Category: Notre Dame

2nd quarter dooms Lady Titans against Ashland

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Ashland (KY)52Win
Notre Dame41Loss

2nd quarter dooms Lady Titans against Ashland

By Paul Boggs

 

 

IRONTON — Unfortunately for the Notre Dame Lady Titans on Saturday, it was a four-quarter contest — not three.

That’s because the Lady Titans’ second-quarter struggles simply doomed them against Ashland — as Notre Dame did not make a single solitary field goal in the period, and ultimately it fell short in its comeback against the Lady Kittens 52-41 inside Ironton High School’s Conley Center as part of the annual Tackett’s Body Shop Shootout.

That’s correct.

Not one field goal — a two OR a three —for the Lady Titans in the second eight minutes, part of an epic and entire scoring drought that spanned a total of six minutes and 34 seconds.

As for the failure to make a single shot, that total time stretched from the 1:37 mark of the opening quarter until the 6:41 juncture of the third frame.

For those into clock-watching, that covers an elapsed time of 10 minutes and 56 seconds.

Otherwise, aside from that second quarter, the Lady Titans would have won 40-36 —thanks to a pair of 14-point second-half quarters after leading 12-8 at the end of the first.

In that second half, Notre Dame —a Division IV program playing Ashland, which is the equivalent of at least a large Division II team in Ohio — did make a strong rally, erasing a 14-point (27-13) deficit with 6:54 remaining in the third quarter all the way down to three points three minutes and four seconds later.

However, Ashland senior Julia Parker —who poured in a game-high 22 points including four three-point goals and a perfect 6-of-6 free throws in the final two minutes — popped a three on the ensuing possession, and the Lady Titans never got any closer.

The loss was just Notre Dame’s second of the season against 18 victories — as the Lady Titans were coming off capturing another outright Southern Ohio Conference Division I championship on Thursday night.

But, both defeats have come against MUCH larger schools, as Ashland’s enrollment —in grades nine thru 12 — is 882 compared to a mere 106 students for Notre Dame.

Two weeks ago, the Lady Titans raced out to an 18-point first-half advantage on Spring Valley — a Class AAA program in West Virginia — only to completely lose that lead and fall 64-57.

This time, on Saturday, after opening up a 12-5 first-quarter advantage at the 1:37 mark, the Lady Titans’ struggles started sooner.

Notre Dame committed seven of its nine turnovers in the second quarter, but more obvious was its poor shooting — and subsequent inability to get stops on the defensive end.

In fact, the Lady Titans took just eight floor shots in the second —five of which were from three-point range.

In all, Notre Dame dialed up 21 three-point attempts, as Ava Hassel hit the club’s only pair —on the game’s opening possession and again with 4:46 remaining when the Lady Titans trimmed the deficit to five (40-35) for the first time in exactly 15-and-a-half minutes.

The Lady Titans shot 16-of-54 for 30-percent, including 5-of-23 for 22-percent in the first half.

Not to mention, they missed four of their six free throws in the second stanza.

Notre Dame head coach J.D. McKenzie described the 16-1 second-quarter difference as “self-inflicted”.

“We have not shot the ball well for the last three games, and all three games have been on the road, and that has a lot to do with it. I didn’t think our shot selection was necessarily bad tonight, but we had chances in the second quarter to make some free throws, and we missed some easy bunnies and a couple open looks from three. When we’re not making shots, we can’t dictate what we want to defensively. We turned the ball over and we had some missed assignments too,” he said. “Aside from that second quarter, I thought we played pretty well against a really good team. But no field goals, I don’t know if that’s ever happened to me in a quarter in my life.”

If that wasn’t wrong-sided history enough to be part of, then Taylor Schmidt saved the day and averted the stanza shutout — with a split of free throws at the 3:03 mark.

It didn’t help that the Lady Kittens canned three three-pointers in the period, including a pair by Parker and one by Jada Miller — for a 24-13 halftime advantage.

Parker — the Lady Kittens’ Most Outstanding Player —pumped in her first trifecta to trim the deficit to 6-5, then Carley Cullup connected from long distance to close the first quarter at 12-8 and opened the third canto with her other three-ball.

