Eagles can't find bucket in loss

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

By JASON MOON

Assistant Editor

CLAY CITY -- South Putnam's shooting woes continued Tuesday as the SPHS girls' basketball team dropped to 7-12 overall after suffering a 50-43 loss to the Clay City Eels on the road.

"We missed a lot of shots and we had a lot of opportunities," SPHS coach Debbie Steffy said following the loss. "Some of our shots were rushed, but we just didn't hit the basket."

Steffy said offensive rebounding and shooting were keys to the loss.

The Eels finished the game with 39 rebounds -- 14 of which were offensive boards. South Putnam, on the other hand, tallied 29 boards in the game, including 17 were on the offensive glass.

"We knew they were good rebounders," Steffy said of Clay City.

The Eagles were 20-of-63 from the field Tuesday, including 1-for-10 from beyond the arc. Clay City, however, was 19-of-49 from the field, and seemed to patiently wait for openings in the South Putnam defense throughout the evening.

Eels senior Sarah Kennedy, for example, posted up most of the night, but would curl up to the top of the key for open jumpers, which she often hit.

"She's such a versatile player," Steffy said of Kennedy. "To start with, we weren't covering that."

"We were probably more patient than we've been all year," Clay City coach Keith Jones said.

South Putnam only trailed by seven, 25-18, heading into halftime Tuesday, but a 9-2 run midway through the third quarter put the game out of reach for the Eagles.

The Eels opened the quarter pulling ahead by eight and following a basket by South Putanm's Oceaia Boetjer, Kennedy hit back-to-back jumpers giving Clay City its largest lead of the night at 10, 32-22.

A basket by Bailey Birt pulled the Eagles within eight and SPHS called a timeout.

However, Clay City's Angie Camp responded with two baskets and one free throw late in the period, extending the Eels' lead to 13, 37-24.

Birt hit another jumper with less than one minute remaining in the period, but Kennedy and Britney Glass scored the final three points of the quarter, pulling Clay City ahead by 14, 40-26.

Back-to-back buckets from Megan Robinson and Meghan Canary at the beginning of the fourth period pulled South Putnam within 10, but the Eels managed to maintain a 10-point lead throughout much of the quarter.

South Putnam cut the lead to single digits late after consecutive baskets by Boetjer and Birt, but it was too little, too late.

Boetjer came off the bench to provide a team-high 15 points for the Eagles, while Birt finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. C.J. Searles also had five points and nine boards.

In junior varsity action, South Putnam lost, 25-17, falling to 2-16 this season. Krystal Welch led the Eagles with eight points.

The Eagles (7-12) will take on North Putnam at home Friday.

At Clay City

S. Putnam 12 6 8 17 -- 43

Clay City 17 8 15 10 -- 50

South Putnam -- Canary 3-13 0-0 6, Birt 6-14 0-2 12, Searles 2-8 1-2 5, Stanifer 0-5 0-0 0, Robinson 2-6 0-0 4, Boetjer 7-17 0-2 15, Butts 0-0 0-0 0, Hughes 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 20-63 FG, 2-8 FT, 43 TP.

Clay City -- Kennedy 9-12 3-5 21, Steiner 0-10 0-0 0, Camp 6-13 5-7 17, Glass 4-5 4-8 12, Gerber 0-9 0-0 0, Targett 0-0 0-0 0, McCullough 0-0 0-0 0, Farmer 0-0 0-0 0, Narlock 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-49 FG, 12-20 FT, 50 TP.

3-pt. FG -- CC 0-6, SP 1-10 (Boetjer 1-7). Rebounds -- CC 39 (Kennedy 10), SP 29 (Searles 9). Blocks -- CC 3 (Steiner, Camp, Glass), SP 2 (Canary 2). Assists -- CC 13 (Gerber 9), SP 10 (Canary, Robinson 3). Steals -- CC 6 (Kennedy, Steiner 2), SP 8 (Boetjer 4). Total Fouls -- CC 14, SP 13. Fouled Out -- None. Turnovers -- CC 19, SP 12.