Clovers have tough route to first crown

Monday, January 29, 2018
Having lost to South Putnam in the 2017 sectional final and just last week, Tori Combs (31) and the Cloverdale Clovers hope for the chance to regain the upper hand on Caitlin Capps and the Eagles in this week's sectional. Before they get the chance, the Clovers will have get past Western Boone in first round action Tuesday evening at Cascade.
Banner Graphic/JOEY BENNETT

When sectional play starts at Cascade tonight, Putnam County’s three teams are at different historical stages.

North Putnam has not won a girls’ sectional title since 2003, and is realistically a year or two away from title contention — but with much optimism based upon this year’s eight wins in the regular season (after winning three games on the court last season).

South Putnam will be looking to repeat its 2017 title, while Cloverdale is looking for its first-ever girls’ basketball sectional crown.

Here is a look at each team:

North Putnam

The Cougars play the host Cadets in tonight’s opener.

The teams didn’t play in the regular season, and Cascade has a deceiving 10-12 record that includes wins over both Greencastle, Tri-West, South Putnam and Northview after starting the season 0-6.

North Putnam coach Jarrod Duff knows his team has a tough opponent tonight, but wants his team to play tough — the team’s motto — regardless of the outcome.

“We have to play one of the best, maybe the best team in our sectional in Cascade,” he said. “We just want to compete like we are capable and we will see how we do.”

Cloverdale

Coach Matthew Langdon has directed the Clovers to a school-record 17 victories, and has just one senior in his starting lineup.

He is hoping to take a page from South Putnam’s book a year ago for even better tourney success than last year’s runnerup finish.

Last season, the Clovers defeated South Putnam 73-55 in their regular-season finale.

The Eagles recovered, and eight days later pulled out a 47-45 win over the Clovers in the sectional championship game.

“We have talked to our girls about teams being in similar situations, and about how South Putnam overcame a big loss in the last game last year with a tough road ahead of them,” Langdon said. “I feel it did make them stronger last year. All we need to do is to focus on WeBo and get a big win and push us to maybe do something big here.”

The Clovers play a Western Boone team tonight that is moving down from Class 3A due to sectional realignment, and has the state’s seventh-leading scorer in Madison Jones.

The winner meets South Putnam on Friday, and that winner will likely meet the host Cadets in the finals.

“We’re not looking ahead,” he said. “We would love to play South Putnam in the second round, but Western Boone has our full attention.

“They are a Cascade-type of team whose record doesn’t show how good they are. We need to come out and play well, and come out with a win and go from there.”

South Putnam

The Eagles have been one of the most consistent teams in the sectional field from start to finish, losing consecutive games only once in the regular season.

Coach Brian Gardner is hoping his team continues to build upon its 9-1 record since Christmas.

“It doesn’t matter what you do in the regular season, you have to prepare yourself to get ready in the sectional,” he said. “This group should understand that. Sometimes the team with the best record in the sectional doesn’t get to win it.”

Gardner continues to stress that his team needs to do the “little things” such as blocking out in order to have a chance at a repeat title.

“We want to continue to play the right way and play our kind of basketball,” he said. “Getting the bye only means you have to play one less game to win the sectional, but you’re still going to have to play good teams to do it.

“We’ve been doing that all year, so we’re just going to have to continue to strive to do that.”

Gardner is proud of his four seniors — a pair of 1,000-point scorers in Lillie Stein and Miranda Bieghler, forward Ally Nichols and Maddie McHugh (who was injured and missed the season.)

“I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished this year,” he said. “We’re just going to try to finish this thing off.”

South Putnam plays the second game on Friday against the winner of tonight’s Cloverdale-Western Boone game, and Gardner knows a rematch with the county rivals is a real possibility.

“That’s a great basketball team in that other locker room,” he said after the regular-season finale. “Matthew does a great job with them, and if we play them on Friday night I know they’ll be ready for us.”

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