Finally, Notre Dame’s Claire Detwiller ended its drought after almost 11 full minutes —before Detwiller and Hassel had old-fashioned three-point plays only 50 seconds apart to get the Lady Titans to within six at 27-21 at the four-and-a-half minute mark.

From there, the Lady Kittens maintained a lead of six, seven or eight points over the next 7:45, before Hassel hit her second three —and Ashland turned the ball over as Schmidt scored to make it 40-37 with 3:50 remaining.

But Parker, from the corner pocket, splashed her fourth and final —and most impactful —triple, as Notre Dame didn’t score on it next possession while Parker posted her second deuce of the period on the possession following.

Hassel had another old-fashioned three-point play to make it 45-40 with 2:19 to go, but Ashland scored seven of the final eight points —with Hassel hitting a foul shot with 1:48 left for the Lady Titans’ final marker.

Ashland shot 43-percent from the field on 18-of-42, including 11-of-23 from two-point territory.

“Besides that second quarter, I thought it was a pretty even game,” said McKenzie. “I’m not going to say Ashland is head and shoulders better than us, because I think we are a pretty good team, but they had a better day shooting than we did. We just couldn’t get over that hump once we got down double digits. And we couldn’t get that extra stop tonight, although Ashland has pretty good offensive players. I was really proud of the resiliency of the girls.”

Detwiller, named Notre Dame’s MOP, delivered a double-double of 13 points on six field goals and 11 rebounds — while Hassel tied her with 13 points on four total field goals and 3-of-4 free throws.

Lauren Campbell chipped in two first-quarter baskets and pulled down 10 boards — as Schmidt, Isabel Cassidy and Olivia Smith scored a bucket and foul shot apiece.

Cassie Schaefer had a third-quarter field goal to round out the Notre Dame scoring.

In addition to Parker, Mikayla Martin made five field goals for 10 points for the now 14-6 Lady Kittens, and grabbed nine rebounds before fouling out with 2:41 to play.

The Lady Titans return home, and return to non-league action, on Monday night against Minford.

The Lady Falcons are a Division III program, but McKenzie prefers his Lady Titans see what they are made of against bigger schools.

Had it not been for that second quarter on Saturday, maybe Notre Dame does knock off the Lady Kittens from Kentucky.

“I want us to play much bigger schools and against good competition. I am proud of how the girls handled it and came together today,” said McKenzie. “Just wish our shots start falling again.”

Notre Dame wraps up the regular season, and an opportunity at another undefeated SOC I campaign, when it hosts Green on Thursday.

* * *

Notre Dame 12 1 14 14 — 41

Ashland 8 16 9 19—52

NOTRE DAME 41 (18-2)

Taylor Schmidt 1 1-2 3, Ava Hassel 4 3-4 13, Cassie Schaefer 1 0-0 2, Olivia Smith 1 1-2 3, Claire Detwiller 6 1-1 13, Isabel Cassidy 1 1-2 3, Lauren Campbell 2 0-2 4; TOTALS 16 7-13 41; Three-point goals: 2 (Ava Hassel 2)

ASHLAND 52 (14-6)

Jada Miller 1 0-0 3, Morgan Bradley 2 2-4 6, Syd Sorrell 1 1-3 3, Carley Cullup 3 0-0 8, Julia Parker 6 6-6 22, Mikayla Martin 5 0-0 10; TOTALS 18 9-13 52; Three-point goals: 7 (Julia Parker 4, Carley Cullup 2, Jada Miller 1)

Ashland (KY)

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Notre Dame

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Date League Season
February 1, 2020 SEO 2019-20

Court

Ashland (KY)

Lady Titans lose lead, suffer first loss

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Spring Valley (WV)64Win
Notre Dame57Loss

Lady Titans lose lead, suffer first loss

By Paul Boggs

Photo’s by Kent Sanborn

PROCTORVILLE — Unfortunately for the Lady Titans on Saturday, it was not the tale of two halves they wanted to hear.

