Strong second-half effort falls short for SP girls

Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Alex Bratcher
Banner Graphic/JOEY BENNETT

The Owen Valley Patriots girls’ basketball team came into South Putnam on Monday night ranked No. 5 in Class 3A and sporting a 10-0 record. They dominated the first few minutes of the game, but had to hold off a determined Eagle team in the second half to pick up the victory 60-46 and improve to 11-0.

Owen Valley scored the first 10 points of the game and jumped out to an 18-5 first quarter advantage.

“They came in and hit us in the mouth. They are 10-0 and a good basketball team. They felt like they had to do that (get an early lead) to us,” South Putnam head coach Brian Gardner said.

The Patriots opened the game with two three-pointers and a lay-up as the Eagles were struggling. South called back to back timeouts early in the game as the Patriots were dominating the boards and forcing multiple Eagle turnovers. Lillie Stein finally got the Eagles on the board with a free throw. Owen Valley hit 3-of-5 from long range in the quarter and the Eagles managed only 1-of-13 field goals and had 10 turnovers in the quarter.

“We missed some shots early and they caused some of that. They caused us to be back on our heels a little bit,” Gardner said.

The Patriots continued to put pressure on the Eagles in the first four minutes of the second period. Owen Valley continued to build its lead. The Patriots extended their lead to 29-9 before South was able generate a little offense. South closed the gap to a 31-17 halftime deficit. In the first half, the Eagles only hit 3-of-22 shots from the floor.

“If you are 3-of-22 (field goals) in a half you are not going to win very many games, especially against good teams,” Gardner said.

Eagles found some offensive rhythm behind seven points from Stein and five from Lexi Vanihel in the third quarter. The Eagles began to force some turnovers and attack the basket. South closed the quarter on a 7-2 run cut the lead to 41-33 entering the final period.

The Eagles had turned around some of the problems early. They were hitting shots and forcing the Patriots into turnovers and their first poor shooting quarter (3-of-11). The Eagles had the game within striking distance, finally.

“It showed in the second half the way we are capable of playing. We really attacked them and reversed the roles a little,” Gardner said.

The Eagles still had some fight to them in the fourth period. Stein buried a trey early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 43-36, but would never get any closer.

The Eagles began to run out of gas and couldn’t keep pace with the Patriots. Owen Valley would efficiently extend its lead over the tiring Eagles by hitting 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line late in the game.

“I told the girls when you dig a grave like that, it is so hard to come back. We were running out of air. I was proud of how our team handled the second half. We didn’t back down,” Gardner said.

Payton Cattorini led the Patriots with 16 points.

“They are really, long and athletic. They are one of the few teams that can cause us some problems with that,” Gardner said

Stein led South Putnam with a game-high 19 points and Vanihel added 12 for the Eagles.

The Eagles, now 7-3, will need to regroup by Friday as they will host a Western Indiana Conference game against the West Vigo Vikings and try to improve on their 1-1 Western division record.

OWEN VALLEY (60) – Schafer 2-6 0-1 4, Drake 4-13 2-2 11, Cattorini 6-15 3-3 16, Herrington 4-9 2-2 14, Godwin 3-6 0-2 6, Farris 2-2 1-2 5, Richardson 1-3 0-2 2, Johnson 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 23-56 FG, 8-14 FT, 60 TP.

SOUTH PUTNAM (46) – Bratcher 1-3 0-0 2, Bieghler 1-7 4-4 6, Vanihel 5-7 1-2 12, Capps 3-10 1-2 7, Stein 6-16 4-10 19, Nichols 0-3 0-0 0, Hill 0-1 0-1 0, Custis 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-48 FG, 10-19 FT, 46 TP.

Owen Valley 18 13 10 19 – 60

South Putnam 5 12 16 13 – 46

3-point shooting – OV 6-14 (Drake 1-5, Cattorini 1-3, Herrington 4-5, Richardson 0-1), SP 4-18 (Bieghler 0-3 Vanihel 1-1, Capps 0-2, Stein 3-8, Nichols 0-1, Bratcher 0-2, Custis 0-1) REB – OV 41 (Schafer 7, Drake 5, Cattorini 3, Herrington 2, Godwin 8, Farris 5, Richardson 5, Johnson 1), SP 38 (Nichols 3, Bieghler 5, Vanihel 9, Capps 5, Stein 9, Bratcher 1, Hill 2), FG Pct. – OV 41.1, SP 33.3. FT Pct. – OV 57.1, SP 52.6. Turnovers – OV 12, SP 20.

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  • Still trying to figure out why SP's shooting is so bad game in and game out

    -- Posted by nphs92 on Wed, Dec 13, 2017, at 7:01 AM
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