Eagles beat Tiger Cubs in tourney consolation game

Friday, November 17, 2006

South Putnam's girls' basketball team picked up a win over Greencastle Friday in the consolation game of the Putnam County Tournament.

The Eagles were glad to get their 29-25 victory over the Tiger Cubs, but it was clear after the game that it was not the victory they had in mind.

"It's great to get a win, but we wanted to be playing in the championship game (Friday)," South Putnam coach Debbie Steffy said.

Early in the game, though, it was clear that South Putnam would have to fight to earn the win.

Greencastle led 9-6 after the first quarter, as Becky Grivas scored four of her team-leading 10 points in the opening period.

South Putnam turned the tables on Greencastle in the second quarter, though.

The Eagles captured the momentum late in the period as Meghan Canary came up with a steal and pushed the ball up the floor for the lay-in with eight seconds to go in the first half, knotting the game at 12-all heading into the halftime break.

By the end of the third quarter, the game was still deadlocked. Each team scored three points in the third, making a 15-15 game.

South Putnam scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, as Megan Robinson drained a pair of free throws and hit a long jumper to make it a 19-15 contest.

Greencastle wouldn't go away quietly, though. With 4:53 to go in the half, Grivas rebounded an Olivia Miller miss and scored on the put-back to cut the Tiger Cubs' deficit to two.

Thirty-three seconds later, Kelsey Hennette scored on a lay-up to tie the game at 19-all.

The game was knotted at 21 after a pair of free throws from Canary, but a basket inside from C.J. Searles put the Eagles on top, 23-21, and they never looked back.

Greencastle cut the South Putnam lead to one, as Hennette hit one of two free throws with 1:57 to go, but South Putnam went on to score four unanswered points en route to its second win of the season.

Despite the loss, Greencastle coach Glenn Hile was pleased with what he saw from his team Friday.

"We played our best game so far this season, and the girls played really hard," he said.

Hile was particularly happy with his team's efforts on the boards. Greencastle outrebounded the Eagles, 30-21.

"If we had rebounded (Thursday) the way we did (Friday), we would've been in the championship," he said.

"We got them playing our tempo, and we were really working our offense, but we just couldn't knock down the shots."

Both teams were 10-of-39 from the field Friday, but it was free-throw shooting that made the difference.

South Putnam was 9-for-17 from the charity stripe while the Tiger Cubs were 4-of-9.

The Eagles (2-2) will take on West Vigo at home Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. while GHS (0-3) will host Crawfordsville Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

At South Putnam

Putnam County Tournament

Consolation Game

South Putnam (29) -- Stanifer 1-5 0-0 2, Canary 3-10 7-11 13, Robinson 1-7 2-4 4, Birt 1-6 0-0 2, Searles 2-5 0-2 4, Boetjer 0-3 0-0 0, Butts 2-6 0-0 4. Totals 10-39 FG, 9-17 FT, 29 TP.

Greencastle (25) -- Fisher 0-4 0-0 0, Alspaugh 0-0 0-0 0, Robertson 3-16 0-0 7, Hennette 1-5 2-6 4, Miller 2-7 0-0 4, Grivas 4-6 2-3 10, Earhardt 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 10-39 FG, 4-9 FT, 25 TP.

South Putnam 6 6 3 14 -- 29

Greencastle 9 3 3 10 -- 25

3-pt. FG -- SPHS 0-5, GHS 1-4 (Robertson 1-3). Rebounds -- SPHS 21, GHS 30. Personal Fouls -- SPHS 13, GHS 17. Turnovers -- SPHS 12, GHS 20.

Next Games -- The Tiger Cubs (0-3) host Crawfordsville at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday while the Eagles (2-2) face West Vigo at home Tuesday also at 7:30 p.m.

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