her come out of that a little bit and get it going.”
Alyssa made three treys during the first quarter when Holy Cross opened the game with an 11-1 run and led 18-10 at the end of the period.
A three by senior forward Ella Lehmkuhl sparked a 7-0 run at the start of the second quarter that put the Indians ahead, 25-10, before NewCath mounted a comeback.
The Thoroughbreds pulled to within 34-26 on a layup by sophomore Brooklyn Cole with about two minutes left in the second quarter.
Then the momentum took a drastic shift. Holy Cross scored 11 straight points with nine coming on 3-point goals to open up a 45-26 halftime lead.
“That definitely put a damper on things, for sure,” NewCath coach Trevor Steiner said of the Indians’ sudden scoring blitz. “We feed off the energy that we produce ourselves and to be honest with you I thought the air was kind of let out of the balloon there at the end of the second quarter.”
Holy Cross put the game away with a 27-11 run in the third quarter. That made the score 72-37 and the starting players went to the bench knowing their team would pick up its 13th straight victory to run its record to 16-1.
The Indians’ leading scorer was senior forward Aumani Nelson with 17 points, followed by Arlinghaus (16), Carter (13) and Johnson (12). Carter was named most valuable player on the region all-tournament team because she also had seven assists and spent much of the title game guarding NewCath senior guard Caroline Eaglin.
Eaglin, who sat out the fourth quarter, finished with 17 points, five below her season average, and had 12 turnovers against the high pressure Holy Cross defense.
“We hang our hat on defense, no different than any other year,” coach Arlinghaus said. “We’re making it difficult on teams, just trying to take them out of what they want to do. And when you pressure teams like that, it’s hard to get into their (offensive) sets. So that’s our goal, to not let them get comfortable.”
Holy Cross will face a tough test in the opening round of the state tournament if Bardstown Bethlehem wins the 5th Region title. In the latest statewide media poll, Holy Cross is No. 8 and Bethlehem (11-1) is tied for No. 9.
“I feel like if we work like we’re supposed to work we can win it again,” Carter said of the state tournament. “The way we play is all about defense and then our offense follows behind that. Our defense is the main key to us winning games.”
NEWCATH 10 16 11 6 — 43
HOLY CROSS 18 27 27 8 — 80
NEWCATH (9-7): K. Brannen 0 2 2, J. Brannen 3 2 9, Eaglin 6 5 17, McFarland 2 1 5, Cole 3 2 8, Schill 1 0 2. Totals: 15 12 43.
HOLY CROSS (16-1): Johnson 4 0 12, A. Arlinghaus 6 0 16, P. Arlinghaus 2 0 4, Nelson 8 0 17, Rhodes 2 0 5, Carter 5 1 13, Whitacre 0 1 1, Lehmkuhl 1 0 3, williams 4 0 9. Totals: 32 2 80.
Three-point goals: NC — J. Brannen 1. HC — A. Arlinghaus 4, Johnson 4, Carter 2, Nelson, Rhodes, Lehmkuhl, Williams.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Holy Cross — Aniyah Carter (MVP), Alyssa Arlinghaus, Jai Johnson, Aumani Nelson. NewCath — Caroline Eaglin, Jaylee Brannen, Maddie McFarland. St. Henry — Joey Powers, Corrine Blackburn. Bellevue — Jayda Dowell, Jaylah Dowell. Villa Madonna — Ryan Bennett. Ludlow — Alex Adcock. Dayton — Axie Jimenez. Beechwood — Evie Hildebrant.