Eagles defeat T-Birds for 16th win of season

Wednesday, January 24, 2018
South Putnam's Miranda Bieghler defends against North Central freshman Courtney Williams during Monday night's game at Farmersburg.
B.J. Hargis photo

FARMERSBURG — South Putnam has now won eight of nine games after a 62-58 victory over North Central in a high school girls’ basketball game on Monday night.

The Lady Eagles snapped a six-game winning streak by the host LadyBirds, who fell to 13-8.

South Putnam improved to 16-5.

“They are one of the best teams on our schedule,” said North Central coach Joey Davidson. “What I liked was we rallied from down 10 at the start of the fourth quarter and got it to one in the final minutes.

“The girls really battled and played hard.”

South Putnam, which never trailed in the final 30 minutes, seemed to find an answer each time that North Central rallied.

The Ladybirds trimmed the deficit to 52-51 after a putback by Averi Davidson with three minutes and four seconds remaining.

A jumper from the right wing by Rachel Shroyer cut South Putnam’s edge to 54-53 just 26 seconds later.

Davidson, who finished with 17 points, made 1 of 2 foul shots as North Central trailed 56-54 with 2:08 to play.

Lillie Stein of South Putnam nailed a triple with 100 seconds left as the Lady Eagles went ahead 59-54.

Miranda Bieghler made a pair of freebies and Stein made 1 of 3 in the final minute as visitors held on the win.

“They have to feel fortunate to get out of here with a win,” said Davidson. “We got within one on Rachel’s jumper, but we could never get the lead.”

South Putnam coach Brian Gardner was happy with how his team played against a quality opponent.

“The girls did a great job of playing on the road on a Monday night,” Gardner said. “We did a good job of defending the three, and we also did a great job of attacking the rim and rebounding on the offensive end. “

Stein had a game-high 20 points to go with six rebounds. Bieghler and Caitlyn Capps each scored 12 points and Lexi Vanihel added 10 and nine rebounds.

Shroyer had 16 points and nine rebounds. Jocelyn Cox had 13 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.

Courtney Williams tallied 10 points, four assists and four rebounds.

South Putnam won the JV game 54-12.

South Putnam will conclude the regular season on Thursday at Cloverdale.

SOUTH PUTNAM (62) — Lexi Vanihel 5 0-0 10, Caitlin Capps 6 0-0 12, Lillie Stein 8 1-3 20, Miranda Bieghler 4 2-2 12, Alex Bratcher 2 2-2 6, Ally Nichols 0 0-0 0, Aubrey Hill 0 0-0 0, Chloe Custis 0 2-2 2. Totals 25 7-8 62.

NORTH CENTRAL (58) — Emma Baker 1 0-0 2, Rachel Shroyer 7 2-5 16, Averi Davidson 4 7-8 17, Jocelyn Cox 4 5-6 13, Courtney Williams 3 3-4 10, Brinley Stone 0 0-0 0, Karina Valentine 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 17-23 58.

South Putnam 19 9 18 16 — 62

North Central 11 13 12 22 — 58

3-pointers — South Putnam 5 (Stein 3, Bieghler 2), North Central 3 (Davidson 2, Williams). Fouls — South Putnam 14, North Central 13. Fouled out — Baker. Technical foul — Capps. Rebounds — South Putnam 42, North Central 39. Turnovers — South Putnam 18, North Central 21.

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