As a result, Notre Dame’s undefeated season — in its bid for an amazing three in a row in fact — saw itself come to an abrupt end.

After an on-fire first half in which the Lady Titans charged out to an 18-point lead, the big-school Spring Valley (W. Va.) Lady Timberwolves went off for a monster comeback — and outscored Notre Dame 41-21 in the second half en route to handing it a 64-57 defeat for the Lady Titans’ first setback of the season.

The contest was part of the annual Tri-State Hoops Throwdown event, held inside the Carl York Center on the campus at Fairland High School.

Although there is much more basketball to be played, the Lady Titans surely would love to have Saturday’s second half — and even the final two minutes of the first half — back.

Following an Ava Hassel free throw for Notre Dame, the Lady Titans took a commanding —or so it seemed — 32-14 advantage with four minutes and 38 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Even Isabella Cassidy canning a three-pointer from the top of the key at the 2:10 mark to make it 36-19 — there wasn’t a worry that this game could get away.

By the halfway point, the defensive-oriented Lady Titans had already forced 14 Timberwolf turnovers, stymied Spring Valley into 7-of-26 shooting for a cool 27-percent, outrebounded the West Virginians 25-16, and had splashed five three-pointers including three from Hassel.

Not to mention, Notre Dame’s Claire Detwiller dominated on the inside with 10 first-half rebounds and nine points, and Spring Valley’s two tallest players —Caroline Asbury and Ella Edwards —had already picked up three personal fouls.

But, as Newfound Glory once sang, it was all downhill from here.

In a roaring rally, the young Timberwolves went kamikaze on the Lady Titans — nearly doubling them up in each of the final two quarters 23-12 and 19-9.

Simply put, Notre Dame got to playing way too fast, took too many quick shots, committed 13 turnovers in the second 16 minutes — and most importantly saw its nearly 20-point lead and its undefeated season evaporate with it.

The Timberwolves — which had held leads of 7-4 and 9-6 — took their first lead since the 1:45 mark of the first quarter with five minutes remaining to break a 52-52 tie.

Detwiller scored 30 seconds later for a 54-54 deadlock, but Spring Valley reeled off the next 10 points for its largest advantage — as ND’s Cassie Schaefer sank a three-pointer with six seconds left for the 64-57 final score.

With the loss, the Lady Titans — the second-ranked squad in the second weekly Associated Press Ohio High School girls basketball poll —fell for the first time in 15 tries this season.

It also ended their attempt for a remarkable three consecutive undefeated campaigns, which means Notre Dame won all 44 regular-season affairs over the past two years — before capturing the first 14 for this season.

Notre Dame’s only losses the last two years were in the Division IV regional semifinals —against Waterford two years back and to Peebles last March.

On Saturday, Notre Dame coach J.D. McKenzie did something he hasn’t done in three seasons — give a postgame media interview following a loss.

“We had a really good first half, but late in the second quarter, we rushed some shots, turned the ball over a couple of times, and they cut into an 18-point lead (32-18) to make it a 14-point lead (36-22). I still thought we had a great first half, and we talked about coming out in the second half and trying to extend that lead. We knew the third quarter would be huge, but we had a terrible third quarter and they had a great third quarter,” he said. “Uncharacteristically, we turned the ball over 20 times, we missed 22 threes, we took a lot of quick shots. They made us play fast, and they basically did to us in the second half what we did to them in the first half.”

For the game, in addition to the 20 turnovers, the Lady Titans — despite shooting 22-of-60 for 37-percent — took 30 threes and only made eight (27-percent).

They went 5-of-17 (29-percent) in the first half, followed by 3-of-13 (23-percent) in the second.

Spring Valley, by bringing full-court pressure, either turned the Titans over — or sped them up to where they were rushing so many shots.

It also impacted Notre Dame defensively, as in the fourth quarter the Timberwolves were going right at the rim —and the Titans simply couldn’t stop them.

All nine of the Timberwolves’ fourth-quarter field goals were inside the arc, including three from Asbury, who poured in nine buckets for 18 points —seven of which were in the second half.

Asbury also grabbed 11 rebounds, as it was her offensive board and assist to Jenna Christopher that lifted the Timberwolves back in front 54-52.

