Lady Mustangs overpower South Putnam

Friday, November 13, 2009
Emily Dabkowski cuts through Edgewood's Samantha Faletic (left) and Hannah Rommel (right) during Friday's game at South Putnam. Dabkowski led the Eagles with 14 points

GREENCASTLE -- All it takes is one bad quarter and a winnable situation turns into a non-winnable situation. For South Putnam that was the start of the second half.

The Lady Eagles trailed Edgewood by nine at halftime, and within the first few minutes of the third period they were down 19.

"It was a little bit of the same thing that happened Tuesday night to us," SPHS coach Debbie Steffy said. "We go in the locker room down by nine at the half and we come back out and all of sudden we're down 15 then 20 and we can't fight back from it."

The Lady Mustangs outscored South Putnam 23-9 in the third and cruised by them in the fourth for a 67-38 win.

"We have to do a better job of coming out and when we get in those positions when we aren't scoring, we have to keep the other team from scoring," Steffy said.

With a team like Edgewood that's easier said than done. The Lady Mustangs didn't have one or two outstanding scorers -- they had three. Hannah Rommel, Laura Luther and Angela Hacker were all troublesome for South Putnam

Hacker gave the Lady Eagles problems in the first quarter scoring eight of the Lady Mustangs' first 10 points of the game.

Then in the second and third quarters, Luther punished South Putnam offensively and defensively. In the second, she scored eight points and forced three turnovers. Then in the second half she lit up the scoreboard from beyond the arc.

Rommel stepped it up in the fourth quarter when Hacker got into foul trouble early in the fourth, hitting the fast break lay up and penetrating the lane.

Edgewood had a total of four players in double digits in scoring with Chelsea Miller being the other double digit scorer, putting up 12 points.

"When they went to their bench, they didn't lose anything," Steffy said about the Edgewood's depth. "Even when they went to their No.b9 and No. 10 players, that hurt us.

"Usually when a team does that those are the times when we think we can catch up and score some points and that didn't happen for us tonight," Steffy added.

The Lady Eagles showed some promise late in the first quarter. After trailing 10-4 with four minutes left in the period, South Putnam got hot and went on an 8-2 run. This cut the Lady Mustangs' lead to four, thanks to some precise free throw shooting. Ericka Minor and Emily Dabkowski sank four freebies back-to-back after drawing the foul on the put back shot. Jessica Thompson capped the run off with a steal that resulted in a fast break basket.

In the second quarter, the Lady Eagles and their opportunities but couldn't get the ball to drop.

The one thing that plagued the Lady Eagles all night was turnovers.

"We have to take care of the ball better," Steffy said. "We are averaging 27 turnovers right now in the season. We had 26 on Tuesday and 28 tonight, so we have to do a better job of handling the ball.

"But I was pleased with the play from a lot of people," Steffy added. "Everybody played and everybody did some good things. We just have little things that we have to work on and get better at."

Dabkowski was the only Eagle in double digits with 14 points.

South Putnam is now 0-2 on the season and is back in action on Friday when it takes part in the Putnam County tournament.

At South Putnam

South Putnam 8 11 9 10 -- 38

Edgewood 12 16 23 16 -- 67

South Putnam -- Minor 1 2-3 4, Dabkowski 5 4-4 14, Thompson 2 1-2 5, Thompson 1 0-0 3, Urton 0 0-0 0, Varvel 1 1-2 3, Searless 0 2-2 2, Jones 0 0-1 0, Boetjer 3 0-0 6, Masters 0 0-1 0, Cash 0 1-2 1. Totals -- 13 11-17 38.

Edgewood -- Fiegle 3 0-0 6, Miller 6 0-0 12, Neidigh 0 0-0 0, Faletic 0-0 0, Luther 8 2-4 20, Delay 2 0-0 4, Gilliland 0 0-0 0, Hacker 5 1-2 11, Rommel 6 2-2 14, Weddle 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 30 5-8 67.

Next Game -- South Putnam is now 0-2 on the season and is back in action on Friday when it takes part in the Putnam County tournament.