Tiger Cubs make it two straight with win over Athenians

Greencastle's Bailey Brown draws the attention of two Crawfordsville defenders, as well as a foul, during the second half of Tuesday night's 46-24 win. Brown had 15 points and Evie Briones had 16 points to pace the Tiger Cubs in the win over the Athenians.

Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT

CRAWFORDSVILLE – Off the back of its first win of the girls’ basketball season, Greencastle eyed a second win in four days when it traveled to Crawfordsville Tuesday night.

It took time for the Tiger Cubs to get into the swing of things but a 14-0 run across the end of the first and start of the second quarter got the visitors on the right track in a 46-24 win over the Athenians.

“A win is a win,” Greencastle head coach Jessica Lenihan said. “We struggled in the first quarter with lazy passes and didn’t seem we were here at the start.

“Once that quarter was over, we talked with the girls and said we had to pick it up as we couldn’t have those lazy passes. They picked it up; we were better in the second, third and fourth quarter and we’re happy to be going into Thanksgiving break with two wins.”

Crawfordsville’s struggles on offense were apparent early as the hosts, despite Madison Hedrick knocking down an early jumper, were unable to convert on multiple second-chance looks throughout the first half.

Greencastle, trailing 3-0 early, got on the board through Madi Plew and took the lead for good with two Bailey Brown free throws midway through the opening period.

An Evie Briones three and a Brown basket created some separation as the Tiger Cubs led 9-3 after a quarter of play.

Brown scored twice around a Briones steal and score to make it 12-3 before Addison Hodges hit a jumper to break the visitors’ scoring run.

Briones responded with a three off a steal and another basket to increase the lead to 20-5, adding two late free throws to give Greencastle a 22-7 lead at halftime.

The lead crept toward 20 points after Brown and Ali Dobbs hit early baskets to start the second half but the hosts found some scoring punch as Molly Pierce hit a three and Celeste Moore scored on a third-chance look to make it 26-12.

Pierce and Moore answered the Tiger Cubs on every score the rest of the period and into the fourth quarter through Yuli Torres as the visitors couldn’t shake the Athenians.

Rebounding was a major reason the hosts kept the game from getting away, beating the visitors on the boards 14-4 in the quarter and 27-10 through three periods of play.

“We weren’t blocking out,” Lenihan said about the rebounding gap. “The intensity of this game was a little lower and the girls played down to that a little bit.

“We’re going to get after it in practice after Thanksgiving and get busy because we have tough games coming up and we can’t play like we did tonight.”

Greencastle finally found its footing on the boards in the final quarter, winning the battle 9-3 and reducing Crawfordsville to two points across the final few minutes as Briones and Becca Rady both hit threes to finally break the 20-point mark as the reserves for both teams finished off the night.

“I feel confident in the girls as early in the season, we struggled to play a full four quarters,” Lenihan said about the win. “We struggled with pressure but tonight, we handled it, dribbled through it well and I’m proud of the girls for how hard they’ve been working to get to this point.”

Briones and Brown led the Tiger Cubs with 16 and 15 points respectively while Moore had seven points to lead the Athenians.

Scoring

Greencastle (12-28 2FG; 5-15 3FG; 7-9 FT) — Briones 16, Brown 15, Dobbs 6, Plew 6, Rady 3

Crawfordsville (9-33 2FG; 1-10 3FG; 3-7 FT) — Moore 7, Pierce 5, Torres 4, Huesca 4, Hodges 2, Hedrick 2

Statistics