Spring Valley — which raised its record to 7-4 and is the equivalent of a Division I or large Division II school in Ohio — had just six second-half turnovers, and outrebounded the Lady Titans 19-12 over the same span.

Spring Valley, in the third quarter, sliced the deficit down to as far as one point three times — at 39-38, 41-40 and 46-45.

The Timberwolves bagged three threes in the third, including two by Sydney Meredith, who also netted two treys in the opening period.

Meredith paced Spring Valley with 19 points on six total field goals and 3-of-3 free throws, while Brea Saunders —whose second-quarter three-ball at the 1:30 mark to make it 36-22 and actually jump-started the Lady Timberwolves’ comeback —scored 11.

Asbury added eight points on four baskets in the tide-turning third frame, as her field goal just 15 seconds into the fourth made for a final one-point deficit at 48-47.

She then tied the game at 52-52 on an easy bucket with 5:12 remaining.

McKenzie said the Timberwolves were having their way with scoring in the second half.

“That’s the one, the defensive end, that hurts. We talked about eliminating this team’s easy buckets. We did that in the first half, made them work for everything. In the second half, they got some run-outs, they got some second-chance opportunities, we were late on some close-outs and assignments,” he said. “And truthfully, it looked like we got tired in the second half.”

McKenzie continued by explaining the fatigue factor, as Notre Dame —with the exception of its season-opening win over South Webster (46-44) and its Southern Ohio Conference Division I victory over New Boston (66-52) — has dominated its opposition to this point.

“Most of our starters through our first 14 games are probably averaging two-and-a-half quarters of play a night. That’s on me as a coach to get them in better shape in practice,” he said. “I didn’t do a very good job tonight either, but we have experienced girls out there playing for us. This should be an eye-opening experience for them not to play rushed and in a hurry and sloppy. The shots that we normally make weren’t falling and we turned the ball over way too much, we didn’t communicate well enough defensively and we got wore out.”

Detwiller did her part to pace the Lady Titans, amassing 19 points on eight field goals and 3-of-5 free throws.

The six-foot junior center was named Notre Dame’s Player of the Game, as she also ripped down a game-high 17 rebounds.

Hassel hit her 19 points on three twos and four treys, as her three trifectas for the first quarter spearheaded the Lady Titans’ 22-9 early advantage.

The Timberwolves led 9-6 at the three-minute mark —only to see the Lady Titans tear off for the final 16 points of the stanza.

Cassidy connected for three triples towards 11 points, as her third-quarter three made it 39-24 with seven minutes to play.

From there, though, Spring Valley vanquished its deficit by posting the next 14 points over the next four-and-a-half minutes.

The Timberwolves went ahead five-and-a-half minutes later, and outscored the Lady Titans 14-5 for the five-minute and 12-second finish.

McKenzie was upset about the loss, but cares more about his Lady Titans learning from their mistakes.

Moreover, Notre Dame doesn’t have any time to wallow about it either, as it returns to non-league action on Monday night by visiting Valley.

“I don’t care about being undefeated or what our record is. I hate losing more than I like winning, but the only thing I care about when we lose is that we better learn from it. I’m mad that we got beat, but I am going to be more mad if we don’t learn from this and if this doesn’t get their (Titans) attention and show them how much harder we have to work every day if we want to achieve our goals,” said McKenzie. “Hopefully, this is a good learning experience for us.”

* * *

Spring Valley 9 13 23 19 — 64

Notre Dame 22 14 12 9 —57

SPRING VALLEY 64 (7-4)

Jenna Christopher 3 1-4 7, Brea Saunders 4 1-2 11 Victoria Asbury 0 0-0 0, Holly Riggs 0 0-0 0, Halie Bailey 2 1-2 5 Sydney Meredith 6 3-3 19, Ella Edwards 2 0-0 4, Caroline Asbury 9 0-1 18; TOTALS 26 6-12 64; Three-point goals: 6 (Sydney Meredith 4, Brea Saunders 2)

NOTRE DAME 57 (14-1)

