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South Putnam girls get big 46-44 win at South Vermillion
CLINTON — With just one senior on the roster and four of his top seven players being just sophomores, South Putnam girls’ basketball coach Brian Gardner knows his young team needs to pick up big road wins to grow as a team.
The Eagles picked up a huge one on Wednesday night, hitting 13 of 16 free throws in the fourth period to hang on for a 46-44 win over a potent South Vermillion team.
South Putnam got a strong defense to hold from sophomore guard Chloe Custis and junior Alex Bratcher to hold SV leading scorer Mallory Hawkins under her average.
“We knew this was the kind of a game where we had a similar situation to playing Western Boone [with all-stater Madison Jones],” Gardner said. “Chloe did a great job of being physical with her, without fouling. Alex did a great job on her too, when Chloe came out.
“We stayed in front of her, and we wanted to make sure that everything she does was contested,” he added. “That was a big key for us, forcing her into situations she didn’t like.”
Post player Rebecca Berry entered the game averaging a double-double for the Wildcats, but was limited to three points and four rebounds by the Eagle defenders.
“She is another great player for them,” Gardner noted. “What we did on her in the post with Bree Mahoney-Sutherland, Caitlin Capps and Macie Bumgardner was also very important. They kept switching off and on with her, and we didn’t give her a lot of second-chance points. This is the best we’ve done rebounding wise.”
South Putnam jumped out to a 7-5 lead, and the Wildcats led 10-9 late in the first period before Bumgardner scored on a putback and Lexi Vanihel hit a trey from 35 feet at the buzzer to put the Eagles up 14-10 at the first stop.
The Eagles increased their lead to 22-12 in a low-scoring second quarter, during which no points were scored in the first 3:50.
South Vermillion scored the final three points of the half, but the Eagles led 22-15 at intermission.
South Vermillion was able to chip a little off the Eagle lead and trailed 31-26 at the final stop. Freshman Lily Vittetow hit a trey with 13 seconds left in the period to give the Eagles a little cushion.
A Bumgardner basket plus four straight free throws by Bratcher and Capps helped the Eagles increase their lead to 37-28 with 4:39 left.
The Wildcats ran off eight straight to cut the deficit to one with 2:19 left, as Chloe Rippy and Hawkins sandwiched treys around a basket by Kaitlynne Panagouleas.
South Putnam was done scoring baskets, but hit nine of 12 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
South Vermillion’s Natalie Silver hit a trey with 7.6 seconds left to cut the deficit to 45-44, but the Wildcats quickly fouled Bratcher — who hit one of two shots.
Bratcher and Custis each scored 10 points to lead a balanced Eagle attack. Bumgardner added eight points and nine rebounds, while Vanihel and Capps each had six points.
South Vermillion utilized a full-court press for a great deal of the game, and Gardner was pleased overall with his team attacked it.
“Getting it across halfcourt, we gave ourselves a lot of chances,” he said. “We’re getting in the right spots, which is something we didn’t do early in the year.”
Free-throw shooting is always a strength of Gardner’s teams, and he knows the value of that aspect of the game.
“We had to hit them well tonight,” he said. “We do a lot of things in practice where we are up or down by a certain number of points, and we focus on not turning the ball over and hitting our free throws.
“I was super proud of the girls and how hard they dug in and held their composure,” Gardner added. “It was a big win for us.”
SOUTH PUTNAM (46) — Vanihel 1-13 3-4 6, Capps 1-6 4-4 6, Custis 3-11 2-2 10, Bratcher 2-7 4-6 10, Bumgardner 4-9 0-0 8, Mahoney-Sutherland 0-0 0-0 0, Egold 1-6 1-2 3, Crewes 0-2 0-2 0, Vittetow 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 13-56 FG, 14-20 FT, 46 TP
SOUTH VERMILLION (44) — Berry 1-5 1-4 3, Hawkins 6-19 16, Rippy 3-13 0-0 7, Le.Gilman 1-5 0-0 3, Myers 2-5 0-0 4, Silver 3-5 0-2 7, Panagouleas 2-4 0-0 4, Freed 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-66 FG, 2-7 FT, 44 TP
| So. Putnam | 14 | 8 | 9 | 15 | — | 46 |
| So. Vermillion | 10 | 5 | 11 | 18 | — | 44 |
3-point shooting — SP 6-14 (Vanihel 1-3, Custis 2-4, Bratcher 2-5, Vittetow 1-2), SV 6-23 (Hawkins 3-12, Rippy 1-3, Le.Gilman 1-5, Silver 1-2, Panagouleas 0-1). Turnovers — South Putnam 18, South Vermillion 11.