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Eagles falter in fourth quarter, lose at Edgewood
ELLETTSVILLE -- After Emily Dobson hit a jumper just before the end of the third quarter, South Putnam's girls' basketball team took an 18-17 lead into the final quarter at Edgewood Friday night.
Before the Eagles could look toward a 2-0 start, however, fatigue slowly overtook them and the Mustang offense finally came to life with 19 points the fourth to give the hosts a 36-23 win.
South Putnam head coach Tim Garver said that the team made life extremely difficult Edgewood and turned a few heads in the process.
"I'm extrememly proud of our girls," Garver said. "We put together a plan on defese and they executed it.
"They worked extremely hard and I think we surprised them having the lead in the fourth quarter that we let slip away. We did what we wanted to do."
Defense was the word of the first half as neither side seemed to be able to quite work out what the other was doing.
Lillie Stein scored the game's first basket but that would be the only bucket for the visitors in the first quarter as the Eagles trailed 6-4 after one period of play.
Little changed in the second quarter as South Putnam's defense continued to cut off avenues of attack while the Edgewood defense kept the Eagle offense in check.
A late three by Mirana Bieghler kept the score close at halftime as the visitors trailed 12-9.
Garver said that keeping the corners covered helped keep the Mustang offense in check.
"We were in zone and what we were doing was scrambling out of the zone to pick up their shooters," Garver said. "We knew they had some very good shooters and could shoot out of the corners so we helped from the top of the zone."
After trading points with Edgewood to start the third quarter, South Putnam scored the final six points of the frame behind two Katie Hewitt baskets and Dobson's jumper to take lead into the fourth quarter.
Defense again was the headline act but as Garver pointed out, steals made baskets easy to come by in the last few minutes of the third.
"We got some pretty good steals and when you get those, you get to go down and have a few layups to make things a little bit easier," Garver said. "We need to finish at the free throw line right now.
"I think if we finish at the free throw line, that takes care of a lot of the problems that we had here tonight. We're young, we'll keep working on it and we'll be okay."
The Mustangs opened the fourth with an Erin Sherfield three to take the lead as part of a 10-0 run to break the game open.
Sherfield connected on seven-of-eight free throw attempts throughout the quarter to help seal the deal and send the Eagles to 1-1 on the season.
While the end result was not what the visitors wanted, Garver said the girls kept pushing Edgewood throughout the game.
"When we're trying to chase a team down like that, I don't know what else our girls could do," Garver said. "We shortened our bench up a little bit tonight.
"They chased (Edgewood) down, they were scrapping, they were double-teamming all over the court and I'm extremely proud of our team. If we play defense like that we're going to be fine."
South Putnam's next game will be in the second half of the Putnam County Tournament Friday night when the Eagles host Cloverdale.
Garver said that what the team displayed on Friday night would be similar to what they would use next week.
"We'll evaluate our team and see how we match up against (Cloverdale) and put our game plan together," Garver said. "I'm sure we'll do a lot of the same things.
"We'll be scrappy on defense and try to get steals. That's just the way we're going to have to play."
At Edgewood
South Putnam 4 5 10 4 - 23
Edgwood 6 6 5 19 - 36
Scoring
South Putnam - 9-44 FG, 1-9 3-FG, 4-14 FT - Modglin 5, Hewitt 4, Stein 4, Bieghler 4, Dobson 4, Higgins 2, Lady 0, Erickson 0, Carmichael 0
Edgewood - 9-46 FG, 4-13 3-FG, 14-26 FT - Sherfield 12, Acuff 8, Carter 6, Pitcher 5, Curtis 3, Delos Santos 2, Johnston 0, Morris 0, Lindell 0
Rebounds (Offensive)
South Putnam 30 (7); Edgewood 29 (9)
Assists
South Putnam 5; Edgewood 9
Steals
South Putnam 14; Edgewood 15
Blocks
South Putnam 0; Edgewood 2
Turnovers
South Putnam 24; Edgewood 16
Fouls
South Putnam 20; Edgewood 13
Next Game: South Putnam (1-1) hosts Cloverdale (1-1) in the second game of the Putnam County Tournament Friday.