Lady Cubs lose on road

THORNTOWN -- The Greencastle Tiger Cubs girls' basketball team traveled to Western Boone to face the Stars and could not overcome the toughness and the pressure of the Stars in the loss. The Tigers Cubs were defeated 49-31.

Western Boone (15-7) came out in a press early in the game and stuck with it, which forced Greencastle (16-4) to focus on breaking the press all game long. Greencastle did well breaking the press as they only had 14 turnovers in the game, most of which came in the fourth quarter and were after they broke the press.

"That is a really good team," Greencastle coach Bradley Key said. "They play really good competition and I thought we matched their intensity really well right off the bat so I was really happy to see. We missed some shots there at the beginning and against good teams you need to do all the little things."

Greencastle only shot 33 percent in the first half but they were taking contested shots, the shots they did make were wide-open. The Tiger Cubs only shot 1-for-8 from deep in the first half.

"We did a good job of breaking the press," Key said. "We just needed to do a better job attacking. We did not shoot near as many free throws as you would want to against a team like that."

The Stars came out in their press again to start the second half and this time it worked like a charm. The hosts went on a 7-0 run to stretch the lead to 32-19 which forced a Greencastle timeout with 5:34 left in the third quarter.

The timeout by Key worked, sparking a 7-0 run in just over a minute to force a Western Boone timeout. In that span Greencastle forced three turnovers all leading to baskets, which got them right back in the game 32-26.

The Tiger Cub zone worked very well in the game, limiting a team that averages 63 points a game to just 49 and only 40 percent from the field. The Tiger Cubs, on the other hand, only scored 31 points and shot just 31 percent from the floor.

"They average 63 and they play a tough schedule so they are scoring a bunch of points on good teams," Key said. " I think overall our 2-3 zone worked pretty well. At times we let them blow by us but it was a great game to play before sectional in case we get them in the draw."

In the fourth quarter the Stars stalled with the ball and made sure the Tiger Cubs did not get back in the game. Only 13 total points were scored in the quarter and the Tiger Cubs only owned five of those.

Tiger Cub freshman Aubrey Barker was a bright spot in the game, scoring 10 points, and she was the only double digit scorer in the game on her team. The Stars were very athletic and Barker went toe-to-toe with them in terms of athleticism and got in their face all game long.

"We just want to make sure we are not settling," Key said. "We need to make sure that we keep attacking the basket as much as possible and our free throws have not been falling as we would like. If we move the ball like we did tonight and play good defense we will give ourselves a chance. We played as a team the entire night it just got a little away from us tonight."

Greencastle will have senior night on Jan. 28 as it takes on county rival North Putnam at the McAnally Center.

Greencastle 7 12 7 9 - 31

Western Boone 11 14 16 8 - 49

SCORING

Greencastle (31): Barker 4-6 1-1 10, A. White 3-10 1-2 7, Stevens 3-9 0-0 6, Bragg 1-5 0-2 3, Smith 1-6 0-0 3, Burgeson 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 13-42 (3-11) 2-5, 31.

Western Boone (49): J. Hole 4-4 4-4 13, Jones 3-7 7-8 13, Ramey 3-13 1-2 7, Raby 1-1 3-4 5, Vanderpool 2-5 1-2 5, O. Hole 2-5 0-0 4, Gubera 1-2 0-0 2, Wright 0-2 0-0 0, Goerke 0-1 0-0 0. Total: 16-40 (1-8) 16-20, 49.

REBOUNDING (Total-offensive)

Greencastle (24-9): Stevens 6-3, A. White 6-3, Bragg 4-0, Barker 1-0, Burgeson 1-0, Ray 1-0, Team 5-3.

Western Boone (32-11): Jones 9-4, Ramey 8-2, Raby 6-1, Goerke 2-0, Gubera 2-1, J. Hole 2-1, Wright 1-0, Team 2-2.

Assists: GHS 6 (Burgeson 2), WBHS 6 (Vanderpool 4). Steals: GHS 8 (Barker 3), WBHS 8 (O. Hole 3). Blocks: GHS 1 (Stevens) WBHS 1 (Goerke).

Turnovers: GHS 13 , WBHS 11.

Fouls: GHS 14, WBHS 9.