The South Putnam High School girls' basketball team knocked off the visiting Edgewood Mustangs, 40-26, Friday for its second win of the season and it all started in the second quarter

Monday, November 14, 2005

By DAN SHELTON Sports Writer

The South Putnam High School girls' basketball team knocked off the visiting Edgewood Mustangs, 40-26, Friday for its second win of the season and it all started in the second quarter.

The Eagles trailed the Mustangs. 11-10, after the first quarter, before Jessica Canary got hot. Canary scored 12 of the Eagles 16 points in the second period and sparked an initial 7-0 run for the Eagles. The Eagles held the Mustangs to only four points in the second quarter.

"Jessica is the backbone of the team," SPHS Coach Debbie Steffy said. "She does everything for us, and if you look at the stat line she probably has something in every category."

Canary totaled 14 points in Friday's game as well as five assists, two blocks, five steals and seven boards.

"One thing about Jessica is that she is a very unselfish player and tries to get everybody on the floor the ball," Steffy said. "One of the things I told her this year is she had to shoot the ball more and her first response to me was 'what if someone else is open that is closer to basket'."

Canary might have had a stat in every category Friday, but it was a teams' defense that helped win the game. The Eagles held the Mustangs to less the eight points in the final three quarters and held them to only four points in the second and third quarters. South Putnam controlled every aspect of the game, outrebounding the Mustangs 22-10 while forcing them to turn the ball over 16 times for the night.

"Defensively, we knew they were going to be good and that they would have an advantage on us, so we didn't defend real hard and tried to keep them in front of us and not let them get a back cut in," Steffy said. "One of our goals for (Friday) was to concentrate on rebounding because we didn't feel that we did a good enough job on Tuesday when we played Rockville."

The Eagles finished the night shooting 37 percent from the field and 100 percent from the charity stripe, going 4-for-4 with Jessica and Meghan Canary each hitting a pair. The Eagles also totaled nine steals.

"This was good game," Steffy said. "We've been able to take something from each game we play and use it to get ready for the game the following week. We talked after Rockville and we talked after this one, So we can be ready for Crawfordsville Tuesday and the County Tournament on Friday."

The Eagles alo received 10 points Meghan Canary and one steal and one assist. Megan Robinson finished with six points and two rebounds while Sam Stanifer had two steals. C.J. Searles pitched in six points and three rebounds while Dara Booe pulled down five boards of her own. Bailey Birt had two points, one steal and one rebound.

In junior varsity action, South Putnam lost to Edgewood 36-9, with Liz Mink leading in scoring with four points while Danielle McHugh and Leeah Butts had two points each. Ashley Franklin had one point for the evening.

The Eagles are back in action when they host Crawfordsville on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

At South Putnam

Edgewood 11 4 4 7 -- 26

S. Putnam 10 16 8 6 -- 40

SP -- J. Canary 6, 2-2, 14, M. Canary 4, 2-2, 10, Robinson 3, 0-0, 6, Birt 1, 0-0, 2, Searles 3, 0-0, 6.

EW -- Holmes 1, 4-6, 6 PT, McNeely 1, 0-0, 2, Maynihan 1, 2-2, 4, Cage 1, 0-0, 2, Schutte 5, 0-2, 10.

3pt-FG -- 2 Canary (SP), 0 (EW). Rebounds -- SP 22 (J. Canary 8), EW 10 (Moynihan 3). Steals -- SP 8 (J. Canary 5), EW 5 (Schutte 2), Assists -- 6 SP (J. Canary 5), EW 1 (Schutte 1), Total Fouls -- SP 6, EW 11. Fouled Out -- None. Blocks -- SP 3 (J. Canary3 ), EW 0