Taylor Schmidt 0 0-0 0, Ava Hassel 7 1-1 19, Cassie Schaefer 1 0-0 3, Olivia Smith 0 0-0 0, Annie Detwiller 0 1-3 1, Claire Detwiller 8 3-5 19, Isabel Cassidy 4 0-1 11, Lauren Campbell 2 0-1 4; TOTALS 22 5-11 57; Three-point goals: 8 (Ava Hassel 4, Isabel Cassidy 3, Cassie Schaefer 1)

Spring Valley (WV)

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Notre Dame

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Date League Season
January 18, 2020 SEO 2019-20

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Fairland

Notre Dame tops Waterford in battle of SEO Powerhouses

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Notre Dame54Win
Waterford29Loss

Notre Dame 54, Waterford 29

by Paul Boggs

For a defensive-oriented unit, the Notre Dame Lady Titans torched the nets in the first half en route to a 25-point rout of the Waterford Lady Wildcats.

Notre Dame didn’t allow the Wildcats to reach the 30-point plateau, including only allowing six first-quarter points and four third-period points.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame almost outscored Waterford with the three-pointer alone — netting nine in the first half for 27 points, as that 27 was half of the Lady Titans’ total.

The Lady Titans are now a perfect 9-0, as in addition to their lockdown defense — they shot 9-of-15 from three-point range.

Notre Dame defeated visiting New Boston on Thursday night 66-52, but needed a 21-8 fourth-quarter blitz in order to secure that key conference (Southern Ohio Conference Division I) win.

Against non-league Waterford, a recent Division IV powerhouse which actually earned four consecutive trips to the state tournament including the 2016 championship, the Lady Titans had 41 points at halftime — compared to only 18 for the Lady Wildcats.

It was the ideal blend of defense and offense for Notre Dame, explained head coach J.D. McKenzie.

“Everything starts with our defense, and that sparks our offense,” he said. “We like to get out and get running, get points in transition and with rhythm threes. We shot the ball a lot better tonight than we did against New Boston the other night. We were making shots, and it dictated defensively what we wanted to do and put us in a rhythm offensively. We weren’t pleased with our performance against New Boston, but I thought the girls did a good job of getting their minds right, coming up here and making a statement with a big win.”

The Lady Titans never trailed and were only tied 2-2, as Taylor Schmidt split a pair of free throws at the four-and-a-half minute mark of the first quarter —from where Notre Dame dominated and only stretched the lead the remainder of the way.

In the first quarter, and against the Wildcats’ zone defense, Cassidy Schaefer and Isabel Cassidy with one apiece and Ava Hassel with two treys helped push the Lady Titan advantage to 17-6.

In the second stanza, Schmidt, Hassel and Schaefer drilled another three-ball each, before finally a pair from Annie Detwiller in the final 2:23.

Detwiller’s second triple was with 33 seconds remaining to make it 41-18 — which was the Lady Titans’ largest first-half advantage.

Their largest leads were a pair of 27-point cushions in the fourth quarter at 52-25 and 54-27.

Hassel, who actually received a formal full-ride offer from the University of Rio Grande on Saturday, had an old-fashioned three-point play nine seconds into the second quarter as well.

She paced the Lady Titans with 14 points, as Schmidt scored 10 points on four field goals — while Detwiller notched nine.

Schaefer added a pair of fourth-quarter free throws for eight points, as Lauren Campbell with three baskets for six and Claire Detwiller with two buckets for four rounded out the Notre Dame scoring.

“The other night we were 4-of-20 from three-point in the first half and tonight we were 9-of-15 from three-point in the first half. That’s the difference in putting the game away in the first half instead of having to struggle and work your way to getting a win in the fourth quarter,” said McKenzie. “When we are shooting the ball, we are pretty good. We’re always going to show up defensively, and we’re going to play with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. We have five or six girls who can shoot the ball extremely well from outside. Very rarely do we have all six of them ‘on’, but very rarely do we have all six of them ‘off’. We had pretty much everybody on tonight, and when that happens and we’re hitting from the outside, we’re tough to guard.”

