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Tiger Cubs blow out Athenians 72-28
CRAWFORDSVILLE-- The Greencastle girls' basketball team traveled to Crawfordsville to take on the Athenians. The outcome of the game was never in question as the visitors jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back, winning 72-28
The Tiger Cubs' pressure in the first quarter created havoc on the Athenians (0-7), forcing 13 turnovers with nine steals. It led to many easy buckets in the first quarter and the Tiger Cubs continued the pressure throughout the second quarter.
"I thought we came out and played with some good intensity," Greencastle coach Bradley Key said. "I thought we came out and played well. Our defense kind of got us going."
The Tiger Cubs scored 15 points off of turnovers in the first half while forcing 18 turnovers. Greencastle took care of the ball in the first half, only commitingsix turnovers.
Despite shooting just 20 percent from three-point range, Greencastle led by 21 at the half due to their 20 points in the paint and 10 offensive rebounds.
The Tiger Cubs came out of the half fresh and scored 21 more points to stretch their lead to 54-21 at the end of the third. With this lead the game was out of reach due to the stifling defense forcing 33 turnovers. Senior Bethanie Burgeson led the team with eight steals, many of which were deflections leading to Greencastle gaining possession. Due to the many turnovers the Tiger Cubs had 20 more shots than the Athenians.
The ball movement for Greencastle was very good all night long. Every possession the team made an extra pass to find an open man and either shoot or drive to the basket. The Tiger Cubs had 11 assists, led by Burgeson with four.
"Probably the biggest strength of this team is moving the ball," Key said. "I told them before that this is probably the best team I have had of moving the ball."
Junior Nailah Ray was a force on the offensive boards with four and senior Allison White pulled in 12 total rebounds.
"One thing we have done pretty well is crash the offensive boards," Key said. "We let people shoot pretty freely but as long as we make sure we crash the boards that is OK."
The Tiger Cubs spread the scoring around with three players in the double-digits including sophomore Mia Stevens who had 13 points, junior Gracie Smith who also had 13 and Ray with 12. Close behind was senior Paige Bragg with nine, White had eight and freshman Audrey Barker had seven.
"I thought tonight was the night we would give her (Ray) some extended play," Key said. "She is new to the program which is a blessing. I thought tonight she played an outstanding game."
Even though Greencastle (7-1, 1-0 WIC) won in blowout fashion they still have some things to work on Key said.
"We still need to be able to handle pressure," Key said. "We had some silly mistakes that we can fix and we need to finish better. I thought we had some good shots and just have to concentrate and finish lay-ups."
At Crawfordsville
Greencastle 16 17 21 18 - 72
Crawfordsville 3 9 9 7 - 28
SCORING
Greencastle (72): Smith 5-8 1-1 13, Stevens 6-10 1-1 13, Ray 6-7 0-2 12, Bragg 4-8 0-0 9, A. White 3-12 2-4 8, Barker 2-4 2-4 7, Burgeson 2-10 0-0 5, Nally 0-4 0-0 0, R. White 0-1 0-2 0. Totals: 30-67 (5-19) 7-15, 72.
Crawfordsville (28): Schueren 5-17 0-0 13, Hall 3-8 0-1 6, Castro 2-5 0-0 4, Walbert 1-8 1-2 3, Laskowski 1-4 0-0 2, Stadler 0-3 0-0 0, Tomlinson 0-2 0-0 0. Total: 12-47 (3-14) 1-3, 28.
REBOUNDING (Total-offensive)
Greencastle (41-16): A. White 12-1, Ray 7-4, Stevens 5-1, Smith 4-2, Duff 3-3, Burgeson 3-1, Nally 3-0, Bragg 1-0.
Crawfordsville (36-12): Hall 13-4, Walbert 5-1, Stadler 4-3, Tomlinson 4-0, Laskowski 3-1, Shueren 2-1, Barnett 1-0.
Assists: GHS 11 (Burgeson 4), CHS 3 (Shueren 2). Steals: GHS 20 (Burgeson 8), CHS 11 (Shueren, Stadler 3). Blocks: GHS 0, CHS 0.
Turnovers: GHS 15, CHS 33. Fouls: GHS 9, CHS 15.