Lady Saints’ Emma Gallenstein powers through the Robertson County defense on Dec. 21, 2023.
Robertson County senior Ruby Gay works her way toward the goal against the St. Pat Lady Saints on Dec. 21, 2023.
The Robertson County Lady Devils hosted the St. Pat Lady Saints at the Devil Dome on Thursday.
The two small teams faced off against each other for the first time this season Thursday night, both equally hungry for a win. The Lady Devils last victory came in early December when Robertson County defeated the Holmes Lady Bulldogs 59-37 on the road. St. Pat’s last win came nearly two weeks ago, after the Lady Saints defeated Covington Latin 35-34.
This game, Robertson County started out of the gate strong, with senior Ruby Gay putting up five three-pointers in the first quarter alone. By the end of the first quarter, the Lady Devils led over St. Pat 22-6, Gay leading the charge for Robertson County’s offense.
“I’d like to shoot the ball like that every night. Ruby had five three’s in the first quarter, she was on fire there. Krysta hit a couple, Lily Monroe hit a couple for us there, so, it was a good shooting night. A good win for us, we needed that.” said Lady Devils head coach, John Pilosky.
Although the Lady Saints fell behind early in this contest, St. Pat continued to fight through Robertson County’s defense in hopes of closing the gap and taking control of the contest.
“It was a tough game, but we’ll go back to practice. We have another chance at them in the All “A” on January sixth, so we’ve got time to improve and play a little better game.” said Lady Saints head coach, Isaac Klee, “Shots didn’t fall tonight. We’ll get better every game.”
Robertson County’s scoring slowed down quite a bit in the second quarter, putting up eleven more points over the Lady Saints. While St. Pat did slow down the Lady Devils’ offense some, unfortunately they were unable to make it to the basket to close the gap, scoring just five more points this quarter, with two field goals from Emma Gallenstein and a free throw from Lillian Klee rounding out St. Pat’s scoring this go around.
Robertson County led 33-11 at the half, and returned to the court with confidence.
“I told them, no matter what the score is, we want to play good hard defense. Every time we’re on the floor we’re working to make ourselves better. The girls did a real good job of that, they’re starting to switch at the top more on the picks and screens and stuff, so, they did a good job at that.” said coach Pilosky.
Coming into the second half, both teams were fighting just as hard as in the first quarter, neither willing to give. Robertson County had a strong lead, but St. Pat was not going to go down easy, and continued to fight to bring the game back close.
Despite the Lady Saints’ best efforts, the Lady Devils’ offense reignited some in the third quarter, putting up fifteen more points to further Robertson County’s lead over St. Pat to 48-18. Heading into the final minutes of the game, the Lady Devils were comfortable playing against the Lady Saints, and were confident in their ability to hold onto their lead.
St. Pat battled back strongly in the fourth quarter, putting up their most points of the game this quarter, with 15. Although they were unable to catch up to Robertson County’s score, and ended up on the losing side of this contest, the young Lady Saints played fearlessly and fought hard against Robertson County’s roster.
“I think we got a little tired. They’ve got really good shooters, and they got in good positions to shoot. They just played really well tonight.” said coach Klee, “I think they’re feeling alright, we’ve gotta let this one sink in and we’ve gotta let it go and try to get better for the next game.”
Robertson County was very pleased with their victory, and will hope to continue to play well heading into their next few games, with an opponent to be announced for the Ripley Union Lewis Huntington Holiday Tournament on December 27, and a game against Model on January 3 lined up before the Lady Devils meet the Lady Saints once gain in the 10th region All “A” Classic.
The All “A” Classic match up with Robertson County will be St. Pat’s next contest, giving the team ample time to prepare and work in practice before seeing the Lady Devils once again.
LADY SAINTS 33
LADY DEVILS 65
SAINT PATRICK- 6-5-7-15- 33
ROBERTSON COUNTY- 22-11-15-17- 65
SCORING
St. Pat- Kimball 4, Klee 18, Gallenstein 11
Robertson- Gay 21, Hamm17, Monroe 11, A. Linville 2, Smith 4, H. Linville 6, Myers 4
Game Stats
Field Goals: St. Pat 7, Robertson 14
3-Pointers: St. Pat 3, Robertson 8
Free Throws: St. Pat 10/18, Robertson 13/16
Fouls: St. Pat 10, Robertson 13
Records: St. Pat 1-5, Robertson 3-6