Speaking of guarding, Notre Dame defensively allowed just three Waterford baskets in the opening quarter, as the Wildcats went four-and-a-half minutes in one stretch without scoring.

The second quarter was more of the same, as Jenessa Lang landed a pair of threes for the Wildcats for a 27-16 deficit at the 4:25 mark — but Waterford wouldn’t score again until Cara Taylor made a pair of foul shots over three-and-a-half-minutes later.

In the third frame, both teams tallied just four points on two field goals apiece, including Lang for Waterford, who led the now 4-2 Lady Wildcats with eight points.

Notre Dame will return to the road, and return to SOC I action, as it plays at Green on Monday.

The Lady Titans are the defending division champions, and lead the league at 6-0 — while Green is just one game back along with New Boston at 5-1.

New Boston handed the Lady Bobcats their lone league loss, as Notre Dame defeated the Lady Tigers as aforementioned on Thursday night.

It will be the Lady Titans’ fourth game in a week.

Notre Dame

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Waterford

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Date League Season
December 21, 2019 SEO 2019-20

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Notre Dame

 

Hoops Roundup by Paul Boggs

Titans roll, Tigers win, Falcons fall at Rio Grande

By Paul Boggs

 

 

RIO GRANDE —They say that two out of three isn’t bad.

As part of Saturday’s first annual Woods Lumber Girls Basketball Classic at the University of Rio Grande, undefeated Notre Dame dismantled Waterford 54-29, New Boston boasted a bounce-back victory by getting by Greenup County (Ky.) 47-41, and Minford was the victim of a second-half kamikaze by the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors 62-40.

The three Scioto County clubs competed as part of seven total tilts on Saturday — inside the University of Rio Grande’s Newt Oliver Arena.

This was the first season for Woods Lumber to sponsor this two-day girls basketball showcase, as the event is actually a fundraiser and put on by the University of Rio Grande women’s basketball program.

Notre Dame 54, Waterford 29

For a defensive-oriented unit, the Notre Dame Lady Titans torched the nets in the first half en route to a 25-point rout of the Waterford Lady Wildcats.

Notre Dame didn’t allow the Wildcats to reach the 30-point plateau, including only allowing six first-quarter points and four third-period points.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame almost outscored Waterford with the three-pointer alone — netting nine in the first half for 27 points, as that 27 was half of the Lady Titans’ total.

The Lady Titans are now a perfect 9-0, as in addition to their lockdown defense — they shot 9-of-15 from three-point range.

Notre Dame defeated visiting New Boston on Thursday night 66-52, but needed a 21-8 fourth-quarter blitz in order to secure that key conference (Southern Ohio Conference Division I) win.

Against non-league Waterford, a recent Division IV powerhouse which actually earned four consecutive trips to the state tournament including the 2016 championship, the Lady Titans had 41 points at halftime — compared to only 18 for the Lady Wildcats.

It was the ideal blend of defense and offense for Notre Dame, explained head coach J.D. McKenzie.

“Everything starts with our defense, and that sparks our offense,” he said. “We like to get out and get running, get points in transition and with rhythm threes. We shot the ball a lot better tonight than we did against New Boston the other night. We were making shots, and it dictated defensively what we wanted to do and put us in a rhythm offensively. We weren’t pleased with our performance against New Boston, but I thought the girls did a good job of getting their minds right, coming up here and making a statement with a big win.”

The Lady Titans never trailed and were only tied 2-2, as Taylor Schmidt split a pair of free throws at the four-and-a-half minute mark of the first quarter —from where Notre Dame dominated and only stretched the lead the remainder of the way.

In the first quarter, and against the Wildcats’ zone defense, Cassidy Schaefer and Isabel Cassidy with one apiece and Ava Hassel with two treys helped push the Lady Titan advantage to 17-6.

In the second stanza, Schmidt, Hassel and Schaefer drilled another three-ball each, before finally a pair from Annie Detwiller in the final 2:23.

Detwiller’s second triple was with 33 seconds remaining to make it 41-18 — which was the Lady Titans’ largest first-half advantage.

