Eagles take 2nd in South Putnam Classic

South Putnam senior Aubrey Nichols fires a bounce pass during Saturday's first-round game against Turkey Run. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

The South Putnam girls' basketball participated in the South Putnam Classic on Saturday morning along with the Eminence Eels, Rockville Rox, and the Turkey Run Warriors.

The Eagles defeated the Warriors in the first game, 47-40, but in the championship fell to the Rox 45-30.

"I thought we played pretty well this morning. We just did not carry it over to this afternoon's game," SPHS coach Bill Merkel said. "(The Rox) were looking forward to playing us since we bumped them off earlier in the year."

South Putnam's (2-9, 0-1 West Central) only win of the season entering Saturday was the Nov. 12 season-opener when it beat Rockville 59-54 in overtime.

In the first game of the tournament the Eagles were led by senior Aubrey Nichols with 15 points. Junior Emily Dobson had a double-double 15 rebounds coupled with 10 points.

The Rox defeated the Eels and, in the third-place game, the Warriors beat the Eels.

This brought up a showdown between Rockville and South Putnam for the championship.

South Putnam played close three of the quarters but the one they did not, the second, hurt them mightily.

"The second quarter hurt us. We did not get much accomplished offensively or defensively and we just let them push their lead up," Merkel said.

SPHS and Rockville traded shots back and forth in the first quarter without much going down for either team, but in the second quarter that changed for the Rox.

Rockville outscored South Putnam 21-3 in the second quarter which blew the game open 30-10 at the half. Take that quarter out and the score would be 27-24 in favor of the Eagles.

Midway through the second quarter the Rox started to full-court pressure the Eagles and they could not solve it, turning the ball over four straight times at one point leading to nine straight Rox points.

After the half SPHS did its best to try and get back in the game and, although it made a couple short runs, those ended when Rockville made a steal and got a basket.

"I thought we played better in the second half, we dug ourselves too big of a hole in that second quarter," Merkel said.

The Eagles biggest problem came on the boards. They allowed the Rox 22 offensive rebounds and in turn the Eagles only had 24 total.

"We had inside position but we just did not get to the boards and rebound very well," Merkel said. "There were a lot of loose balls we did not get to a lot of deflections, we just out worked under the basket."

Merkel did mention that this team is not used to winning and that may have played a part in the championship game.

"These girls have not experienced winning very often," he said. "It's really tough and that's what I talk to them about, winning the first game then being able to come out and win the second game."

The Eagles made a big stride forward in this tournament and look to build on their second place finish.

"We need to get better between the ears, try to make decisions and if we do that we will start to be more competitive with the some of the little better teams," Merkel said.

Championship game
Rockville (45): Black 14, Boardman 8, Bullington 7, Lear 6, Gordon 5, Fellows 2, Pratt 2, White 1. Total: 19-59 (3-14) 4-6, 45.
South Putnam (30): Barnes 4-8 4-4 12, Hewitt 4-6 1-2 9, Nichols 3-11 1-1 7, Higgins 1-3 0-0 2, Lady 0-10 0-0 0, Dobson 0-9 0-3 0, Arnold 0-1 0-0 0. Total: 12-48 (0-8) 6-10, 30.