ALEXANDRIA, Ky. — The Notre Dame Academy basketball team is the Ninth Region champion this season.
The Pandas defeated Holy Cross 40-39 in overtime Friday night in the St. Elizabeth Healthcare Ninth Region championship at Truist Arena.
Notre Dame (24-7) advances to play the Region 15 winner at 6 p.m. March 11 during the first day of the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop girls’ Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena. Paintsville was scheduled to play Pikeville in the Region 15 final Friday night.
Notre Dame, winners of eight consecutive games, won the Ninth Region title for the first time since 2013. Friday night marked the third win over Holy Cross this season including the second meeting this postseason.
“I’m really proud of all of them,” Notre Dame coach George Stoll said of the Pandas.
Notre Dame led Holy Cross 14-11 at the end of the first quarter. The Pandas led as much as 15 points in the half and held a 12-point halftime advantage (28-16).
However, Holy Cross stormed back in the fourth quarter. Holy Cross outscored Notre Dame 13-4 in the fourth quarter to force overtime.
The Pandas outscored Holy Cross 3-2 in overtime to capture the region title. Notre Dame didn’t have a player score in double figures. And yet that didn’t matter to the ultimate outcome.
“The thing is they all just want to win,” Stoll said. “All their success was about our team winning today. So, I’m very happy for them.”
Junior Sarah Young had five points, 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Senior Joslyn LaBordeaux-Humphrey scored a team-high nine points. Senior Emma Holtzapfel and junior Erin McGraw scored eight points each. Senior Addie Lawrie had seven points.
Holy Cross (28-6) was led by junior Riley Eberhard, who scored a game-high 14 points. Junior Alyssa Arlinghaus had nine points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Avery Sturgeon had nine points. Sophomore Jai Johnson had nine rebounds and four assists.
Holy Cross appeared in the Ninth Region final for the first time since 2015.
