South Putnam drops final WIC doubleheader to Northview

The South Putnam girls’ and boys’ basketball teams dropped a Western Indiana Conference doubleheader to Northview on Friday night.

The Eagle girls fell just short in a 58-55 affair, while the Eagle boys dropped a 51-37 decision.

The intense, competitive girls’ matchup dropped the Eagles to 11-8 on the season and 2-3 in WIC play. The Eagles finished fourth in the WIC Western Division, while the Knights (14-6, 4-1) finished second.

The girls’ game was tight throughout the night as no more than seven points separated the two teams at any given time. The Eagles used their quickness to combat the size of the Knights, but a few plays here and there made the difference according to South Putnam head coach Brian Gardner.

“It was the little things. Not getting a blockout and giving an extra possession, the three by (Stacy) Payton, missed free throws. The entire game we had the best intensity we have had all year. I am so proud of the girls,” Gardner said.

The Eagles gave up a lot of size and that showed up in the rebounding stats. The Knights outrebounded the Eagles 40-33.

The physical disparity also showed up at the free throw line, as Northview went to the line 36 times and converted 22 of them. South struggled at the line, going 9-of-19 for the game.

The two teams struggled through a turnover-filled first quarter with Knights leading 12-8 at the end of the period. Payton and Olivia Lundy scored six points each in the quarter for Northview, while Lexi Vanihel paced the Eagles with five.

The second quarter was still an offensive struggle for the two teams as the Eagles turned the four-point deficit into a three-point halftime lead, 19-16.

For the half the two teams combined for 18 turnovers and shot just 12-of-53 from the field.

The Eagle defense held the Knights to 0-of-13 shooting in the second quarter. The only Northview points came at the free throw line.

“I thought we were the quicker team,” Gardner said. “We really battled defensively the whole game.”

Northview tried to take the game over in the third quarter. The Knights outscored the Eagles 22-14 but couldn’t put South away. That same theme continued into the final stanza as the Eagles just wouldn’t go away.

South trailed the entire fourth quarter, but had cut the lead to 52-49 with just under a minute to play, but the Eagles missed some free throws and the Knights converted a few late to get the win.

The Eagles were led by Miranda Bieghler with 14 points, while Aubrey Barker added 13 (10 in the fourth quarter). Caitlyn Capps and Vanihel were just under double figures with nine points each.

“I thought we really attacked the rim tonight,” Gardner said. “Good things happen when we attack the rim and we got scoring from different people.”

Payton led the Knights with 23 points and Lundy had 18, providing much of the scoring for Northview.

“Going into the game, what has hurt us are big, physical teams. They (Northview) are the biggest, most physical team on our schedule,” Gardner said. “I thought tonight we combatted that with our intensity. We were the quicker team.”

The Eagles will play North Central (Farmersburg) on Monday night, then will host the fourth-place WIC crossover game on Friday.

The boys’ game looked like a mismatch on paper. Northview came in having already clinched the division title, sitting at 4-0 in conference.

The Eagles had lost five in a row and were fourth in the division.

However, South Putnam gave Northview all it could handle before falling 51-37.

“Our kids are beat. I am extremely pleased with our effort. We played extremely hard tonight,” South Putnam head coach Greg Dean said.

The Eagles went toe-to-toe with bigger, more experienced Knights, matching them shot-for-shot in the first quarter.

Thomas Fanning led the way with eight points for South as it closed the first quarter down 14-12.

The Eagles scored the first six points of the second quarter to take an 18-14 lead. The Knights rallied and outscored South 10-2 over the last 3:28 of the half and led 24-20 at the break.

“We did a really good job of maintaining the pace we wanted the game played at,” Dean said. “When we got in the half court, we did a good job of doing what we wanted.”

The third quarter had both teams staying close with very little scoring. The Eagles cut the lead to two points to open the quarter, but that was a close as they would get. The Knights were able to extend their lead to 33-27 at the end of the period.

