Tiger Cubs lose opener to Terre Haute North

Greencastle sophomore Allison White elevates for a layup in traffic during Tuesday's game against Terre Haute North. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)

TERRE HAUTE -- For the fourth straight year, Greencastle's girls' basketball squad opened its season at the Terre Haute Tip-Off Tournament, hosted by West Vigo High School.

Opposing the Tiger Cubs on Tuesday was Terre Haute North. The defending tournament champion Patriots utilized a barrage of 3-point shots in the first quarter to build a 15-point lead that was not threatened in a 61-39 win for Terre Haute North.

Greencastle head coach Brad Key said that the opener was a chance for the squad to start to see what worked and what did not.

"For a lot of coaches, they're not sure what they're going to see," Key said. "It's a new group of girls out there, so you're trying to figure out a combination of what gels together and what doesn't.

"The good thing was that we played hard. The defense was a little slow but it's not because they weren't playing hard. Everyone has a first game and we probably didn't play as well as we would have liked to."

The game itself got off to a very rough start for the Tiger Cubs as Patriot guard Layne Curley made four 3-point shots in the opening quarter, including the first three she attempted, to open up an early 11-2 lead.

Curley finished the quarter with 14 points, enabling Terre Haute North to take a 21-6 cushion into the second quarter.

Greencastle got into the flow of the game in the second period, attacking the basket more frequently than in the first eight minutes.

Key said that while the squad trailed by a large margin early, the squad did not stop trying to make things work on both ends of the floor.

"Give Terre Haute North credit, they came out and got us down early," Key said. "We knew they had a shooter and when she hit we were down in a hole early.

"We could have rolled over and just gave up but we fought through it."

Trailing by the same 15-point margin entering the second half, the Tiger Cubs continued to attack the basket but found baskets hard to come by.

The squad also found defending a more methodical Terre Haute North attack difficult throughout the second half.

The Tiger Cubs had their best offensive output in the fourth quarter, getting a pair of 3-pointers to finally fall as part of a 13-point quarter to end the game on a more positive note.

Key said that there were several things to take away from the game in preparation for South Vermillion Wednesday night.

"Alex Basile played excellent today," Key said. "She was 2-4 from three and we had her down for 10 deflections, which is outstanding. We need to bring some other defenders along with that."

Basile, a senior, was second on the team with eight points. Junior Callan Taylor led the Tiger Cubs with 11.

"After today, we know there are a lot of things that we need to work on," Key added. "We beat South Vermillion in the sectional last year. We're a little familiar with them.

"Tomorrow, we'll be worried about whether or not we're executing the offense like it should be. We did that well at times in the second half. If we play Greencastle basketball, we'll be all right."

Greencastle plays on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Stats

Scoring
Terre Haute North -- 22-55 FG; 9-21 3-FG; 8-15 FT -- Curley 17, Pritchard 14, Bendickson 8, Howes 7, Sykes 6, Sacopulos 6, Pratt 2, Granda 1
Greencastle -- 12-52 FG; 3-15 3-FG; 12-21 FT -- Taylor 11, Basile 8, Bridgewater 7, Lenihan 5, D. Stoltey 4, Bragg 2, M. White 2