By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Their history of playing one another in the semifinals of the Ninth Region Girls’ Basketball Tournament the last two years was split right down the middle with Notre Dame Academy and Highlands each winning once.
This year’s rematch in the same round Tuesday night went pretty much the same way for these two – well, sort of.
Scrappy Highlands won an almost offense-free first half, 16-12. Notre Dame stepped up and played like the bigger, deeper, veteran team the 23-7 Pandas are to take the second half by 21 points and win going away, 48-31.
And to move on to Friday’s 7 p.m. championship game at Truist Arena against Holy Cross in a replay of last week’s 35th District finals won by Notre Dame, 60-43.
“I challenged all of them, each one individually,” said NDA coach George Stoll, headed to his second regional championship game after taking Newport Central Catholic there in 2014. “I’m really proud of them.”
Proud of their ability to come back after a first half when they got just 12 shots.
“Unacceptable,” Stoll said. Not to mention a one-point second quarter.
And proud of their ability to turn it around after “we were not tough at all the first half,” Stoll said, back coaching his first season at Notre Dame.
Who was tough? How about Highlands’ eighth grader Solu Nzekwu who came off the bench to score all seven of the Bluebirds’ first-quarter points and 11 of their 16 at halftime, just one point fewer than the entire Notre Dame team.
“She’s so athletic, so gifted, on both ends of the court,” Highlands’ coach Jamie Richey said, “she carried us.”
But there was no carrying the Birds after intermission, not after the Pandas stopped standing around, stopped missing layups and started guarding.
“When we switched from our man-to-man to the zone,” that was the key, said 6-foot-2 junior Sarah Young, who previewed what was to come by blocking the first two Highlands’ shots on her way to six for the game.
Richey took a look at the stat sheet and spotted one difference that explained what happened here. “They shoot 14 free throws, we shoot two.” But that wasn’t a comment on the officiating. “That’s because we didn’t attack,” Richey said.
“Without a doubt,” Richey said, “we needed to play a complete game.” Only they didn’t. And Notre Dame played a big second half.
Emma Holzapfel got her game going for the Pandas, finishing with a game-high 16 points with eight-of-eight from the free throw down the stretch. And senior Joslyn LaBordeaux-Humphrey added 12.
“It’s going to be intense, going to be high pressure,” Young said of Friday’s championship game, “that’s what we practice for.”
SCORING SUMMARY
HIGHLANDS 7 9 9 6—31
NOTRE DAME 11 1 19 17—48
Highlands (18-12): Richey 2-7 0-3 2-2 6, Mills 1-7 1-5 0-0 3, David 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, A. Lickert 1-1 0-0 0-0 2, Neufarth 0-2 0-0 0-0 0, M. Lickert 1-3 0-2 0-0 2, Bucher 2-10 1-4 0-0 5, Nzekwu 6-7 1-1 0-0 13, Barlow 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Barber 0-3 0-1 0-0 0; TOTALS: 13-40 3-16 2-2 31.
Notre Dame (23-7): Stallard 2-4 1-1 0-0 5, S. Lawrie 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Wagner 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, McGraw 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Young 3-7 1-2 0-0 7, An. Lawrie 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Holzapfel 3-6 2-5 8-8 16, Middendorf 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Ad. Lawrie 3-7 1-1 1-2 8, Mauller 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Copeland 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, LaBordeaux-Humphrey 4-5 1-2 3-4 12; TOTALS: 15-29 6-11 12-14 48.