PUTNAM COUNTY GIRLS' BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Eagles put four in double figures to reach final over Tiger Cubs

While her shot didn't fall, South Putnam's Drew Gardner (12, right) got a trip to the line out of the deal during the second half of Friday night's Putnam County Girls' Basketball Tournament matchup against Greencastle. Gardner led all scorers with 13 points and the Eagles had four scorers in double figures in a 50-31 win over the Tiger Cubs to advance to Saturday night's final.

Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT

The South Putnam Eagles used balance, consistency, teamwork and overall solid play in their opening game of the Putnam County Girls' Basketball Tournament to defeat the Greencastle Tiger Cubs 50-31.

The Eagles placed four players in double figures, scored efficiently in all quarters, were effective from different areas of the court offensively and defensively stifled the Cubs to improve to 3-2 on the season, advancing to the championship game of the tournament against North Putnam.

Greencastle dropped to 0-5 as it struggled to get off to a good start and could never catch up to the Eagles at South Putnam on Friday night.

The Eagles snapped a two-game losing streak as they were the aggressor, outrebounding the Cubs 40-32 and generally controlled the game from the outset as they jumped out to a quick lead and never trailed in the contest.

South limited the Cubs to 22 percent (11-of-49) shooting while in turn, the Eagles scored from the inside, the outside and in transition to pick up the win.

“When your only senior (Joscelyn Pilcher) goes down it is never a good thing. We had some freshmen step up and everyone contributed. Lyla (Rissler) didn’t score a lot but had some big rebounds, Drew (Gardner) hit some shots. We had everyone really playing hard and playing well,” South Putnam head coach Brian Gardner said as the Eagles played without injured senior Pilcher.

South jumped out to an early lead. The Eagles had scoring from five players in the first quarter as they raced out to a 14-3 lead with Drew Gardner leading the way with five points.

Greencastle had trouble scoring as it did not get a basket until an Ali Dobbs jumper halfway through the quarter. The Eagles forced Greencastle into five first-quarter turnovers and held the Cubs to just 1-of-9 shooting from the field for a 14-3 lead at the first stoppage of play.

“(South Putnam) came out, were more aggressive, they hit everything and we could not make any shots. They got to every ball and outworked us,” Greencastle head coach Jessica Lenihan said.

Greencastle’s Evie Briones hit the first shot of the second period and Madi Plew nailed a three-pointer to answer a Danae Cline trey.

The Tiger Cubs had the lead down to 17-9 following a Bailey Brown free throw, but that would be the last time they would be within single digits as Drew Gardner hit a three and Chlara Pistelli sliced to the basket for a layup.

South would close the quarter on an 11-5 run with Pistelli going coast-to-coast with a buzzer-beating layup to give South Putnam a 28-14 lead at the intermission. Pistelli would get six points in the quarter for the Eagles.

“Chlara was doing what Chlara does. She got to the basket. We were able to get several girls involved,” Gardner said.

The Eagles did not let up to start up the second half. Madison Gardner got a layup and rebound basket to start the third quarter and South jumped out to a 37-16 lead which they would then maintain.

Aleeyah Johnson had five points in the quarter for the Cubs, but the Eagles still limited Greencastle while Cline got hot later in the quarter and helped the Eagles to boost their lead to 42-24 at the end of the third quarter.

“The girls had a lot of pressure on them for the tournament. We just couldn’t seem to get anything going,” Lenihan said.

Drew Gardner and Pistelli scored quickly for the Eagles in the opening minute of the final period. South would maintain its lead throughout the contest as Greencastle could not make a run at South Putnam.

Briones was finally able to shake some Eagle defenders in the fourth to get five points, but South again had multiple scorers as it maintained the lead throughout the quarter and finished with the 50-31 victory.

“One of the things we talked about was we wanted to make (Greencastle) take contested threes. Briones is really good and we didn’t want them to get open looks. We did a really good job of that,” Gardner said as the Eagles limited the Cubs to 5-of-23 shooting from behind the arc.

Briones led the Cubs in scoring with 10 points, while the Eagles placed four players in double figures. Drew Gardner had 13 points, while Cline and Pistelli had 11 each and Madison Gardner had 10 points. Cline had 10 rebounds from her point guard position as well.

“Danae is that floor general. We talked about that she needed to control the pace and the game. She did that. Drew hit some shots. Madison was able to get free for some buckets. Everyone stepped up, Lillian (Emmerich) was key off the bench as well,” Gardner said as his team will advance to battle for the Putnam County Paddle Saturday night.

GREENCASTLE (31) – Dobbs 2-7 1-2 6, Johnson 3-9 0-0 7, Brown 0-6 1-4 1, Briones 4-11 0-0 10, Plew 2-9 2-4 7, Simmerman 0-3 0- 0, Rady 0-3 0-0 0, Call 0-0 0-0 0, Hunsinger 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 11-49 FG, 4-12 FT, 31 TP.

SOUTH PUTNAM (50) – Cline 3-5 3-4 11, D. Gardner 4-14 3-4 13, Pistelli 5-12 1-2 11, M. Gardner 5-10 0-0 10, Rissler 0-6 2-3 2, Emmerich 1-2 0-0 2, Wells 0-1 1-3, 1, Holderfield 0-0 0-0 0, Phillips 0-0 0-0 0, Kempf 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-50 FG, 10-16 FT, 50 TP.

3-point shooting – GHS 3-23 (Dobbs 1-4, Johnson 1-3, Briones 2-9, Plew 1-7), SP 4-18 (Cline 2-2, Gardner 2-8, Pistelli 0-3, Rissler 0-4, Emmerich 0-1). Rebounds – GHS 32 (Dobbs 1, Johnson 4, Brown 10, Briones 4, Plew 1, Hunsinger 2) SP – 40 (Cline 10, D. Gardner 3, Pistelli 5, Rissler 5, M. Gardner 8, Emmerich 1, Wells 1) FG Pct. – GHS 22.4, SP 36.0. FT Pct. – GHS 33.3, SP 62.5. Turnovers – GHS 14, SP 12.