Menu
Eagles start strongly, hold off Edgewood for win
The South Putnam Eagle girls’ basketball team stormed out to a 12-0 lead to open the game against the Edgewood Mustangs on Friday night.
The Eagles then held off a furious Mustang rally in the fourth quarter for a 57-52 victory to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
“We had a lot of energy to start the game. We were able to get out and get some easy baskets,” South Putnam head coach Brian Gardner said.
South Putnam scored in a variety of ways to start the game.
Caitlin Capps opened the scoring with a rebound basket and Lillie Stein scored on two straight layups. Miranda Bieghler hit three throws sandwiched around a Stein trey before the Mustangs were able to get on the board.
Edgewood’s first score came with 1:55 left in the period. Lexi Vanihel ended the quarter with a three-pointer of her own and South led 15-6 heading into the second period.
Stein opened the second quarter with an old-fashioned 3-point play to boost the lead to 18-6, but the Mustangs kept battling back. They scored the next six points to get back in the game, but Vanihel scored seven of her 16 points in the period to keep the Eagles with a comfortable 27-15 lead at halftime.
“Lexi had a really great night. She struggled shooting against Rockville, but comes back and goes 7-7 from the free throw line,” Gardner said.
The Eagles continued to put the pressure on the Mustangs and used the third quarter to extend the lead even further. Bieghler hit two big 3-pointers in the third period as South had six players score in the quarter to extend its lead to 47-31 heading into the final stanza.
South pounded the Mustangs on the boards in the quarter. The Eagles outrebounded Edgewood 10-5, including four offensive rebounds in the quarter to prevent the Mustangs from getting any closer.
“That’s (rebounding) big for us. We talk about that a lot in practice. We boxed out well and went and got the ball.” Gardner said. “For three quarters ,we handled their pressure and did things we wanted to do.
“We put ourselves in a position win the game.”
The Eagles needed most of the cushion they had built up. The Mustangs came out in the fourth quarter and used a pair of 7-0 runs to close the gap to 53-47 with 3:08 left to play.
South stemmed the runs with a 3-pointer by Stein put the Eagles up 56-47 with just over two minutes to play and Bieghler hit a couple of free throws late in the quarter to seal the game late.
“We were 16-of-24 from the free throw line tonight. We missed some late in the game, but the really good thing is that we went to the line 24 times. That is really good for us,” Gardner said.
The Eagles had overcome some offensive mistakes in the fourth quarter. South hit just one-of-three field goals and went 7-of-12 from the line, including 2-of- 8 in the last three minutes. The Eagle defense clamped down and limited the Mustangs to just three points in the final two minutes.
“The fourth quarter we slowed down too much. We wanted to make sure we don’t do anything wrong,” Gardner said. “When you do that, you are not looking to attack. Our defense stepped up and made it difficult for them.
“We didn’t give up easy things. They made some tough shots.”
Stein and Vanihel led the way for the Eagles with 16 points each, while Bieghler added 12 for South.
Melea Shockney had a game-high 23 points for the Mustangs while Taylor Minnick chipped in with 10.
The Eagles are off until they host the Putnam County Classic next weekend. The Eagles will take on the Cloverdale Clovers in the second game of the tournament on Friday night.
EDGEWOOD (52) – Phillips 1-8 2-2 4, Shockney 8-15 3-3 23, Minnick 2-7 6-7 10, Meyer 3-6 0-2 6, Acuff 3-5 1-2 7, Gardiner 0-1 0-0 0, Huebner 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 0-0 2-2 2 Totals 17-43 FG, 13-18 FT, 52 TP.
SOUTH PUTNAM (57) – Nichols 1-2 0-0 2, Bieghler 3-9 4-8 12, Vanihel 4-9 7-7 16, Capps 3-7 1-1 7, Stein 6-15 2-6 16, Bratcher 1-2 2-2 4, Hill 0-2 0-0 0, Custis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-46 FG, 16-24 FT, 57 TP.
Edgewood 6 9 16 21 – 52
South Putna 15 12 20 10 – 57
3-point shooting – EHS 4-13 (Shockney 4-7, Phillips 0-4, Minnick 0-1, Acuff 0-1), SP 5-16 (Bieghler 2-4, Vanihel 1-4, Capps 0-1, Stein 2-6, Hill 0-1) Rebounds – EHS 27 (Phillips 3, Shockney 2, Minnick 5, Meyer 2, Acuff 9, Huebner 1), SP 34 (Nichols 2, Bieghler 5, Vanihel 7, Capps 3, Stein 9, Bratcher 3, Hill 2), FG Pct. – EHS 39.5, SP 39.1. FT Pct. – EHS 72.2, SP 66.7. Turnovers – EHS 17, SP 16.
