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Girls’ teams ready for county event
The pairings for tonight’s Putnam County girls’ basketball tournament at South Putnam match two teams that have had difficult starts to the season in the opener, followed by a game featuring teams who have only lost once between them.
Greencastle (1-4) and North Putnam (0-4) meet in the 6 p.m. opener, while Cloverdale (3-1) and South Putnam (2-0) play in the nightcap. The losing teams will play at 6 p.m. on Saturday in the consolation game, while the winner battle for the championship at 7:30.
Here is a look at each game:
Greencastle vs. North Putnam
The Tiger Cubs won 18 games this year, but lost some key pieces from that team and did not pick up their first win of the year until a 55-51 victory over Southmont. They led by 16 points after three quarters in that game, and had to hold on to win.
No one could deny the difficulty of Greencastle’s schedule to this point, opening the season with four of the best programs who appear on the schedule. The four teams to defeat the Tiger Cubs are 15-2 overall.
Senior Mia Stevens is sidelined by a knee injury, but sophomore Claire Gillen has stepped up and led the team in scoring most nights.
Coach Bradley Key knows that his team has a “large target” on its back for its recent success in the tourney.
“We have won two or three in a row, and we are just working on getting better,” he said. “We’ve got a long way to go to get where we need to be.”
Key has respect for his bench opponent tonight, who coached at Greencastle from 2001-05.
“We know Jarrod Duff is a great coach,” Key said. “He is defensive-minded and will throw a lot at us.
“We’ve got great coaches in the county.”
Key thinks the atmosphere of the tourney will again be exciting.
“I am excited about the tourney,” he said. “Last year’s county was super exciting, and I think it will be competitive among all four schools.
“It will be a great atmosphere,” Key added. “Playing in the small gym, with the crowd rocking, is great.”
Duff took over a program that lost its leading scorer and rebounder (Taylor Nauert) from a team which won only three games last year.
The Cougars have battled turnover problems in their four losses this year, but Duff is encouraged that the past two games went better than the first two. He accepts the fact that his team should be considered an underdog in the tourney.
“We’re just worried about trying to get better every game,” he said. “Greencastle got its first win on Tuesday. They’ve kind of struggled a little bit, but they have good players.
“Coach Key has been coaching there for a while, and they have an established program,” Duff added. “We’re going to have to play well to be competitive, and we’re going to have our hands full with Greencastle.”
When Duff accepted the Cougar head coaching position last spring, he knew the day would come when he would have to coach against his own daughter.
That day is today.
Jalyn Duff is the sophomore starting point guard for the Tiger Cubs.
“Coaching against her is going to be tough,” he said. “One, she’s a good player. Any time you have to coach against your own kid, it’s tough.
“We’re going to go out and be competitive against her and the rest of her team.”
Coach Duff echoes the sentiment of tonight’s coaching opponent on the prospects for a good tourney.
“When I coached at Greencastle before, girls’ basketball in Putnam County was about as good as it’s ever been,” he said. “North Putnam went to back-to-back final fours with Jim Spencer coaching them, South Putnam had Jessica Canary and that group and we won 31 games over a two-year stretch. It’s pretty good again.”
Cloverdale vs. South Putnam
South Putnam lost 55-54 in double overtime to Greencastle in last year’s county championship game, Brian Gardner’s first as head coach of the Eagles.
He anticipates another great event this year.
“The county tournament is always a competitive and exciting atmosphere for the girls,” Gardner said. “It is a great opportunity to see who is playing the best basketball early in the season. The crowds are always very good each night with a strong student section for each school. The girls are playing for the Paddle, which is a great honor to have for your school.”
Gardner’s team did not open its season until Nov. 8 after having its first game postponed due to the opponent having an extended volleyball season.
The Eagles went on the road to win a close game at Rockville and a difficult contest at Edgewood, and will make their homecourt debut tonight.
“Our girls have done a great job of defending this year and stepping up to the challenges that they have faced,” Gardner said. “Playing Edgewood last week and beating them down at Edgewood really showed our toughness and the character of our team.”
Aubrey Barker, a transfer from Greencastle, leads the Eagles in scoring at 13 points per game, while Miranda Bieghler scores 10.5 per game and Lillie Stein adds 7.5.
Gardner has seen Cloverdale play this season, and is impressed with its squad.
“Cloverdale is very young and athletic and has been scoring the ball very well early in the year,” he said. “They have done a good job of forcing the tempo and creating turnovers. It will be very important to take care of the ball against their trapping zone defenses.
“I believe that the county is very wide open this year with all the teams able to make a run. Greencastle has won it the last few years and it will be up to us, Cloverdale and North Putnam to take the title away from them.”
Clover coach Matthew Langdon has very few seniors on his roster, and several freshmen and sophomores in key roles.
The only blemish on the Clovers’ record is a homecourt loss to Riverton Parke.
Judging Cloverdale is difficult, since the three teams the Clovers have defeated are just 2-13 on the season.
Saturday’s game at Shakamak showed Langdon a lot about his team, both good and bad.
“It was a close game at the half, but the girls did what they needed to do in the second half,” said Langdon, whose team won 78-55. “Abby Walker caught fire with three threes in the third quarter, and Sammie Shrum did a great job of driving.”
The Clovers got in early foul trouble against Shakamak, but didn’t miss a beat.
“It was good to see our bench come in and play well,” he said. “We had 22 bench points, and they were able to maintain the lead. It was a good step for us to be able to trust that depth.”
Alyssa Garo of Shakamak scored 33 points, which didn’t please Langdon.
“We have to do some things defensively to keep that from happening – especially in the county,” he said. “We need to keep people out of the paint and work on drives to the basket.
“We are going to face a gritty South Putnam team that is ready to be county champions,” Langdon added. “We have to get ready for a quality team and well-coached team. If everything goes right, maybe we can find ourselves playing for a championship on Saturday night.”
Walker leads the team in scoring at 16.5 points per game, while Tori Combs averages 13.3 and Shrum scores 11 per game. Combs grabs 9.5 rebounds per game, while Shrum averages 8.0.
Freshman point guard Hailey Thomas has dished out 23 assists against only six turnovers.
Putnam County Tournament
At South Putnam
Today
6 p.m. — Greencastle (1-4) vs. North Putnam (0-4)
7:30 p.m. — Cloverdale (3-1) vs. South Putnam (2-0)
Saturday
6 p.m. — Today’s losers in consolation game
7:30 p.m. — Today’s winners in championship game