Lady Panthers upset No. 13 Catholic-PC 60-32

Lincoln Prep girls basketball coach Fred Hearn knew the Lady Panthers were more than what your typical No. 20 seed in the postseason is: a nice story, but more than likely a one-and-done playoff exit.

Not these Lady Panthers (10-18), not if they played up to their potential. That’s what Hearn told his team before they traveled to face No. 13 Catholic-Pointe Coupee in the first round of the Division IV Select playoffs Thursday. If Prep guarded consistently and stuck to its identity, the Hornets would be in for a surprise.

The message was received in full as the Lady Panthers defeated Catholic-PC 60-32 Thursday — the program’s first playoff win since 2021.

“The girls were really excited, and I do think Catholic was surprised by us,” Hearn said. “It’s tough to get a read on us, depending on what film you saw. They expected a tough game, but I don’t think they expected us to come out like we did. We flirted with a double-digit lead in the first half and then the third quarter we exploded.”

Prep was led by senior Asijah Wright, who finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds.

Without Wright’s spirit and consistent approach, Hearn said Prep wouldn’t have been able to take down Catholic and set itself for further postseason opportunities.

“Words can’t express how proud I am of her,” Hearn said. “She has such a great attitude, and even in our district meeting everyone said how much she’s personable and is a great leader. I’m really sad to see her go because she’s grown so much as a young woman and wants to succeed and has brought all of the girls with her. It all culminated for her. She’s had some big games but 25 and 12 is different.”

Prep came out as the more physical team, getting to the free-throw line nine times in the opening frame to lead 11-6 after the first eight minutes as Wright poured in 5 points early.

By halftime, the Lady Panthers had extended their lead to 28-19 with Wright scoring 8 points in the second quarter, along with 6 points from Shedreana Green, who finished with 17 points overall.

But once the teams came out of the half, Prep put its foot down and ran away with its upset win, outscoring Catholic 19-6 in the third quarter and 31-14 in the second half.

Wright scored 12 points in the third alone, getting to the basket and capitalizing on fouls with a 4-for-5 clip at the foul line.

Along with Wright and Green, Synniah Spann scored 6 of her 8 total points in the second half.

“The third quarter we just really had good ball pressure and Asijah just went off,” Hearn said. “I think defensively, it started for us in district to where it started to become we were a team no one wanted to play. And I keep telling them, ‘If we guard, we can play with anybody.’” The Hornets’ 32 points were the fewest they had scored at home all season, even with 27 free-throw attempts. If Hearn had to spot one blemish in his team’s performance, it was using over-aggressiveness rather than trusting the system that led to the exorbitant number of free throws.

“We have to stop fouling so much,” Hearn said. “We gotta stop being so handsy and just move our feet and cut them off. If we do that, we’ll be OK.”

But even with the foul-fest, Prep still put up its largest margin of victory on the road this season to set up a second-round matchup against No. 4 Sacred Heart — the team that sent Prep home in last year’s postseason.

“Our aspirations were to do bigger things this year, and everything might not have panned out like we wanted in the regular season, but we’ve got an opportunity in a second round game against Sacred Heart now,” Hearn said.

Prep travels to No. 4 Sacred Heart Monday at 6:30 p.m.