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South Putnam wins close game
Some physical defense and crucial foul shots played a big role in the South Putnam girls' basketball team's 41-39 win Monday over Owen Valley.
The Lady Eagles started slow in the first quarter but used good defense to combat their lack of scoring. Lillie Stein made a corner three, which was the only shot South Putnam made in the opening quarter.
However the Eagles were only down 8-3 another strong defensive quarter limited what Owen Valley was able to accomplish.
"After the Greencastle game that we played we wanted to get back the things that we do," Eagle coach Brian Gardner said. "That was one of the things we talked about. I thought tonight we defended really well. Everything that they got tonight was hard to get."
Jenna Carmicheal drove into the paint for the Eagle and found Katie Hewitt for a bucket and then Stein nailed another three ball to tie the game at eight. An offensive putback from Miranda Bieghler and an Ally Nichols shot made over two Patriot defenders gave South 12 points before Owen Valley went on a run to make the halftime score 14-12.
Into the third quarter the close matchup began to get even more physical as the players on each side began to aggressively seek steals and rebounds.
"Owen Valley is a great basketball team and they are physical," Gardner said. "For us we have to be as physical as they were and I thought we handled that."
Stein came in again with a timely three, this one to open the half and give the Eagles a 15-14 lead.
The Pats fought back and it stayed neck and neck until the finish. Buckets were still tough to come by but South Putnam had worked the Lady Patriots into the early bonus while not committing nearly as many fouls.
"We've gotten better," Gardner said. "Early in the year when we were physical we did it with our hands. As this year has gone on we've started to play more with our feet. You can be physical with the body without using hands."
Gardner said a point of emphasis in practices has been moving feet on defense and it paid off during the match against Owen Valley.
With the score tied at 25 going into the fourth, the Lady Patriots had six team fouls. The Eagles took 20 free throws in the second half, making 11.
Most of those came from Hewitt who went 4-7 in the fourth quarter including some clutch foul shots to put the Eagles up 40-38.
"We work really hard in practice on defense," Hewitt said. "(Coach Gardner) certainly makes you like defense. I think once you get to working on defense it helps the offense. It just gets you going."
Defense played the part on the last possession as the Eagles needed one last stop before walking away with the win and South Putnam stood tall, trapping the Patriot player and making it a tough last-second shot.
"We got shots when we had to get shots instead of turning the ball over," Gardner said. "They made a run and got back up by one. For us to come back down and respond to that, that was big for our girls. Katie Hewitt made a great post move and a great play but all night we were defending and playing hard."
The Eagles (6-3 1-1 WIC) will next face WIC Western Division rival West Vigo in Terre Haute Friday.
At South Putnam
Owen Valley 8 6 11 14 -- 39
South Putnam 3 9 13 16 -- 41
Eagle Scoring: 13-43 (Bieghler 5-17 4-6 15, Stein 3-10 1-2 10, Hewitt 2-5 5-9 9, McHugh 2-5 1-4 5, Nichols 1-3 2)
3-Pt shots (Stein 3-5, Bieghler 1-4) Reb: Hewitt 5, Stein 5, Beighler 5, McHugh 4, Modglin 3, Carmicheal 2 Asst: Bieghler 2, Stein 1 Stls: Bieghler 4, Modglin 3, McHugh 2, Hewitt 1 Blk: Hewitt 2