The 1969 world champion New York Mets were called the ‘Amazin Mets.’ Saturday morning at the Owensboro Sportscenter, Danville Christian’s Paisley Metz was pretty ‘amazin’ in her own right. The sharp-shooting sophomore drilled seven three-pointers as the Lady Warriors powered their way past Crittenden County 67-35 and into Sunday afternoon’s All A Classic championship game against Leah Macy and the Bethlehem Banshees.
So much had been made about U of L signee Grace Mbugua going into the game, and she had a big start for the Lady Warriors, she was not the big difference in the game. The big difference coming out of the gate was the outside shooting of Danville Christian.
For the first few minutes, the Lady Rockets hung with DCA. A three-point play from Anna Boone had Crittenden County within 7-6 early in the first. Then the bottom fell out of the bucket, or rather the three-point shots started raining down on the Lady Rockets.
Danville Christian went on a 9-0 run to go up 16-6. DCA then closed out the first quarter on back-to-back threes to take a 24-12 lead after one. Paisley Metz and Grace Meyer had two three each for the Lady Warriors. Plus, Grace Mbugua had 8 points down inside. The combination of the inside-outside would prove to be more than the Lady Rockets could handle on this Saturday morning.
Andrea Federico got the Crittenden County fans going with a quick basket to start the second. The Lady Rockets then had chances to get back within 10 points and could not convert. That would turn out to be costly.
DCA used another 9-0 run to go up 33-14. Then, Paisley Metz took over. Metz knocked down three more shots from behind the arc to close out the half to make it 42-18 at the break. Metz finished the half with 15 points, all on deep shots from the right corner. Mbugua ended the half with 14 points.
For the Lady Rockets, Andrea Federico and Elliot Evans had 6 points each at the break.
The outside barrage continued as the second half got underway. DCA knocked down three shots from behind the arc to open the quarter as the Lady Warriors opened the half with a 10-0 run that made it 52-18.
Paisley Metz 7th three of the morning with 2:20 to go in the third made it 59-24 and brought the running clock into play. The third quarter ended with DCA up 61-24.
From their it was a matter of the final score as the Lady Warriors rolled on out to the win.
Crittenden County was led by Elliot Evans, who finished the game with 12 points. Anna Boone added 8 and Andrea Federico chipped in 6.
Paisley Metz topped the scoring column for Danville Christian with 21 points, all coming on three-pointers. Grace Mbugua ended her day with 14 points for the Lady Warriors.
The story of the game was the outside shooting for Danville Christian. The Lady Warriors ended the game with 13 made 3-pointers. Not only did they hit them, they shot them efficiently, making 13 of 22 from behind the arc.
Crittenden County drops to 16-4 with the loss. The Lady Rockets will get back to action Friday night when they host the Lyon County Lady Lyons.
The Lady Rockets had two players named to the All-Tournament team, those players being Anna Boone and Jordyn Hodge.
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