Clovers top Greencastle girls

A win's a win.

That seemed to be the attitude of the Cloverdale High School girls' basketball team defeated Greencastle at the McAnally Center Friday night's West Central Conference match-up.

The Clovers watched a 12-point third quarter lead shrink to as low as seven in the second half of their game with the Tiger Cubs before finally putting Greencastle away for good, 46-37.

"That was a very ugly win," Cloverdale coach Bruce Cook said. "We were out of sync, and the girls were just trying to make things happen too quick."

Cloverdale used an 8-0 run midway through the third quarter to take a 31-19 lead over the Tiger Cubs. The Clovers scored another six points in the quarter to carry an 11-point advantage into the final quarter, 37-26.

But Greencastle didn't give up, as junior Kelsey Hennette kept the Tiger Cubs in the game, scoring six of her team-leading 15 points in the fourth.

At one point Greencastle scored five unanswered points in the fourth quarter to cut Cloverdale's lead to six, 41-35.

But the Clovers were able to hang on, scoring five of the game's final seven points to secure the victory.

"We played better in the second half," Greencastle coach Glenn Hile said. "In the first half, we were making silly turnovers that were just killing us, and I just don't think that we were playing very well. But we had a really good effort in the second half."

Cloverdale (5-3, 1-0 WCC) fell behind the Tiger Cubs, 4-0, at the beginning of the first quarter, but a 12-4 run put the Clovers ahead 12-8 to close out the first period.

Kristin McCammon scored seven of her 14 points in the first quarter. Teammate Hannah Monnett also scored 14.

Greencastle fell further behind in the second quarter, as Kristen Schroer scored six points in the quarter to help send the Clovers into the halftime break with a 21-14 lead.

The Tiger Cubs (0-9, 0-1 WCC) were held to just six points in the second,but they came out firing in the second half, as Hennette converted a three-point play less than 30 seconds into the period to cut the Clovers' lead to 21-17.

Cloverdale's Ashley Koosman scored on a two-point bucket with 6:30 remaining in the third to push the Clovers' lead to six, but Olivia Miller brought the Tiger Cubs back within four with a put-back 24 seconds later.

But Cloverdale scored eight in a row to push their lead to 12 and never looked back.

"We started slow, but Monnett hit some big shots for us, and McCammon hit some big shots as well, and that's what really helped us stay on top," Cook said. "And Chelsie Haltom played great on defense for us, and she handled the ball really well."

Cloverdale defeated Greencastle on Nov. 16, 48-29, in the first round of the Putnam County Tournament.

However, Hile said he noted a great deal of improvement between the earlier loss and Friday's game.

"The difference between (Friday) and the game in the county tournament was rebounding," Hile said. "We were rebounding really well on the offensive end, and we were getting second shot after second shot."

Indeed, the Tiger Cubs dominated the boards, outrebounding the Clovers 38-17.

Hennette pulled down 12 rebounds for Greencastle, and Becky Grivas tallied 10, and Lauren Robertson had eight.

Olivia Miller had five rebounds to go with her 11 points.

"We're getting better, and I'm just hoping that the girls will keep believing in themselves," Hile said.

Cloverdale will be back on the court Friday at home against Monrovia beginning at 6 p.m. while Greencastle will travel to Rockville Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. start.

At Greencastle

Cloverdale (46) -- Haltom 0-4 1-4 1, Monnett 4-11 3-5 14, McCammon 4-9 4-4 14, Moon 1-2 1-3 3, Koosman 3-5 1-4 7, Schroer 3-7 1-3 7, Bond 0-0 0-0 0, Cheatham 0-0 0-0 0. 15-38 FG 11-23 FT 46 TP.

Greencastle (37) -- Fisher 0-5 0-0 0, Robertson 1-11 2-4 4, Miller 5-11 1-1 11, Hennette 6-9 3-5 15, Alspaugh 1-5 0-0 2, Grivas 1-5 3-6 5, Erhardt 0-0 0-0 0. 14-46 FG 9-16 FT 37 TP.

Cloverdale 12 9 16 9 -- 46

Greencastle 8 6 12 11 -- 37

3-pt field goals -- Cloverdale 5-18 (Haltom 0-4, Monnett 3-9, McCammon 2-3, Koosman 0-1, Schroer 0-1), Greencastle (Fisher 0-1, Robertson 0-2, Alspaugh 0-1). Rebounds -- Cloverdale 17 (McCammon 6), Greencastle 38 (Hennette 12). Total Fouls -- Cloverdale 12, Greencastle 18. Fouled out -- None. Turnovers -- Cloverdale 13, Greencastle 21.

Next Games -- Cloverdale (5-3) will be in action again Friday at home against Monrovia at 6 p.m. while the Tiger Cubs (0-9) will face Rockville on the road Thursday beginning at 7:30 p.m.