Greencastle girls down Cascade

After a sloppily played first half in which both teams combined for twenty turnovers, Greencastle emerged on top in a West Central Conference matchup with Cascade on Friday night, 54-46.

The first quarter didn't produce much offense for either squad, but a pair of buckets from Hannah Spencer, including one from beyond the arc, in the last two minutes propelled the Tiger Cubs to a 9-6 advantage.

Greencastle coach Glenn Hile felt like his ballclub got off to a slow start: "It took us awhile to get our energy tonight," Hile said.

The Cadets tightened things up a bit in the second quarter, thanks to a 8-3 run to start off the period. Mallory Miller got significant minutes for Greencastle and picked up seven points to help the Cubs maintain their advantage at the half, 18-17.

Hile was quick to point out the contribution of his reserve play in the win: "We got 23 points off the bench tonight, that was key," stated the Greencastle mentor.

After the intermission, Cascade was able to knot the score at 22 with 4:15 remaining in the third quarter. The Cubs, however, went on a game-defining 11-2 run to close out the stanza and never looked back.

The final eight minutes was a parade to the charity stripe for both squads, with Greencastle going to the line eleven times, the Cadets thirteen. Both squads converted with regularity, and Becky Grivas collected 8 points for the Tiger Cubs, who move to 9-8 on the season, 3-1 in the WCC.

Kelsey Hennette led Greencastle with 13 points; Grivas added 12.

Hile was pleased with his team, given the difficult week students have been through at Greencastle: "It's been enough of a distraction," Hile said. The coach added that, "Sometimes perserverence pays off...it's nice to have the (possibility of winning the) conference in your hands. For a team that was 1-20 last year, a chance of winning the conference is a great accomplishment. I'm proud of them,"

Greencastle plays host to Turkey Run tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

At Greencastle

Cascade 6 11 7 22 -- 46

Greencastle 9 9 15 21 -- 54

Next game -- Greencastle plays host to Turkey Run tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m.