Their largest leads were a pair of 27-point cushions in the fourth quarter at 52-25 and 54-27.

Hassel, who actually received a formal full-ride offer from the University of Rio Grande on Saturday, had an old-fashioned three-point play nine seconds into the second quarter as well.

She paced the Lady Titans with 14 points, as Schmidt scored 10 points on four field goals — while Detwiller notched nine.

Schaefer added a pair of fourth-quarter free throws for eight points, as Lauren Campbell with three baskets for six and Claire Detwiller with two buckets for four rounded out the Notre Dame scoring.

“The other night we were 4-of-20 from three-point in the first half and tonight we were 9-of-15 from three-point in the first half. That’s the difference in putting the game away in the first half instead of having to struggle and work your way to getting a win in the fourth quarter,” said McKenzie. “When we are shooting the ball, we are pretty good. We’re always going to show up defensively, and we’re going to play with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. We have five or six girls who can shoot the ball extremely well from outside. Very rarely do we have all six of them ‘on’, but very rarely do we have all six of them ‘off’. We had pretty much everybody on tonight, and when that happens and we’re hitting from the outside, we’re tough to guard.”

Speaking of guarding, Notre Dame defensively allowed just three Waterford baskets in the opening quarter, as the Wildcats went four-and-a-half minutes in one stretch without scoring.

The second quarter was more of the same, as Jenessa Lang landed a pair of threes for the Wildcats for a 27-16 deficit at the 4:25 mark — but Waterford wouldn’t score again until Cara Taylor made a pair of foul shots over three-and-a-half-minutes later.

In the third frame, both teams tallied just four points on two field goals apiece, including Lang for Waterford, who led the now 4-2 Lady Wildcats with eight points.

Notre Dame will return to the road, and return to SOC I action, as it plays at Green on Monday.

The Lady Titans are the defending division champions, and lead the league at 6-0 — while Green is just one game back along with New Boston at 5-1.

New Boston handed the Lady Bobcats their lone league loss, as Notre Dame defeated the Lady Tigers as aforementioned on Thursday night.

It will be the Lady Titans’ fourth game in a week.

New Boston 47, Greenup County 41

The New Boston Lady Tigers improved to 8-3 — getting a nice bounce-back from Thursday night’s loss at Notre Dame by clipping their Bluegrass State neighbor Greenup County.

The Lady Tigers, who drove their “Lexus” on Saturday as in senior standout Lexus Oiler, raced out to a 25-13 advantage with 2:45 remaining in the opening half.

The Lady Tigers held the lead for the final almost 30 minutes, maintaining a lead ranging from four to 12 points over the final 29.

New Boston led 17-11 at the first stop, 28-21 at halftime and 38-32 after three frames.

The lead ranged from four to nine points over the final 11 minutes and 12 seconds, as Oiler amounted all 20 of her points — including a third-quarter three-point goal — through three quarters.

New Boston went to the five-foot nine-inch versatile Oiler early and often on Saturday, as she finished with eight total field goals and 3-of-5 free throws, including six baskets and two freebies for 14 first-half points.

The Lady Tigers and Oiler especially attacked the basket, and her Tiger teammates moved the ball well with the aim of getting her the rock.

“I thought Greenup did a good job of recognizing where she (Oiler) was, but she is just one of those players that is very smart and does a good job of finding the right spot and the right drives and the right shots for us,” said New Boston coach Kayla Wiley. “She is a very good, smart player.”

But Oiler had help both early and late, as fellow senior Taylen Hickman hit two first-half three-pointers towards eight points — and sophomore Kenzie Whitley scored nine of her 11 in the second half, including a three to make it 41-34 with only 5:56 remaining.

“Taylen (Hickman) hit a couple of threes to give us a lift when we weren’t hitting shots in the first half, and Kenzie (Whitley) hit that big three in the fourth quarter when we were struggling to score,” said Wiley.

That started a stretch of five minutes and 23 seconds in which the Lady Tigers held the Musketeers scoreless, as they pushed the lead up to 11 (45-34) — after Sammy Oiler’s steal and layup and Whitley’s mid-range floating jumper in the lane.

