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Edgewood closes out strongly to nip Greencastle girls, 46-40
ELLETTSVILLE — Greencastle controlled the first half of play on Saturday night against Edgewood in high school girls’ basketball, but the Mustangs came out with a vengeance in the second half and came from behind in the final three minutes to post a 46-40 win over the Tiger Cubs.
Greencastle jumped out to an early 9-3 lead on two baskets from sophomore Claire Gillen, another from sophomore Seelye Stoffregen and a 3-pointer from senior Gracie Smith.
The Tiger Cubs still led 11-5 at the first stop, and scored the first six points of the second quarter — on a Layna Robinson free throw, another Smith trey and a hoop by Stoffregen — to go up 17-5 with 5:06 left in the first half.
Gillen scored her team’s final three baskets of the half as Greencastle led the defending Western Indiana Conference and sectional champs 23-12 at the intermission.
“Edgewood is always a tough opponent to play,” Greencastle coach Bradley Key said. “Coach [Gary] Sims does a great job of putting pressure on the other team. In the first half, we did a pretty good job of handling that.
“In the second half, when it got a little tighter, we kind of buckled.”
Edgewood scored the first six points of the second half, and in just 2:02 cut the deficit to 23-18.
Following another Gillen hoop, the Mustangs kept chipping away but couldn’t take the lead away from Greencastle. The Mustangs were trailing 29-25 late in the period when they got back-to-back baskets from Claire Phillips and Serenah Morris to tie the game at 29-29 with 2:00 on the clock.
Senior Nailah Ray then picked up her only two baskets of the night to close out the period, and while the Tiger Cubs had been outscored 17-10 they still led by four entering the final period despite committing seven turnovers in the quarter.
Edgewood cut the gap to 35-34 early in the period, but a free throw and a basket by Gillen kept Greencastle ahead at 38-34 with just 3:24 to play.
The Mustangs had still not led at that point, but dominated the remainder of the game — taking off on a 12-0 run on a pair of Morris free throws with 2:28 left (with nine of those points coming at the line) to improve their record to 3-0 on the young season.
Gillen finished with a career-high 19 points and was the only Tiger Cub player in double figures. Smith added seven points, most of those coming on a pair of treys in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Key started three sophomores and two seniors, bringing three other underclassmen off the bench.
One notable absence was that of senior Mia Stevens, the team’s leading returning scorer (9.4 points) and rebounder (5.5).
She will find out today the extent of a knee injury that has kept her sidelined so far this season.
“We have to find some more people who want to score the basketball,” Key said. “That’s probably how it is with a younger team. Unfortunately, with Mia [Stevens] gone, we have to have some young kids to step up at a time when I’m not sure they’re completely ready, but it is what it is.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to feel sorry for us.”
Key is adjusting to his new team as much as most of it is adjusting to varsity level competition.
“There were some timeouts we could have called early on and didn’t,” he said. “We wanted some young kids to play through it, but looking back we should have called them. It’s just going to take some time.”
Key was especially pleased with the play of Gillen, who was a junior varsity player last year.
“Claire Gillen played an excellent game, and we found her a lot,” Key said. “The funny thing is that as well as she played, in her second varsity game ever, I think there’s even more to get out of her.”
The Tiger Cubs had problems with both turnovers (21) and free throws (5 for 16), both things attributable to the team’s overall inexperience.
“Shooting 5 for 16 from the free throw line is not going to win any close games,” Key said. “Sometimes you have to take your lumps. I still think this group has tremendous potential.”
Things don’t get any easier for the 0-2 Tiger Cubs, as their next game is on Tuesday in their home opener against a strong Owen Valley squad.
GREENCASTLE (40) — Gillen 8-17 3-5 19, Ray 2-4 0-2 4, Duff 0-3 0-0 0, Smith 2-6 1-5 7, Stoffregen 2-3 0-0 4, Robinson 0-0 1-2 1, White 1-4 0-2 2, Shuee 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 16-48 FG, 5-16 FT, 40 TP
EDGEWOOD (46) — Billups 5-14 2-4 6, Morris 2-8 4-4 8, P.Acuff 1-4 0-0 4, Shockney 4-13 4-6 14, T.Acuff 2-4 0-0 4, Meyer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-43 FG, 12-16 FT, 46 TP
Greencastle 11 12 10 7 — 40
Edgewood 5 7 17 17 — 46
3-point shooting — Greencastle 3-6 (Smith 2-3, Shuee 1-1, Duff 0-1, White 0-1), Edgewood 6-14 (Billups 4-7, Shockney 2-6, P.Acuff 0-1). Rebounds — Greencastle 30 (White 11), Edgewood 22 (Morris 11). Turnovers — Greencastle 21, Edgewood 13.
JV game — Greencastle 36 (Bailey Shuee 20, Allison Stevens 10), Edgewood 27.
Next game — Greencastle (0-2) hosts Owen Valley on Tuesday.