The much bigger Knights used their full-court press to gain some breathing room in the fourth quarter. The Eagles turned the ball over five times in the first four minutes of the quarter and didn’t score until 3:37 left to play. By that time, Northview led 39-27.

“We have to do a better job against the press. We have to be stronger with the ball,” Dean said. “Sometimes we got a little loose and tried to throw the ball over the top. You can’t do that when they are 6-foot-8, 6-foot-7, and 6-foot-4.”

The Knights forced a total of 11 Eagle turnovers in the fourth quarter and were able to close out the game and take the WIC West title with an undefeated conference record.

The Knights were led by Braydon Tucker with 25 points, while Drew Lumsford added 10 points.

“He (Tucker) hit some really tough shots in the fourth quarter,” Dean said.

South Putnam’s Allen Plunkett led the way for the Eagles with 13 points, while Fanning contributed eight.

The Eagles (3-8) will host Cascade on Tuesday night next week as they finished their conference season with a 2-3 record, good for a fourth-place finish in the division.

At South Putnam

Girls’ game

NORTHVIEW (58) – Thompson 0-0 0-1 1, Vanatti 0-0 0-0 0, Conrad 1-2 0-0 3, Payton 7-21 8-14 23, O. Lundy 5-14, 8-12 18, J. Lundy 1-6 2-2 4, Buell 0-0 2-4 2, Sparks 3-3 2-3 8, Hill 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-47 FG, 22-36 FT, 58 TP.

SOUTH PUTNAM (55) – Boswell 1-1 0-0 2, Bieghler 5-13, 2-5 14, Vanihel 4-12 0-0 9, Capps 1-7 2-2 4, Stein 3-8 3-7 9, Nichols 0-2 2-2 2, Barker 5-9 0-2 13, Vensko 1-4 0-1 2. Totals 20-56 FG, 9-19 FT, 55 TP.

3-point shooting – NHS 2-8 (Payton 1-7, Conrad 1-1), SP 6-18 (Bieghler 2-7, Barker 3-3, Stein 0-1, Vanihel 1-5, Capps 0-2). Rebounds – NHS 40 (Thompson 2, Vanatti 2, Conrad 1, Payton 15, O. Lundy 5, J. Lundy 4, Buell 2, Sparks 3, Hill 2), SP 33 (Boswell 3, Bieghler 6, Vanihel 2, Capps 9, Stein 1, Nichols 1, Barker 3, Vensko 1) FG Pct. – NHS 36.2, SP 35.7. FT Pct. – NHS 61.1, SP 47.4. Turnovers – NHS 14, SP 19.

Boys’ game

NORTHVIEW (51) – Kellett 3-6 2-2 8, Hyatt 0-1 0-0 0, Booe 2-6 1-2 6, Tucker 9-14 4-6 25, Lumsdon 5-8 0-0 10, Schane 1-4 0-0 2, Roembke 0-1 0-0 0, Shelton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-40 FG, 7-10 FT, 51 TP.

SOUTH PUTNAM (37) – Fanning 3-4 0-2 8, Plunkett 5-17 2-2 13, Arnold 0-0 0-0 0, Watson 0-1 0-0 0, Scott 3-6 0-0 7, Zeffel 3-4 1-1 7, Lesko 0-0 0-0 0, Schnepp 0-0 0-0 0, Gregory 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 15-33 FG, 3-4 FT, 37 TP.

3-point shooting – NHS 4-12 (Kellett 0-3, Booe 1-2, Tucker 3-5, Lumsdon 0-1, Roembke 0-1), SP 4-8 (Fanning 2-2, Plunkett 1-4, Scott 1-2). Rebounds – NHS 19 (Kellett 8, Hyatt 4, Tucker 2, Lumsdon 4, Schane 1), SP 19 (Fanning 2, Plunkett 6, Watson 3, Scott 2, Zeffel 1, Schnepp 1, Gregory 1) FG Pct. – NHS 65.0, SP 45.5. FT Pct. – NHS 70.0, SP 75.0. Turnovers – NHS 14, SP 27.