Mercy’s Josie Woods
After losing to Bullitt East in the 24th District girls basketball tournament last Thursday, Mercy Academy knew its road in the Sixth Region tournament would be a little tougher.
However, on Monday evening, coach Keith Baisch’s team showed just how prepared it was for the task at hand. Josie Woods hit five 3-pointers as part of a 22-point performance to lead the Jaguars (16-14), the No. 12 team in The Courier-Journal’s Litkenhous Ratings, to a 74-33 victory over host Holy Cross in the first round of the Sixth Region tournament.
The Jaguars used three runs to put the game away. The first started with 4:13 left in the opening quarter. Woods started a 12-2 run with a 3-pointer. By the time Camryn Muss finished it with a layup, the Jaguars led 23-10 with 2:17 remaining in the period.
Mercy’s press started affecting the young Cougars (15-17) midway through the quarter. Holy Cross committed nine of its 27 turnovers in the opening quarter. Regan Berger hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter as she scored 11 points in the period.
“It’s weird,” the senior guard said of her hot start. “It happens sometimes. You just get on fire and you keep shooting.”
Berger, who added eight rebounds and five steals, also started the second run, a 10-0 spurt, with a 3-pointer with 4:28 left in the second half. Her layup with 1:14 remaining finished the run and made it 46-21.
The Jaguars locked down defensively on the Cougars in the second half, holding them to just 3-of-22 shooting after the break. Mercy used a 13-0 run over a 2:40 stretch to make it 60-26. Berger had her hand in that run as well, capping it with a 3-pointer to give the Jaguars the 34-point lead with 4:32 left in the period. Berger’s layup with 2:09 left in the third made it 65-29 and allowed the game to end with a running clock. The sophomore guard finished with 16 points and five steals.
With the victory, Mercy now gets top-ranked Butler in the 5 p.m. Wednesday semifinal at Valley. The Bearettes won 58-35 on Jan. 12 at Mercy.
After the regional draw on Saturday, Baisch and his coaching staff reminded his team that while Butler was on their side of the bracket, the Jaguars couldn’t afford to overlook what he called an improved Holy Cross squad.
“Our kids came out with the right mindset that we needed to come out and try to put it away early because it helps the legs,” Baisch said. “We you get to tournament time, you need to save as much legs as you can.”
Mercy was able to do just that. None of the starters played more than 19:06 and three of them didn’t even play half of the game.
Looking to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2014, Holy Cross entered the regional tournament on a roll. The Cougars had won eight of their last 10 games and blitzed through last week’s 21st District Tournament, winning both games by a combined 43 points.
Head coach Oliva Moore said the team’s narrow loss to Presentation in the finals of the All “A” Classic regional helped fuel the late run of success. She called Monday’s game a “measuring stick” for her program, which started three juniors and a sophomore, and she told her team to expect pressure from the beginning.
“We were very much prepared for that,” Moore said. “But a good team like Mercy is going to come out and do their thing, whether you’re going to be able to stop them or not.”
Junior Halle Snyder led the Cougars with 17 points, nine rebounds and four steals.
In other Sixth Region quarterfinals:
Butler 81, Moore 20: Indiana University signee Jaelynn Penn scored 24 points and grabbed four rebounds as Butler improved to 30-2 on the season with a win over the Mustangs (20-8). Molly Lockhart chipped in with 15 points and four rebounds for the Bearettes.
Bullitt East 93, Doss 27
North Bullitt 81, Fairdale 37
SIXTH REGION TOURNAMENT
MERCY 74, HOLY CROSS 33
MERCY (16-14)
Ta’Ziah Jenks 5p, Raquael Reese 5p, Hope Sivori 2p 5a, Sadie Zeisloft 2p, Regan Berger 16p 5s, Josie Woods 22p 8r 5s, Camryn Muss 5p, Sydney Rivette 5p, Grace Walsh 2p, Danielle Feldkamp 10p 8r.
HOLY CROSS (15-17)
Ally Klein 1p, Kailey Reed 4p, Lauren Schraut 4p, Gabby Vasquez 5p, Halle Snyder 17p 9r 4s, Madison Turner 2p 3a.
BUTLER 81, MOORE 20
BUTLER (30-2)
Jabriel Kelly 3p; Bri Torrens 1p; Tasia Jeffries 9p; Kiari Cain 4p; Brittney Just 2p; Doneah Marshall 5p; Jaelynn Penn 24p, 4r; Teri Goodlett 10p; Molly Lockhart 15p, 4r; Janna Lewis 8p, 6r
MOORE (20-8)
Dajia Stafford 3p; Alexus Crawford 3p; Takiya Adams 2p; Stacia Hayes 3p; Sage Blue 7p; Taliyah Jordan 2p