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Tiger Cubs fall to TH South in OT
TERRE HAUTE — Greencastle entered Wednesday night’s girls’ basketball game at Terre Haute South with really nothing to lose.
The Braves were a new addition to the Tiger Cub schedule, in an attempt to get a game in before tonight’s huge Western Indiana Conference game at Northview.
Greencastle played loosely, battling South to a 16-16 tie at the first stop and taking a 30-23 lead at the half, before falling 54-48 in overtime.
“We didn’t come here scared that we were playing a 4A school,” coach Bradley Key said. “We came in here to play Greencastle basketball, and for 3.5 quarters I thought we did that. The start of the second half was a little slow, but overall our effort was great.”
Senior Gracie Smith and sophomore reserve Seelye Stoffregen man- ned the top of the Greencastle 2-3 zone defense for much of the game, and caused the Braves a lot of problems.
“Gracie was outstanding on defense again, and she and Seelye did a great job of keeping them out of the lane,” Key said.
South took an early 12-6 lead as Amani Brown, a sophomore averaging 24.4 points per game entering the contest ranking her in the top 10 in the state, had a basket and two free throws and teammate Kayla Hughes added two baskets.
Greencastle senior Nailah Ray provided a boost for the Tiger Cubs over the rest of the quarter, scoring a basket and three free throws to with a Stoffregen trey and a Smith hoop for a tie at the first stop.
Smith started the second quarter with a steal and a layup, and followed that with a trey for a five-point lead.
Reserve Layna Robinson contributed four points in the period to support Smith’s five, as the elated Tiger Cubs took a seven-point lead into the locker room.
Brown got to work to open the second half, hitting three straight hoops to quickly tie the score.
The Tiger Cubs did not score until 3:11 left in the third quarter, on a basket and free throw from Bailey Shuee, and a Claire Gillen basket on an assist from Jalyn Duff with 23 seconds left in the third period gave Greencastle a 35-34 lead at the final stop.
Brown scored five more points in the first two minutes of the fourth period as the score remained close, and Stoffregen hit two free throws with 1:15 left to provide the final two points and force the overtime period.
The Tiger Cubs got just two Duff free throws, a Smith basket and one Gillen free throw in the extra period.
Smith’s hoop brought them within one at 48-47 with 1:47 left, but Brown hit a trey to break the game open for good.
“They have a tremendous point guard, and we did everything we could to limit her — and she still had 28,” Key said. “What a great experience for sectional time. We are going to play teams of their caliber, and this will help us to get ready for that.
GREENCASTLE (48) – Gillen 2-2 5-6 9, Shuee 1-5 3-3 5, White 1-3 0-0 2, Smith 5-13 0-0 11, Duff 0-1 2-2 2, Ray 3-4 4-5 10, Nally 0-1 0-0 0, Stoffregen 1-6 2-2 5, Robinson 1-1 2-2 4. Totals 14-36 FG, 18-20 FT, 48 TP
TERRE HAUTE SOUTH (54) – Brown 11-22 4-7 28, Etling 2-5 0-2 4, Russell 1-2 0-1 2, England 1-7 3-4 5, Hughes 5-7 1-1 11, Dillion 0-0 0-0 0, McMasters 1-2 0-0 2, Stuck 0-0 0-0 0, Snowden 0-0 0-0 0, Edinburgh 1-1 0-0 2, Rogers 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-47 FG, 8-16 FT, 54 TP
Greencastle 16 14 5 8 5 – 48
TH South 16 7 11 9 11 – 54
3-point shooting – Greencastle 2-15 (Shuee 0-3, Smith 1-4, Duff 0-1, Nally 0-1, Stoffregen 1-5), THS 2-4 (Brown 2-3, Russell 0-1). Turnovers – THS 12, Greencastle 21.