Tiger Cubs notch 10th win of the season

Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Taylor Pruitt

GREENCASTLE -- The Greencastle Tiger Cubs opened the 2011 portion of their schedule with a 41-point blowout against Northview Tuesday. Four players scoring in double figures helped propel the Tiger Cubs to victory as they move to 10-3 on the season.

Having not played since Dec. 21, Greencastle came out hot and they never cooled. Mallory Miller scored eight points in the first quarter to pace Greencastle and they led 16-6 after one.

After a long break, shooting is always a concern and it was no different for GHS head coach Bradley Key. But his concerns were put to rest quickly.

"I was a little worried about coming out flat because we've had quite a few practices and haven't had game-type speed, but I thought we came out and played well," Key said. "It was good to see Mallory catch fire. We haven't seen that in a while. At Rockville, she had 16, but she had to work for those 16. Today she started lighting it up and it makes us much more difficult to defend."

Key said having three senior leaders (Miller, Chelsea Samuels and Alyssa Nichols) is a big benefit for his squad. Those three scored 40 of Greencastle's 63 points.

Alyssa Nichols

After a solid second quarter, Greencastle went to the break leading 30-14, but their best was yet to come.

Nichols scored four points in the first half, but it was her ability to facilitate her teammate that brought praise from her coach.

"Alyssa Nichols may not have scored a lot tonight, but she does so many great things for us. I feel bad for her because everyone else scores, but she's the one getting the ball to them to score," Key said.

Key explained that he thought basketball should adopt the same rules as hockey, where the person getting the puck to the person who provides that assist also gets an assist. He said that is something Nichols does very, very well.

"She played great for what we needed to do. Alyssa played awesome and that was great to see for sure," Key said.

In the second half, Greencastle held Northview scoreless for 12:36 seconds into the half, with their first basket coming at the 3:24 mark of the fourth quarter.

In the meantime, GHS continued to roll with Miller, Samuels, Nichols, Taylor Pruitt and Hannah Wainman scoring. The Tiger Cubs tacked on 20 points in the third quarter and another 14 in the fourth.

Having spent 13 days without a game, Greencastle's big win sets a great tone for the Tiger Cubs in '11. Key agreed they are off to great start and he noted he's looking for some big things from others than his trio of seniors.

"It really is," he said about the importance of the good start. "We talked a lot about that where Taylor and Hannah are really going to have to start stepping up and being threats -- and they're capable. Against Rockville a couple weeks ago, we were down 12-4 in the first quarter and Rayleigh Amis came off the bench and literally sparked us. So, we're going to look for them to contribute and when they do it's really hard to defend us. We have skilled players out there and that's a good thing. They work hard -- I have a great group of girls. The last thing I told them before we went out there was 'I'm glad I get to coach you guys'."

The GHS junior varsity also picked up a win, downing Northview 29-24.

Greencastle will host Speedway Friday at 6 p.m.

At Greencastle

Northview 6 8 0 9 -- 23

Greencastle 16 14 20 14 -- 64

Individual Scoring

Northview -- Carter 8, Berry 5, Sampson 4, Webster 2, Deckard 2, Weddle 2. Totals: 10-43 FG, 2-4 FT, 23 TP.

Greencastle -- Miller 22, Wainman 12, Pruitt 12, Nichols 10, Samuels 8. Totals: 28-64 FG, 1-3 FT, 64 TP.