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Tiger Cubs improve to 2-0 with victory at Edgewood
ELLETTSVILLE — Greencastle’s girls had to know their game at Edgewood on Saturday night wouldn’t be as easy as their 28-point win over Cascade two days earlier, and it wasn’t.
Edgewood roared out to a 16-9 lead after one period, as the Tiger Cubs hit just three of 16 field goal attempts, but Greencastle controlled the game the rest of the way and finished with a 55-42 win to improve to 2-0 on the season.
“In the first quarter, I don’t think we knew what we were in defensively,” Greencastle coach Tod Windlan said. “It was a discombobulated start to the game. What I was most proud of was when we got in early foul trouble with Ella [Shields] and Allison [Stevens] that we were able to weather the storm, make a run and take the lead at halftime.”
Edgewood took an early 8-3 lead, and the Cubs cut the gap to 8-6 before the Mustangs established their seven-point lead at the first stop.
Stevens went to work in the second quarter, scoring eight of her game-high 22 points to help bring her team back.
The pesky Mustangs wouldn’t go away quietly, though, and still led 25-21 on a banked 3-pointer by sophomore Taylor Minnick. Greencastle scored the final five points of the half to take a one-point lead at intermission, getting a Madison Rodgers basket on an assist from Bailey Shuee, a Sydney Doan free throw and a Stevens basket on an assist from Seelye Stoffregen.
Greencastle extended its lead to as much as 35-31 on a pair of Stoffregen free throws with 2:50 left in the third period, but the Mustangs chipped a little off that lead and trailed 37-34 at the final stop.
The Cubs got a 5-0 run early in the final period to give themselves a little breathing room, as Stevens had a pair of baskets sandwiched around an Ella Shields free throw.
A pair of Minnick free throws with 2:53 cut Greencastle’s lead to 48-42, with Stevens fouling out on the play. The Cubs scored the final seven points of the game, however, on a Jalyn Duff free throw, an Ella Shields basket and four straight free throws from Mia Shields and Duff in the final minute.
Windlan was happy his team was able to stay undefeated, but can quickly identify several specific areas of improvement necessary as his team faces one of its toughest weeks of the year.
Defending Western Indiana Conference champion Owen Valley comes to McAnally Center tonight to meet the Cubs, while defending sectional champion Benton Central – a new addition to the schedule this year – plays at Greencastle on Saturday afternoon.
The Cubs finished second to those two teams in the conference and sectional races.
“Until we hit the last four free throws of the game we were under 50 percent from the free throw line,” Windlan noted. “We were 0 for 8 from the 3-point range, and when you shoot that poorly and you still win by 13, you have to feel good about some things. But we have a lot to work on, that’s for sure.”
Windlan is reassuring his team that the season has just begun, and there is a long way to go. He knows that the tough pair of games this week will be able to tell his team a lot about itself.
“If this was January and we were doing this, I would be concerned,” he said. “If we just keep improving, I think by mid-December we will be a good basketball team. There were some good things I saw, too, and some low spots. You expect that running a whole new system.”
The Cubs were able to force Edgewood into 20 turnovers – including 12 in the first half – but needed to play more 3-2 zone than Windlan would like in order to keep the Mustangs from driving to the basket.
“We’ll look at the tape and make some adjustments,” Windlan said. “We have two quality opponents coming up, and that will show us where we are. We are taking a little bit of a step up the stairs. Edgewood is a little bit better than Cascade, in my mind, and the two opponents this week are better than Edgewood.”
Specific things that Windlan and his staff will address include the free throw shooting (17 of 29) and entry of the ball into the offense.
“Entering the ball in our offense has to get better,” he said. “We were picking up the dribble at halfcourt, and you can’t start any offense from that far out. We have to shoot free throws better, and defensively we have to know our rotations better.”
Stevens added eight rebounds to her 22 points, and got double-figure support from Ella Shields with 11. Stoffregen added eight and Duff had seven.
Freshman Chelbie Anderson led Edgewood with 16 points, while Kaylee Meyer had 12 and Minnick added 11. The rest of the Mustangs accounted for just three points.
GREENCASTLE (55) – Duff 2-10 3-4 7, Stevens 10-18 2-4 22, Stoffregen 2-5 4-4 8, E.Shields 3-6 5-12 11, Rodgers 1-4 0-0 2, M.Shields 1-3 2-2 4, Ray 0-0 0-0 0, Shuee 0-3 0-0 0, Doan 0-0 1-3 1. Totals 19-49 FG, 17-29 FT, 55 TP
EDGEWOOD (42) – Minnick 3-7 4-7 11, Anderson 6-13 2-3 16, Spear 0-3 0-0 0, Meyer 5-9 2-2 12, Helms 1-4 0-0 2, Sherfield 0-3 0-0 0, Love 0-0 0-0 0, Ehrman 0-0 0-0 0, Powell 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 15-34 FG, 9-14 FT, 42 TP
| Greencastle | 9 | 17 | 11 | 18 | — | 55 |
| Edgewood | 16 | 9 | 9 | 8 | — | 42 |
3-point goals – Greencastle 0-8 (Duff 0-1, Stevens 0-2, E.Shields 0-1, Rodgers 0-1, M.Shields 0-1, Shuee 0-2), Edgewood 3-13 (Minnick 1-2, Anderson 2-7, Meyer 0-1, Sherfifeld 0-3). Turnovers – Greencastle 12, Edgewood 20. Rebounds – Edgewood 26 (Minnick 7), Greencastle 25 (Stevens 8).