The Tigers did miss their first four fourth-quarter free throws, enabling the Musketeers to score seven straight points — including an Emma Frazier three-ball — over two minutes and 10 seconds to slice the deficit to 45-41 with 25 seconds remaining.

However, Sammy Oiler ended the threat — connecting on both of a one-and-one foul-shot situation.

Oiler scored six points, as she also sank two second-stanza free throws — while Shelby Easter added a first-quarter field goal.

Wiley said the win was a total team effort, which began with New Boston beginning the contest by playing with energy.

The Lady Tigers also excelled at turning the Musketeers over, frequently running through the passing lanes.

“I thought we started the game that way, but I just wish we would keep that energy for four quarters. I know it’s hard right now because I’m playing a six-man, sometimes a seven-man rotation. We called a timeout to do a better job of stunting and getting in those passing lanes and being in the driving lanes and helping each other out. I thought we did a much better job of that in the fourth quarter,” said Wiley.

Lexie Carroll with 11 points and Frazier with 10 points paced Greenup County, which fell to 2-6.

The Lady Tigers, which have already completed the first half of their season, are off for 10 days before playing again — on Thursday, Jan. 2 at SOC I rival Western.

Eastern Brown 62 , Minford 40

In one word, it all quickly — unfortunately — for the Lady Falcons “unraveled”.

That’s because Minford, facing undefeated Eastern Brown, managed to play right with the Lady Warriors for the opening 20 minutes and 40 seconds — and even led 10-7 following the opening quarter before the Warriors won the second stanza 17-11 to lead 24-21 at halftime.

Still, the Lady Falcons — spearheaded by Maddie Slusher’s pair of three-pointers and driving deuce in the opening two minutes and five seconds of the third quarter — forged three ties, before five consecutive points put Minford ahead at 34-32 at the 3:20 mark.

After that, though, as Minford coach Shane Davis stated, “the wheels fell off.”

Did they ever — as Eastern ended the final 11:20 with a massive 30-6 run to win going away.

Within that 24-point difference, the Lady Warriors went off for 21 unanswered points — only halted briefly when Minford’s Livi Shonkwiler scored with 5:23 remaining, but she injured her ankle and left the game.

It was Shonkwiler’s only points, and Davis didn’t know the severity of her injury immediately afterwards.

The Warrior onslaught spree stretched to 28-2 before Minford’s Makenzie Watters split a pair of free throws with 3:07 left, as Eastern’s largest lead grew to 62-37 — before Falcon freshman Sydney Mougey made a game-ending three-pointer in the final few seconds.

“They went on that big run and our wheels just fell off,” said Davis.

The Lady Falcons’ largest problem, by far, was turnovers against Eastern’s full-court pressure over the final three quarters.

“We played them tough, but they stayed in the press the whole time and we just turned the ball over trying to throw the ball over top of it,” said Davis. “I don’t think they did anything different other than just more bodies to rotate in. We have to get some of these younger girls comfortable handling the ball against pressure, so we can rotate more in and not have the same girls out there as much constantly facing full-court presses.”

Slusher scored 16 points through three quarters to pace the Lady Falcons, as she made three threes — including one from the corner just 17 seconds into the second quarter for Minford’s largest lead at 13-7 — and 3-of-5 free throws.

Ally Coriell scored seven points on three baskets and a foul shot, while the Watters sisters — Makayla (two field goals and 1-of-2 free throws) and Makenzie (one field goal and 3-of-6 free throws) — finished with five apiece.

In addition to Shonkwiler and Moguey’s fourth-quarter field goals, Hannah Tolle tallied a basket in the first.

Camryn Pickerill, whom Minford shut out in the opening half, poured in 15 second-half points with three trifectas and 6-of-13 free throws.

Her back-to-back treys gave Eastern a 40-34 lead and the rout was on.

Rylee Leonard landed 11-of-12 foul shots and four field goals for 19 points, as Eastern attempted 30 free throws while Minford shot too fewer (17) than the Lady Warriors made (19).

The Lady Falcons fell to 3-5 with the loss, as Eastern remains undefeated at 10-0.