Second quarter buries Tiger Cubs in 58-32 loss at Cascade
CLAYTON — The relatively-inexperienced Greencastle Tiger Cubs’ girls’ basketball team opened its season on the road against an experienced Cascade Cadet team.
The Cadets outscored the Cubs 22-4 in the second quarter en route to a 58-32 victory in a contest of Western Indiana Conference teams.
“We have a lot of new people in the lineup. We lost Mia Stevens to a knee injury in practice. That is a two-and-a-half-year starter we didn’t have. We didn’t make enough plays,” Greencastle head coach Bradley Key said.
The Tiger Cubs opened with only three players on the court with much varsity experience, but showed promise with a competitive first quarter, trailing just 12-9.
“I thought at times we completed some plays that bad teams cannot. That shows me we have what it takes to be a good team,” Key said.
Cascade scored the first 15 points in the second quarter, turning up the defensive pressure and forcing eight Tiger Cub turnovers in the quarter.
The balanced Cadets got contributions from all of their starters in the quarter finished the half with deep last second three-pointer to lead 34-13 going into the break.
“We have been talking the last couple of weeks about needing to play at a high level all the time, not just a few plays. Against a team like that you have to do all the little things right,” Key said.
Cascade used a 10-2 run to start the second half, extending its lead to 44-17. That streak put the game out of reach, as the Cadets continued to apply defensive pressure to the young Cubs.
Greencastle got no closer than 18 points for the rest of the game.
The Cubs turned the ball over 28 times in the game and managed to hit only 1-of-16 from the behind the three-point arc. In comparison, the Cadets had 18 turnovers, but only nine through the first three quarters.
“That Cascade team is a good team. They are going to win a lot of games this year,” Key said.
Cascade placed four players in double figures. Hannah Rasnake led all scorers with 15 points, while Olivia Bryant scored 12 points and Makayla Collier and Bayleigh Walker each had 10.
Greencastle was led in scoring by sophomore Claire Gillen with 12 points in her first extended varsity action. Nailah Ray added eight points and Jalyn Duff scored seven for the Tiger Cubs.
Greencastle must recover quickly, and the schedule gets no easier, as the Tiger Cubs travel to Edgewood on tonight for another non-conference game against a WIC Eastern Division team.
GREENCASTLE (32) – Stoffregen 0-4 0-0 0, Robinson 0-2 0-0 0, White 0-1 1-4 1, Weliever 0-0 0-0 0, Shuee 0-1 0-0 0, Duff 3-6 0-0 7, A.Stevens 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 1-11 2-2 4, Gillen 5-6 2-4 12, Ray 3-7 2-2 8. Totals 12-38 FG, 7-12 FT, 32 TP.
CASCADE (58) – Collier 3-10 2-2 10, Gross 0-0 0-0 0, O. Bryant 5-10, 0-0 12, Rasnake 6-11 0-0 15, Norris 3-6 0-2 6, S. Bryant 0-0 0-0 0, E. Bryant 1-5 3-4 5, Batts 0-2 0-0 0, Cleveland 0-2 0-0 0, Walker 4-8 2-2 10, Hostetler 0-4 0-0 0, Church 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-58 FG, 7-10 FT, 58 TP.
Greencastle 9 4 10 9 – 32
Cascade 12 22 17 7 – 58
3-point shooting – GHS 1-16 (Duff 1-2, Ray 0-1, Smith 0-5, Stoffregen 0-4, White 0-1, Robinson 0-2, Shuee 0-1), CHS 7-26 (O. Bryant 2-5, Collier 2-7, Rasnake 3-8, Walker 0-1, Hostetler 0-1, Cleveland 0-2, Batts 0-1, Norris 0-1) FG Pct. – GHS 31.7, CHS 37.9. FT Pct. – GHS 58.3, CHS 70.0. Turnovers – GHS 28, CHS 18.
JV game – Greencastle 35, Cascade 25.
Next game — Greencastle (0-1) travels to Edgewood tonight.