Tiger Cubs split pair of games with West Vigo

Tiger Cub girls double score on Vikings

The Greencastle girls’ basketball team put it all together Friday night en route to an impressive 62-31 victory over visiting West Vigo at McAnally Center.

The Tiger Cubs got 27 points from its center and seven three-point baskets from perimeter shooters while opening the Western Indiana Conference West Division with a victory.

“I tried to get them to focus a little bit more. I thought they came out and played with a lot of effort. Because we moved the ball well we got some good shots,” Greencastle coach Bradley Key said.

Center Claire Gillen scored 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and made four steals. And when the sophomore needed a break, senior Nailah Ray came on to net nine points and pull down six rebounds.

“We know we can count on Ray. Claire give us a whole lot of athleticism. It’s kind of like a one-two punch; if Claire gets tired we know Ray can give us six-eight points off the bench and some sturdiness inside too. It was another good night of basketball for Ray and Gillen,” Key said

At the same time, Bailey Shuee, another sophomore, knocked down 4-of-8 shots from behind the 3-point line en route to a 14-point effort. Jalyn Duff, Marin Nally and Seelye Stoffregen also hit threes.

“I thought Jalyn Duff played outstanding. That’s the best game we’ve seen her play yet. I thought she moved the ball well, she ran the show well and it made life easier for everyone else, so I’m really happy with Jalyn tonight,” Key said.

The Tiger Cubs closed the first quarter with an 11-2 run to take an 18-8 lead into the second period. Gillen started the run, then Ray hit a free throw. Duff netted a lay up and Ray took a Duff pass for two more points. Gillen scored her 10th point of the quarter and Ray put back a rebound.

Duff stole the ball and netted a layup to open the second period and Greencastle quickly led 22-11. Back-to-back threes by Shuee upped the Tiger Cubs’ lead to 28-13 before the midway point of the quarter. Then Shuee and Duff hit consecutive threes to give the Tiger Cubs a 35-16 lead.

With a 5-5 overall record, Greencastle with host Danville on Tuesday before traveling to South Putnam next Friday for a conference game.

“We got a tough week next week. We just got to keep getting better every day,” Key said.

WEST VIGO (31) — Meehan 1-1 0-0 2, Ennis 2-9 2-4 6, Weir 5-8 2-4 12, Elkins 1-6 0-0 2, Marrs 0-2 0-0 0, Mauk 0-0 0-0 0, Little 1-5 4-7 6, Skelton 0-2 1-4 1, Hall 0-4 0-0 0, Couldry 0-0 0-0 0, Marvel 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 11-40 FG, 9-19 FT, 31 TP.

GREENCASTLE (62) — Shuee 5-11 0-0 14, White 0-3 0-0 0, Gillen 7-10 4-4 18, Duff 3-11 0-0 7, Stoffregen 2-15 1-2 6, Nally 2-7 0-0 5, Stevens 1-3 1-2 3, Ray 3-5 3-4 9, Robinson 0-2 0-2 0, Weliever 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-67 FG, 9-14 FT, 62 TP.

West Vigo 8 13 7 3 — 31

Greencastle 18 19 20 5 — 62

3-point shooting — WV 0-11 (Weir 0-1, Marrs 0-2, Elkins 0-4, Hall 0-4), Greencastle 7-27 (Shuee 4-8, Nally 1-4, Duff 1-5, Stoffregen 1-9, Robinson 0-1). Total fouls — WV 10, Greencastle 18. Fouled out — Nally. Technical fouls — West Vigo (bench). Turnovers — WV 19, Greencastle 8. Rebounds — WV 34 (Little 8, Ennis 7), Greencastle 44 (Gillen 11, Shuee, Stevens, Ray, Duff 6). Steals — WV 4 (Ennis 2), Greencastle 14 (Duff 5, Gillen 4, Stoffregen 3).

Next game — West Vigo (2-6, 0-1 in WIC West) hosts TH North on Tuesday. Greencastle (5-5, 1-0 in WIC West) plays at home Tuesday against Danville.

Tiger Cub boys fall by 12 on cold shooting

A cold shooting night left Greencastle with an 0-1 start in the Western Indiana Conference West Division, as West Vigo handed Greencastle a 42-30 loss at McAnally Center Friday night.

Greencastle dropped to 0-3 on the young season while shooting just 26 percent (10-38) from the floor and a weak 50 percent (8-16) from the free throw line on its homecourt.

“We struggled to shoot tonight. I think we shot 22 percent from the field (according to our stats). Part of it was I didn’t think we necessarily got the best shot every time down the floor, which we alway try to do. Then we just didn’t hit some open shots. We didn’t hit some shots from the free throw line. If you can’t take advantage of those things it hurts when you already struggle to score,” first-year Greencastle coach Bryce Rector said.

Greencastle was led by junior Colin York with eight points.

West Vigo (2-0, 1-0 in WIC West) was paced by 6-5 senior Ty Lautenschlager and Brady Page with 10 points each.

Rector was pleased with Tiger Cubs’ rebounding effort. West Vigo, with three tall seniors starting up front, won the boards 30-26, but it was a battle. Gavin Bollman, a 6-5 sophomore, pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

“That was a concern we had and we worked a lot on it in practice and we bought into it. We worked really hard on the boards,” Rector said.

Greencastle’s Jake Hutcheson scored the opening basket of the night, but the Tiger Cubs hit just one more basket in the opening quarter against West Vigo’s zone defense and turned the ball over four times. West Vigo led 11-4 going into the second period and the Vikings stretched the advantage to 21-11 by halftime.

The Tiger Cubs trailed by 10 most of the third period, but closed the quarter with a 10-3 run to get within four points.

Nick Costin started the run with two points, then J.T. Matthews hit a 15-footer and the Cubs trailed 25-18. After a West Vigo three, Costin hit a three to get the Tiger Cubs within seven, 28-21. And with eight seconds on the clock, York drained a three that cut the deficit to 28-24 going into the fourth quarter.

West Vigo opened the fourth quarter with a 6-2 run when Greencastle hit just 2-of-4 free throws.

Greencastle stayed within reach until the final three minutes when West Vigo extended its lead to double figures.

WEST VIGO (42) — Kernstein 1-4 0-0 3, Sappingfield 4-6 0-0 9, T. Lautenschlager 4-11 2-2 10, Page 4-7 1-1 10, Vickers 2-11 3-4 8, J. Lautenschlager 1-2 0-0 2, Stoner 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-42 FG, 6-7 FT, 42 TP.

GREENCASTLE (30) — Hutcheson 2-3 0-2 4, N. Costin 2-9 0-0 5, Bollman 2-9 2-2 6, Clar 0-0 2-4 2, York 2-10 3-4 8, Matthews 2-7 1-4 5. Totals 10-38 FG, 8-16 FT, 30 TP.

West Vigo 11 10 7 14 — 42

Greencastle 4 7 13 6 — 30

3-point shooting — WV 4-14 (Kernstein 1-1, Sappingfield 1-1, Page 1-2, Vickers 1-8, T. Lautenschlager 0-1), Greencastle 2-9 (York 1-4, N. Costin 1-5). Total fouls: WV 12, Greencastle 11. Turnovers — WV 9, Greencastle 10. Rebounds — WV 30 (Kernstein 7, Sappingfield, T. Lautenschlager 6), Greencastle 26 (Bollman 10, N. Costin 6). Steals — WV 4 (Sappingfield 2), Greencastle 1 (Clar).

Next game — West Vigo (2-0, 1-0 in WIC West) travels to Owen Valley today. Greencastle (0-3, 0-1 in WIC West) plays at South Putnam on Friday.