South falls at Cascade 50-39

Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Lillie Stein tries to pass the ball around a Cascade defender in Tuesday's loss. (Banner Graphic/JOHNATHON GOODE)

CLAYTON--Friday night against Cloverdale they struggled to hit shots and again on Tuesday they could not find their rhythm. This time the South Putnam Eagles made the trek over to Cascade via Highway 40. With 15 of 48 shooting and 7 of 14 from the foul line, they lost, 50-39.

Unlike the Eagles, the Cadets started 4 of 4 from the field and they did not miss a two-point field goal until 4:42 remaining in the second quarter when Hayden Stinnett missed a four-footer.

Players like Maddie McHugh and Lillie Stein really struggled from the field. Half-way through the first quarter McHugh had missed two shots from inside four feet and went 0 of 4 before hitting her first bucket early in the second quarter. Stein was just 2 of 11 from the field.

"It's part of being on the road," coach Brian Gardner said. "You're not used to the gym. Sometimes you run into that and you have to work through that. As the game went on I thought we did better. Offensively, we really worked the basketball and got the ball inside. When you get two and three footers and they don't go, that's what you get."

With less than 90 seconds left in the first half the Eagles were down 25-11 and had potential to go down even more. Stein and Miranda Bieghler, both transfers from Cascade, went on an 8-0 run to close the half. Bieghler hit a three and two point field goal and Stein ended the half with a pass from Bieghler for a three.

"At that point in time they hit some shots and that always helps," Gardner said. "I've told the girls this and I've said it all year long. They compete and they work hard. Good things are eventually going to happen and that's what happened there. It allowed us to get in the game and be there at halftime. We got to continue to do those types of things."

Cascade came out in the second half ready to go. After being up 29-23, they rattled off seven straight unanswered points.

Stein made her only two-point field goal of the game with 1:27 left in the third off an offensive rebound from a Bieghler missed three.

South Putnam got the nod in the fourth quarter, but they could not string together enough stops. Makayla Collier and Hannah Rasnake each scored four points in the quarter to put the pressure on for Cascade.

The first quarter hurt the Eagles the worst being down by 11. Bayleigh Walker scored 10 of the 18 points in the quarter and she had 21 for the game.

"We were 2 of 12 in the first quarter," Gardner said. "One of the things for us is if we hit two or three more of those shots it puts us in the position to have a good chance against them. I thought we handled their pressure really well. I thought we handled the way they pushed the basketball really well."

Both teams had a great effort for loose balls and as a result there were 14 jump balls. The Eagles also stayed aggressive on the offensive boards having 14 for the game.

"We always talk about 50-50 balls," Gardner said. "Actually, one of the things for me tonight was we needed to go and get those. There were some situations where we were a step slow, but for the most part we kept going after those. That's just our girls fighting.

"That's the one thing you have to do (offensive rebounding)," Gardner said. "Anytime you miss a shot you want to make sure you attack the glass. You always try to limit teams to one and you always try to get extra shots. For us that was one of our keys."

This is not the last time these two teams will see each other as they have a date in the first round of sectionals. This time the game will be played on South Putnam's home court where the Eagles went to a sectional championship last year. This game will be played on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

"A lot of times you want to see them later in the year," Gardner said. "I think for us it gives us a really good look at what we have to do to make sure that we have a good chance. For us it's a matter of going out there and competing and doing the right things. We got a really good taste of what they do tonight."

At CASCADE HIGH SCHOOL

South Putnam 7 12 8 12--39

Cascade 18 7 14 11--50

Scoring

South Putnam: Bieghler 5-13 2-2 13, Stein 2-11 4-6 9, Capps 2-4 0-2 4, Hewitt2-2 0-0 4, Vensko 1-5 1-2 3, Bratcher 1-1 0-0 2, McHugh 1-7 0-2 2, Modglin 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 15-48 FG, 2-8 3-pt, 7-14 FT.

Cascade: Walker 9-16 1-2 21, Collier 6-12 1-2 13, Rasnake 4-7 1-1 10, Bryant 1-1 1-2 3, Stinnett 0-3 2-2 2, 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 20-41 FG, 3-16 3-pt, 7-11 FT.

Rebounds

South Putnam (14 OFF 26 TOT): Capps 5, Stein 5, McHugh 4, Vensko 4, Bieghler 3, Hewitt 3, Modglin 2.

Cascade (7 OFF 20 TOT): Walker 8, Stinnett 4, Rasnake 3, E. Bryant 2, Collier 2, O. Bryant 1.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: