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Clovers break drought with Cubs
CLOVERDALE — Matthew Langdon had never beaten Greencastle in his seven years as Cloverdale girls’ basketball coach going into Tuesday night’s game.
After falling behind 9-0 midway through the first quarter, that fact didn’t appear it would be changing.
“It didn’t look good,” Langdon admitted.
After trailing 13-6 following the first period, the Clovers battled back within 22-21 at the half on a banked 3-point shot by Abby Walker.
Cloverdale dominated the second half, scoring the first 12 points and cruising from that point to a 55-35 victory over their county rival.
“We have so much respect for Greencastle and coach [Bradley] Key, and how smart their players are,” Langdon said. “We have the athletic ability, but at times we are not smart with the ball or on defense. We just preached to our girls to be smart like they are.
“I just told them if our shots started to fall, we would be OK.”
The shots definitely didn’t fall early, as the Clovers hit just 3 of 18 in the first quarter and 4 of 10 in the second quarter.
They bounced back to hit 13 of 26 over the final two periods, however.
Leading scorer Tori Combs was held to just four points in the first half, but came out and scored seven of the points in the 12-0 run to break things open.
Arianna McCracken added a basket and Walker had another trey, and the Clovers were up 33-22 with 2:04 left in the period.
Greencastle bogged down its efforts with turnovers, committing 12 in the first half and adding six more in the second half.
Rose White hit a pair of baskets and Allison Stevens added another to bring the Cubs within 35-28, but Walker swished another trey at the third quarter buzzer for a 38-28 lead.
The Cubs only managed seven points in the final period, while the Clovers opened the period on an 11-1 run.
"Coach Langdon did a great job of having his team prepared," Greencastle coach Bradley Key said. "We got out early on them and they fought back and forced us into a lot of bad plays.
"We didn't shoot the ball well but a lot of that is because of Cloverdale forcing us to take bad shots."
Hailey Thomas had a trey, two free throws and a basket to key the fourth-quarter effort for the Clovers.
Sammie Shrum led all scorers with 17 points for Cloverdale, while Combs added 15 poitns and 18 rebounds and Walker and Thomas each contributed nine points.
White was the only Tiger Cub in double figures with 16 points, while Seelye Stoffregen added eight. White also grabbed 16 rebounds.
The Clovers improved to 10-2 with the win, while Greencastle had its nine-game winning streak snapped and now stands at 9-4.
Greencastle will get back on the court on Thursday by hosting Cascade.
Cloverdale is idle until Saturday until competing in the Frankfort Hot Dog Classic, which also includes Covington and South Newton.
“We are really proud of this win,” Langdon said. “Mostly because of the respect that we have for Greencastle.”
GREENCASTLE (35) — Duff 1-4 0-1 2, White 8-20 0-0 16, Stevens 2-3 0-1 4, Shuee 0-9 2-2 2, Stoffregen 3-8 1-2 8, Nally 1-8 0-0 3, Robinson 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 15-56 FG, 3-6 FT, 35 TP
CLOVERDALE (55) — Combs 7-13 1-4 15, Shrum 6-20 5-7 17, Walker 3-9 0-0 9, Thomas 3-7 2-2 9, McCracken 1-3 0-0 2, Price 0-1 3-6 3, Wade 0-1 0-0 0, Shoemaker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 FG, 11-19 FT, 55 TP
Greencastle 13 9 6 7 — 35
Cloverdale 6 15 17 17 — 55
3-point shooting — Greencastle 2-19 (Duff 0-1, Shuee 0-6, Stoffregen 1-4, Nally 1-8), Cloverdale 4-19 (Combs 0-1, Shrum 0-7, Walker 3-8, Thomas 1-2, McCracken 0-1, Wade 0-1).