Speedway downs S. Putnam girls

Saturday, December 16, 2006

SPEEDWAY -- The South Putnam Eagles' girls' varsity team can't seem to catch a break lately.

SPHS dropped its fifth game in a row Friday night on the road against Speedway, 51-32, to fall to 3-7 on the season and 0-2 in the West Central Conference.

South Putnam fell behind the Sparkplugs from the started and headed into halftime looking at a 28-14 deficit.

The Eagles played better in the third quarter, outscoring Speedway 5-4 in the period, but committed seven turnovers in the period and trailed the Sparkplugs 32-19 heading into the fourth.

South got four straight points from Leeah Butts and Oceaia Boetjer to start the fourth quarter but couldn't gain enough ground on the Sparkplugs. Speedway used a 7-2 run with five minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the game to push the contest out of reach.

Despite the loss, SPHS coach Debbie Steffy said that the Eagles had their share of positives against Speedway Friday.

"I thought we had spurts where we played fairly well," Steffy said. "But there were times when we didn't take care of the ball. We had nearly double the turnovers (Speedway) had."

The Eagles were led by Jessica Canary, who scored 11 points in the contest, knocking down four field goals and going 3-of-5 at the free throw stripe.

The only other South Putnam player to score in double figures was C.J. Searles, who finished with 10 points on the night. Bailey Birt had seven points, connecting on three shots from the floor and hitting 1-of-2 at the foul line.

Kara Tierney was the leading scorer for the Sparkplugs, scoring 16 points in the contest. Whitley Emerson had 11 for Speedway, and Katie Jones added 11 of her own.

In the end, Steffy thought that the Eagles' performance Friday was too uneven and that SPHS played inconsistently throughout much of the contest.

"In the first half I don't think we looked to score very well," Steffy said. "They were able to take advantage of that.

"We did a decent job early in the second half, and then we started to get away from the things we were trying to focus on. We let them outwit and outplay us."

The Eagles (3-7) will be in action again Dec. 30 when they face North Vermillion in the opening round of the South Putnam Tournament.

At Speedway

South Putnam (32) -- Haynes 0 0-0 0, Canary 4 3-5 11, Robinson 0 0-0 0, Stanifer 0 0-0 0, Birt 3 1-2 7, Boetjer 0 2-2 2, Hughes 0 0-0 0, Searles 5 0-0 10, Butts 1 0-0 2. 12 FG 6-9 FT 32 TP.

Speedway (51) -- Angela 2 0-0 4, Tierney 8 0-2 16, Emerson 3 5-9 11, Jones 3 4-5 11, Miller 1 0-0 3, Hubbard 1 0-0 2, Walton 1 0-0 2, Whit 1 0-0 2. 20 FG 9-16 FT 51 TP.

South Putnam 8 6 5 13 -- 32

Speedway 19 9 4 19 -- 51

Total Fouls -- South Putnam 13, Speedway 15

Next Game -- South Putnam (3-7) will host North Putnam for the opening round of the South Putnam Tournament beginning Dec. 30.

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