In other basketball:
• Cloverdale 81, Shakamak 30 — At Cloverdale, the Clovers poured in 31 first-quarter points and stayed undefeated by blowing out the Lakers.
Cloverdale led 51-15 at halftime and 74-22 after three quarters.
Sammie Shrum celebrated her birthday with 26 points, four rebounds, four steals and four assists.
Tori Combs had 11 points and 15 rebounds, adding six steals and six assists. Abby Walker contributed 14 points, Arianna McCracken had 10 and Hailey Thomas and Lakkain Price each added nine.
“Our girls came out with a great mindset and were aggressive right off the tip,” Cloverdale coach Matthew Langdon said. “Sammie came out and got some quick baskets right off the bat. We did a better job of not settling for outside shots and getting to the line than we have.”
Langdon liked the balance his team had after Shrum’s 26.
“We had almost six with double digits, and it’s great to see that balance,” he said. “It’s been a good couple of weeks for us, but we understand it’s about og get much tougher.”
Both the Clovers and South Putnam will enter this weekend’s county tourney undefeated.
“We have to work hard this week to get ready for the county and a familiar opponent in South Putnam,” he said. “We have a lot of respect for coach [Brian] Gardner and his program, as well as the girls who play there.
“South Putnam is playing well and is going to be ready to play,” Langdon added. “
SHAKAMAK (30) — Buseback 1 2-2 4, Huddleston 0 1-2 1, Pierce 1 0-0 2, Gamble 1 0-0 2, Hunkle 5 0-1 10, Yeryar 0 0-2 0, Messmer 1 2-3 5, Baum 1 0-0 2, Tonneson 1 0-0 2, Gilbert 1 0-1 2. Totals 12 FT, 5-11 FT, 30 TP
CLOVERDALE (81) — McCracken 2-9 4-6 11, Shrum7-9 9-12 26, Wade 1-4 0-0 2, Walker 5-13 0-0 14, Couch 0-0 0-0 0, Combs 4-9 3-4 11, Thomas 4-9 1-2 9, Shoemaker 0-0 0-0 0, Price 4-6 1-2 9, Shedron 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 29-64 FG, 18-28 FT, 81 TP
Shakamak 7 8 7 8 — 30
Cloverdale 31 20 23 7 — 81
3-point shooting — Shakamak (Messmer 1), Cloverdale 5-20 (McCracken 0-1, Shrum 1-3, Wade 0-1, Walker 4-12, Thomas 0-3).
• Beech Grove 68, Greencastle 40 — The Hornets scored 30 points in the first quarter and cruised over the Tiger Cubs.
Beech Grove led 40-14 at halftime and 52-26 after three quarters.
Jalyn Duff led Greencastle with 12 points, while Rose White added 10.
BEECH GROVE (68) — Echols 0 0-0 0, Cardenas 13 1-1 32, Crawford 1 0-0 2, Chandler 1 0-0 2, Giller 4 4-6 14, Storms 4 0-0 9, Lee 3 0-0 7, O’Connor 0 0-0 0, McGregor 1 0-0 2, Hamm 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 FG, 5-7 FT, 68 TP
GREENCASTLE (40) — Trigg 0 0-0 0, Stoffregen 2 3-4 7, Robinson 0 0-1 0, White 4 2-4 10, Nally 1 0-0 3, Richardson 0 0-0 0, Shuee 1 0-0 3, Duff 3 6-9 12, Stevens 2 1-4 5, Doan 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 FG, 12-22 FT, 40 TP
Beech Grove 30 10 12 16 — 68
Greencastle 6 8 12 14 — 40
3-point goals — Nally, Shuee, Cardenas 5, Giller 2, Storms, Lee.
• North Putnam 2, Monrovia 0 — At Monrovia, the Cougars lost 44-14 on Thursday but were awarded the victory via forfeit when the Bulldogs used a player for an excessive number of quarters.
Payton Lyons led the Cougars with six points.
NORTH PUTNAM (14) — Simmerman 0-2 0-0 0, Young 0-4 0-0 0, Osburn 0-2 3-4 3, Lyons 2-9 0-5 6, Day 0-1 0-0 0, Gibson 0-2 0-0 0, Tennis 0-7 0-0 0, Sims 0-6 0-0 0, Runnells 2-3 0-0 5, O’Neal 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 4-36 FG, 3-11 FT, 14 TP
MONROVIA (44) — Payne 3-10 0-0 6, Grimes 4-6 0-0 10, Seats 3-6 1-2 7, Smith 4-8 0-0 8, Swafford 3-11 0-0 8, Wilkerson 0-2 0-0 0, Craig 0-3 0-0 0, Whalen 0-3 2-4 2. Totals 17-49 FG, 3-6 44
3-point goals — Runnells, Lyons 2, Grimes 2, Swafford 2.