South Putnam falls to Mustangs
ELLETTSVILLE --Sometimes the final score isn't indicative of the how the game was played. Edgewood's 63-41 win over South Putnam's Eagles in high school girls basketball on Friday was closer than the final margin.
A three-minute lapse to start the second quarter and a six-minute slip in third and early fourth turned a close game into a rout at Edgewood High School.
The Eagles trailed just 9-7 with a minute to play in the first quarter, but found themselves in a 21-9 hole three minutes into the second period. And in the third quarter, after trailing 29-17 at halftime, South closed the gap to six, 34-28, only to trail 42-30 when the fourth quarter opened.
"I can't fault the kids. They worked hard. They played hard the entire game. We talked about the fact we want to get better every game so that when it comes January and February we're playing our best basketball," South Putnam coach Debbie Steffy said.
"When you look at Tuesday [the opening game] and you look at tonight it was just a huge improvement. Our passing was better, even though we did make mistakes. We did a better job on the boards blocking out, we still missed blockouts tonight, but we did a much better job. Defensively we did a better job [but] we still made little mistakes here and there, things we just got to fix."
Leeah Butts, who led the Eagles with nine points and 13 rebounds, cut Edgewood's lead to 9-7 with a minute to play in the first quarter. But the Mustangs responded with an 11-2 run for a 23-9 lead and led 29-17 at halftime.
South Putnam opened the second half with an 11-5 run, started by freshman Emily Dabkowski's first basket of the night. Oceaia Boetjer scored, and then Dabkowski netted two more buckets that gave the Eagles momentum. Jenny Thompson's 3-point bucket closed the margin to six points, 34-28. That's where Edgewood made its stand.
Edgewood closed the third quarter with a 12-2 run. Stephanie Beasley hit two open buckets in the lane for Edgewood in their run, giving the Mustangs a 42-30 lead going into the final eight minutes.
Edgewood's lead hit 46-30 when Chelsea Miller nailed a three. South turned the ball over 11 times in the final period.
"We just had a lapse there. We just lost people [on defense]. We weren't paying attention to where their shooters were. We weren't getting out [on defense], we weren't hustling. We exerted a lot of energy to try to get back into the ball game, but still we didn't do a good job of getting out on their shooters and that sort of thing," Steffy said.
South Putnam shot just 35 percent (18-52) from the floor, but a weaker 33 percent (4-12) from the free throw line. Led by Butts' 13 boards, the Eagles won the rebounding battle 44-36.
South returns to action Nov. 21 in the Putnam County Tourney at South Putnam High School.
At Edgewood
South Putnam 7 10 13 11 -- 41
Edgewood 12 17 13 21 -- 63
South Putnam (41) -- O. Boetjer 3-12 2-2 8, Butts 4-9 1-3 9, Searles 0-2 0-0 0, Dabowski 4-11 0-5 8, Jes Thompson 1-4 0-0 2, Jen. Thompson 2-3 0-0 5, Burnham 0-4 0-0 0, B. Boetjer 4-7 1-2 9. Totals: 18-52 FG, 4-12 FT 41 TP.
Edgewood (63) -- Beasley 6-11 2-2 14, Schutte 2-8 0-0 4, Kalb 4-9 2-2 11, Cage 1-4 2-2 5, Ridge 2-9 0-2 5, Miller 4-7 1-2 11, Fiegle 1-4 0-0 2, Luther 3-8 1-1 7, Neidigh 1-1 0-0 2, Hacker 1-2 0-0 2, Delay 0-0 0-0 0, Faletic 0-0 0-0 0, Rommel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 25-64 FG, 7-10 FT, 63 TP.
3-Pt. Goals: SP -- 1-5 (Jen. Thompson 1-1, Dabowski 0-1, O. Boetjer 0-3), Ew 6-13 (Miller 2-3, Kalb 1-4, Luther 1-1, Cage 1-2, Ridge 1-3). Totals fouls: SP 11, Ew 16. Fouled out: None.
Turnovers -- SP 28, Ew 15.
Rebounds -- SP 44 (Butts 13, Dabowski 7, B. Boetjer and O. Boetjer 6), Ew 42 (Beasley 9).
Steals -- SP 8 (Jes. Thompson 3), Ew 9.
JV game -- Edgewood 45, South Putnam 6.
Next Game-- South Putnam (0-2) will play host to the Putnam County Tournament Nov. 21.