Menu
Lady Eagles are holiday champions
South Putnam hosted its own girlsholiday basketball tournament on Saturday and made it to the championship game defeating the Rockville Rox for the title, 44-34.
Led by their three outstanding freshmen in the first game, the Eagles cruised past the Eminence Eels, 68-20.
Freshman Miranda Bieghler scored 19 and freshman Lillie Stein scored eight. Stein also had six assists and four steals. Freshman Maddie McHugh had four offensive rebounds which tied for the game lead and had a total of six in the game.
"Miranda did a really good job of controlling things and they obviously put a little more pressure so when they put the pressure on her we switched over to Lillie, I thought they did a good job of getting us into our offensive sets," South Putnam head coach Tim Garver said.
The Eagles forced 34 turnovers in the first game and 28 of those were steals. The offense was also highly effective assisting on 16 of their 30 made baskets.
The championship game was a bit of a tougher test but South Putnam controlled the pace of the game from the very start.
The Eagles pressed from the very beginning and forced nine first-quarter turnovers which led to a 10-6 advantage at the end of one.
"I think it was really important to get off to a good start and we came out and tried to pressure the ball and get after it," Garver said.
Using their pressure the Eagles stretched their lead to 25-14 at the half, but the game was far from over.
In the third quarter the Rox figured out the press and got to the line with ease, cutting the lead to 30-24 at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Eagles finished them off in the fourth quarter, using their crafty passing and hardnosed defense. The Rox tried to get something going late but the Eagles responded each time keeping the lead at around 10 the entire quarter.
"I feel like we do a good job on our press and I thought our rotation was good. I thought our speed and intensity on defense was good and that was a big thing," Garver said.
South Putnam forced 21 turnovers while also turning the ball over 21 times but they assisted on nine of their 11 made baskets and outrebounded Rockville by six.
Eagle senior Emily Dobson had a big day with final totals of eight points, 17 rebounds, one assist, five steals and two blocks.
"There is not one person that is the high scorer for each game. If you are open we are going to try and give it to you and that is really awesome," senior Emily Dobson said.
The South Putnam Eagles outrebounded both teams and Garver thinks that is a big attribute to their success.
"We were on the girls about rebounding especially on the offensive glass. We feel like we have to have success," Garver said.
This tournament was a huge stepping stone for many players on this team as none have been on a high school winning team before.
"This is the beginning," Garver said. "Some of them have never had the opportunity to cut down a net. I think this is an opportunity to realize that they just are not coming to a game, they are coming to win a basketball game."
"I think teams are going to start being intimidated. We are going to keep getting better," Dobson said. "We are going to make teams schedules tougher."
Game 1
Eminence 4 8 7 1 - 20
South Putnam 20 18 19 11 - 68
SCORING
Eminence (20): Wood 1-12 6-6 8, Hall 0-5 7-10 7, Smile 1-5 1-2 3, Teters 1-2 0-2 2, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Owens 0-0 0-1 0. TOTALS: 3-25 (0-10) 14-22, 20.
South Putnam (68): Bieghler 8-14 0-0 19, Hewitt 4-8 2-3 10, Lady 4-9 0-0 10, Stein 4-7 0-0 8, Carmichael 3-7 0-0 6, Dobson 2-6 0-0 4, Erickson 1-1 1-2 3, Hazelett 1-1 0-0 2, Higgins 1-4 0-0 2, McHugh 1-9 0-1 2, Modglin 1-5 0-0 2. TOTALS: 30-71 (5-13) 3-6, 68.
REBOUNDING (Total-offensive)
Eminence (15-2): Wood 7-0, Hall 5-2, Smile 1-0, Teters 1-0 Owens 1-0.
South Putnam (42-22): Dobson 9-4, McHugh 6-4, Carmichael 5-4, Erickson 5-0, Hewitt 4-3, Beighler 3-2, Higgins 3-2, Lady 2-1, Modglin 2-1, Stein 2-1, Hazelett 1-0.
Assists: E 1 (Wood), SP 16 (Stein 6, Carmichael 4, Higgins 3, Modglin 2, Bieghler 1).
Steals: E 7, (Wood 7, Teters 1), SP 28 (Higgins 6, Modglin 4, Stein 4, Hewitt 3, McHugh 3, Beighler 2, Lady 2, Carmichael 1, Dobson 1, Erickson 1, Hazelett 1).
Blocks: E 2 (Smile 2), SP 1 (McHugh 1).
Fouls: E 11, SP 20. Turnovers: E 34, SP 14.
GAME 2
Rockville 6 8 10 10 - 34
South Putnam 10 15 5 14 - 44
SCORING
Rockville (34): Lear 1-2 5-8 8, Black 0-4 6-11 6, Boardman 1-3 4-7 6, Gordon 2-5 0-0 5, Breedlove 1-1 1-2 3, Pratt 1-1 0-0 2, Secuskie 0-2 2-2 2, White 1-2 0-0 2, Wicker 0-3 0-0 0. TOTALS 7-24 (2-7) 19-30, 34.
South Putnam (44): Hewitt 3-6 6-8 12, Stein 3-6 2-4 8, Bieghler 0-6 7-9 7, Lady 2-7 0-0 5, Dobson 0-0 4-6 4, Higgins 1-1 0-0 3, Modglin 1-2 0-0 3, Carmichael 1-3 0-2 2. TOTALS: 11-31 (3-11) 19-30, 44.
REBOUNDING (Total-offensive)
Rockville (17-3): Boardman 4-0, White 4-0, Breedlove 2-1, Gordon 2-0, Black 1-0, Lear 1-0, Pratt 1-0, Secuskie 1-1, Wicker 1-1.
South Putnam (23-7): Dobson 8-2, Hewitt 6-0, Carmichael 2-1, Modglin 2-1, Stein 2-1, Higgins 1-1, Lady 1-1, McHugh 1-0.
Assists: R 4 (Black 4), SP 9 (Bieghler 5, Stein 2, Dobson 1, Hewitt 1).
Steals: R 13 (Gordon 3, Boardman 2, Lear 2, Pratt 2, Secuskie 2, Black 1, White 1), SP 9 (Dobson 5, Modglin 2, Hewitt 1, Stein 1).
Blocks: R 1 (Pratt 1), SP 3 (Dobson 2, McHugh 1).
Fouls: R 21, SP 20. Turnovers: R 21, SP 21.