Eagles fall to Triton Central in holiday tournament

Friday, December 31, 2010
South Putnam's Mallory Cash fires up a shot during Thursday's holiday tournament final.

GREENCASTLE -- The South Putnam girls' basketball team ran into a buzz saw in the form of Triton Central Thursday afternoon. The Eagles fell to Lady Tigers 79-24 in the third game of the South Putnam Holiday Tournament.

Triton Central began the game at a blistering pace, outscoring South Putnam 30-10 after one quarter of play. Casey Stow had 10 points to lead the Lady Tigers, with Emily Alfrey adding eight.

Ericka Minor led South Putnam with four points in the opening quarter, with Jenna Jones, Kelsey Searles and Kelsey Whitaker chipping in two points each.

The Eagles had lost earlier in the day to North Vermillion and head coach Debbie Steffy knew they would be tough games going in.

"We knew coming in we were going to play two really good teams," Steffy said. "We scrimmaged North Vermillion at the beginning of the year, so we knew what we were facing in them. Then Triton Central, the girls hadn't seen them play. Coach Briones and I went to scout, so we knew they were going to be good. You don't get a 9-1 record coming into this tournament without being good, especially with some of the teams they play."

Triton Central didn't let up in the second quarter and took a 49-13 lead into halftime. The Eagles only managed three points in the quarter, all coming from Whitaker.

South Putnam's shooting woes continued in the third quarter (17 percent), while the Lady Tigers continued its hot shooting, knocking down 60 percent of their shots in the quarter.

Despite facing a large lead and knowing that victory had eluded them on the day, South Putnam continued to play hard and work toward where their season goal lies -- sectional.

"That's what our goal is is to get better for that," Steffy said. "I felt like today we came out and we able to change up some defenses and we were able to do some nice things on defense in terms of those changes and the kids worked hard. Sure we gave up easy lay-ups here and there, but it was more so we helped out too much or something like that.

"Offensively, I thought we turned a corner today in the fact that we looked to shoot the basketball more today in two games than we probably have in the past four games that we've played. And that's something I've been talking about all season long. You can't score points if you're not going to shoot it," she continued.

The Eagles went on to fall 79-24, but Steffy was pleased with what she saw and what her team gave her during the tournament. She said she got good contributions from everybody, and even though they might not have scored, there were many good touches that help the team move toward its goal.

The second half of the season will definitely be a measuring stick for the Eagles. They begin with Riverton Parke, Eminence and Greencastle before going on a stretch of five games against four sectional opponents.

Minor led the Eagles with eight points, with Whitaker adding five points and Searles with four.

The Eagles will be back in action when they travel to Riverton Parke Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

At South Putnam

Game 2

Triton Central 30 19 20 10 -- 79

South Putnam 10 3 5 6 -- 24

Individual Scores

Triton Central -- Alfrey 14, Stow 14, Mink 11, Arbuckle 12, Adkins 8, Larkey 8, Duncan 6, Schilling 6.

South Putnam -- Minor 8, Whitaker 5, Searles 4, Cash 2, Jones 3, McHugh 2.

Game 1

North Vermillion 14 7 11 8 -- 40

South Putnam 6 2 9 6 -- 23

North Vermillion -- C. West 13, Turchi 5, Kinneer 4, K. West 4, Karr 4, Balding 4, Weir 4, Kennedy 2.

South Putnam -- Masters 7, Minor 6, McHugh 2, Jones 2, Whitaker 2, Cash 2, Urton 2.

Next game -- The Eagles will be back in action when they travel to Riverton Parke Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.