GHS falls to potential sectional opponent in Beech Grove

Sunday, November 16, 2014

BEECH GROVE --After scoring 72 points in back-to-back games to open the season, Greencastle's girls' basketball team looked to keep the offense rolling right along as they traveled to Beech Grove Saturday night.

The Hornets, a potential sectional opponent down the road, ran step for step with the visitors and kept the Tiger Cub offense in check to take a 50-32 win, their second win over a sectional No. 27 team.

Greencastle head coach Bradley Key said the team did not have the same fire it had in the first two contests.

"I'm disappointed that we didn't come out and play with the effort that we did in the first two games," Key said. "We've played three games this week, but that can't be an excuse.

"The mental and physical effort was not what it has been. Give credit to Beech Grove because they took us out of our game early."

Beech Grove put the Tiger Cubs under pressure with a trapping game that initially flustered the visitors and allowed the hosts to turn a 6-5 advantage into a 12-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Many of the problems the Hornets caused came through Cameron Cardenas, a name that will be remembered by those in attendance wearing purple.

The freshman guard waltzed past defenders with the ball and got behind the Tiger Cub defense multiple times in transition, racking up 21 points to lead all scorers.

Key was more concerned that the team could not get a grasp on Cardenas' movement against the press.

"(Cardenas) really bothered our press," Key added. "You would hope with an experienced team like we have, we'd be able to handle that a little bit better, but we didn't."

Greencastle struggled to make inroads into the Beech Grove lead as the Hornets answered every Tiger Cub basket with a basket of their own and scored the last five points of the second quarter to take a 22-12 lead into halftime.

The story did not change in either the third or fourth quarter as every Greencastle basket, when they could get one to go down on an 8-45 shooting night, was matched by a Beech Grove basket, leaving the Tiger Cubs with no window to climb back into the game with.

The loss sends Greencastle to 2-1 on the season and Key said the team would need to remember the evening while simultaneously forgetting about it before the next game.

"I've told people that our sectional is going to be really tough," Key noted. "This gives us something to keep in the back of our mind every day when we got to practice.

"I feel like we're a better team than what we showed tonight and but according to our stats, we shot around 18 percent and that can't happen."

By the time the night ended, Key said the one good point on the night was that the team shot well from the free throw line.

"We were 13-of-14 shooting free throws tonight, so that was a positive," Key stated. "Maybe we didn't get to the free throw line enough.

"We got some more experience tonight. Bethanie Burgeson got more experience in a high-intensity varsity game and I thought she got a lot of touches on the defensive end."

A visit from Southmont on Tuesday is next on the Greencastle agenda before the Putnam County Tournament Friday and Saturday.

Key said that getting the effort levels back up for the Mounties would be important while getting another chance to gel as a team before the tournament would also come in handy.

"I want to see better effort one through eight because I felt like there were a lot of loose balls that we normally come up with and tonight we didn't come up with them," Key said. "That was disappointing.

"I think it helps that we've played more games than others in the county. We've got a better sense of what we are, what we're doing a good job at and what we're not doing a good job of.

"We have a couple more days of practice and one more game to get ready for county," Key added. "When you're in the county tournament, anything can happen so we need to make sure we're physically and mentally prepared for that the best we can."


At Beech Grove

Greencastle 5 7 11 9 ­-- 32

Beech Grove 12 10 14 14 -- 50

Statistics

Scoring

Greencastle -- 8-45 FG, 3-13 3-FG, 13-14 FT -- Burgeson 8, Lenihan 6, White 4, Taylor 4, Bragg 3, Stoltey 3, Bridgewater 2, Shuee 2, Trout 0, Stevens 0, Smith 0, Paul 0

Beech Grove -- 21-62 FG, 2-15 3-FG, 6-10 FT -- Cardenas 21, Benamon 6, Giller 6, Pich 5, Bonds 5, Lanahan 3, Woodall 2, Hurt 2, Spurgeon 0, Johnson 0, Folks-Bowie 0, Storms 0

Rebounding (Offensive)

Greencastle 37 (13); Beech Grove 33 (13)

Assists

Greencastle 7; Beech Grove 11

Steals

Greencastle 7; Beech Grove 17

Blocks

Greencastle 0; Beech Grove 1

Turnovers

Greencastle 30; Beech Grove 14

Fouls

Greencastle 6; Beech Grove 13

Next Game: Greencastle (2-1) hosts Southmont Tuesday.

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