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Eagles struggle against Tri-West
GREENCASTLE -- The South Putnam girls' basketball team struggled with a high-powered Tri-West team Tuesday, falling 72-42. The loss drops South Putnam to 3-14 on the season. The Bruins had five players score in double figures to help move them to 13-3 on the year.
Ball movement was key in Tuesday's outcome. The Bruins were able to move their passes quickly, enabling them to find multiple chances at scoring attempts. Something Eagles head coach Debbie Steffy noted following the game.
"They're a good team," Steffy said. "They came out in the first half and they had really good ball movement -- they passed the ball really well, they find the open people. We talked about it at halftime, we weren't getting enough pressure on the passers, so therefore it made the passes easier and we weren't moving on the pass, we were waiting until the person caught it and then going out to get it. We tried to adjust on that and just didn't quite get that taken care of."
Tri-West came out firing and put up 20 points in the first quarter and had amassed 39 at the break. On the flipside, South Putnam could muster only 20 points and found themselves on the ropes entering the second half of play.
Tri-West extended its lead after outscoring the Eagles 22-8 in the third, but South Putnam was able to rally back and have a solid fourth quarter. South Putnam outscored the Bruins 14-11 in the final period.
A bright spot for the Eagles was the fact they got a wonderful effort for their bench. The bench outscored the starters 23-19 in the game and accounted for 10 of the Eagles' 14 fourth quarter points. Steffy was pleased with their effort on the night and singled out a few players who gave South Putnam a lift.
"Mattie Varvel came in and hit some big shots for us at good times, Jenny Thompson came in a did some nice things for us and hustled back a few times there on defense to stop a fast break. Leanna Masters came in and worked hard in the post for us," she commented.
Although they recorded a loss in their previous outing, Steffy said the team believed they were making some strides, but Tuesday's loss might have hindered that progression somewhat.
"It's one of those things where we felt like as a team, we had taken some steps forward and we feel like maybe we took a just a little bit of a step backwards tonight," she said. "But, when you're considering that we did play a very, very good team, a very talented team, a very experienced team, we did some good things. Obviously they exposed some of our weaknesses, some things that we're going to have to work on, especially if we were to see them in the sectional."
South Putnam will travel to Cloverdale Friday for a 6 p.m. tip.
At South Putnam
Tri-West 20 19 22 11 -- 72
South Putnam 7 13 8 14 -- 42
Individual Stats
Tri-West (72) -- Robertson 16, Bennett 12, DeSutter 11, Hill 11, S. Ricks 10, Edens 6, Jobe 3, Allen 2, O'Neal 1. Totals: 28-65 FG, 7-13 FT, 72 TP.
South Putnam (42) -- Boetjer 8, Dabkowski 7, Varvel 7, Jen. Thompson 5, Masters 5, Searles 4, Jes. Thompson 2, Jones 2, Cash 2. Totals: 16+41 FG, 6-10 FT, 42 TP.
Next game -- South Putnam will travel to Cloverdale Friday for a 6 p.m. tip.