Cold shooting dooms Lady Tiger Cubs

EMINENCE -- Greencastle's shooting went stone cold in the second half Tuesday, sending the Tiger Cubs spinning down to a 51-43 defeat to Eminence in a nonconference girls' basketball game on the Eels' court.

Greencastle (8-8) squandered a 32-23 halftime lead by making 5-of-26 (19.2 percent) field goal attempts including 1-of-9 3-pointers in the second half. The Tiger Cubs also didn't get to the foul line in the final two periods.

"In the first half, we played pretty well," Greencastle coach Glenn Hile said. "We passed the ball really well in the first half. In the second half, we got out of our offense, didn't shoot the ball and shot poorly. As the game got tight, I think we got tight. We committed two or thre turnovers that got them back in the game and that hurt us.

"They're (Eminence) struggling for a win and they came out hungry. You can't relax and we seemed to do that. We got out of sync offensively in the second half. We went in the tank."

The Tiger Cubs were 14-of-27 (51.8 percent) from the floor in the first half incluidng 3-of-9 3-pointers. They took their largest lead at 36-25 early in the third quarter.

Eminence (6-10), coming off back-to-back losses in overtime, began pouring the ball into 6-foot-1-inch Aulani Sinclair in the low post and she scored 10 ponts in a 14-point run that put the Eels on top 39-36 early in the fourth period.

"Sinclair is a really good player and if you give her an opportunity to win the game, she has the ability to do that," Hile said.

Sinclair's baseline jumper moved the Eels to a 43-40 lead with 2:10 remaining.

Grace Fisher's 3-pointer from the top of the key tied it, 43-43, 30 seconds later, but that was Greencastle's final points.

Sinclair rattled in a jumper from the corner with 1:20 remaining to put Eminence back in the lead, 45-43.

The Tiger Cubs were off target, mostly with 3-pointers, from there. They were forced to foul and Eminence made six straight free throws, four by Jacci Martin and two by Sinclair, in the final 36 seconds to stretch the margin to eight.

Kelsey Hennette led Greencastle with 14 points and Cassie Alspaugh, Fisher and Olivia Miller each scored eight. Miller was 4-of-6 from the field and Hennette was 7-of-14.

Sinclair had 27 points and 17 rebounds.

Greencastle jumped out to a 14-6 lead a the close of the first quarter and were up 18-8 early in the second.

Eminence made a 7-0 run to get within three, but Greencastle outscored the Eels 14-8 in the remainder of the first half and seemed to have everything in control. But the second half was a far different story, with Eminence outscoring the Tiger Cubs 28-11.

At Eminence

Greencastle 14 18 4 7 -- 43

Eminence 6 17 12 16 -- 51

Greencastle: Alspaugh 3-11 0-0 8, Hennette 7-14 0-1 14, O. Miller 4-6 0-0 8, Spencer 0-4 1-2 1, Fisher 2-9 0-2 8, Grivas 0-1 0-0 0, M Miller 0-3 0-0 0, Samuels 2-4 0-0 4, Nobles 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-53 1-5 43.

Eminence: Sinclair 11-18 5-7 27, Ray 0-0 0-0 0, Greene 1-6 2-4 4, Merrick 6-11 0-3 12, Martin 1-7 5-5 8, Whaley 0-2 0-0 0, Hardin 0-3 0-0 0, Van Sickle 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-47 13-20 51.

3-point field goals: Greencastle 4-16 (Fisher 2-6, Alspaugh 2-7, Spencer 0-2, Hennette 0-1), Eminence 0-5 (Sinclair 0-2, Martin 0-2, Whaley 0-1). Rebounds: Greencastle 28 (Hennette 5, O. Miller 5), Eminence 35 (Sinclair 17, Martin 7). Turnovers: Greencastle 13, Eminence 10. Total fouls: Greencastle 17, Eminence 12.

Next game: Greencastle (8-8, 2-1 WCC) hosts Cascade at 6 p.m. Friday.