MONDAY ROUNDUP: Improving Eagles even mark at 3-3 with win; NP battles good Wildcat team in tough game

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

South Putnam evened its record at 3-3 on Monday night with a convincing 61-41 win over Southmont in girls’ high school basketball action.

Playing their third game in four days on the heels of the county tournament last Friday and Saturday, the Eagles got six straight points from junior guard Lexi Vanihel to open the game and led 12-7 at the first stop.

Alex Bratcher exploded for all 13 of her points in the second quarter, hitting a basket, a basket plus a free throw, a pair of free throws and a trey as the Eagles broke things open and led 32-14 at intermission.

Fatigue hit the Eagles in the third period, and they struggled to a 9-9 draw in the quarter for a 41-23 lead at the final stop.

The Eagles racked up 20 points in a high-scoring fourth period, led by seven from Macie Bumgardner and six from Brionna Egold.

Coach Brian Gardner liked how his team moved the ball on Monday night and was patient until finding the right shot.

“We are a really unselfish team,” he said. “I think that was one of the things in this game that was good for us, especially early on. Our ball movement has gotten better each and every night, and our bigs [Caitlin Capps, Bree Mahoney-Sutherland and Bumgardner] are good at finding each other.

“We are a lot better guard-wise when the ball goes into the post and then comes back out.”

Gardner was pleased that his team got off to such a strong start.

“Coming off a double weekend, I was happy that our insensity was so good to start off the game,” he said. “Especially on the defensive side. Offensively, we continued to look to go to the rim and that’s a really good thing.”

Gardner doesn’t mind if his team shoots 3-pointers, but wants to make sure they are good shots.

“We have been getting better at not settling for threes,” he said. “Letting the game come to you and attacking the rim is important for us.”

SOUTHMONT (41) — Remley 0-2 0-0 0, Manion 3-6 0-0 6, Ward 4-13 5-8 13, H.Thompson 0-2 0-0 0, B.Thompson 1-3 0-1 2, Miller 4-9 4-5 13, Chales 1-6 1-4 4, Ward 1-2 1-2 3, France 0-3 0-2 0. Totals 14-47 FG, 11-20 FT, 41 TP

SOUTH PUTNAM (61) — Capps 1-7 0-0 2, Vanihel 4-5 4-5 12, Custis 4-9 0-1 8, Bratcher 4-9 3-3 13, Bumgardner 4-8 2-4 10, Mahoney-Sutherland 3-6 0-0 6, Egold 2-5 2-2 6, Crewes 1-3 2-2 4, McHugh 0-0 0-0 0, Vittetow 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-57 FG, 13-17 FT, 61 TP

Southmont7791841
South Putnam122092061

3-point shooting — Southmont 2-9 (Manion 0-1, B.Thompson 0-1, Miller 1-3, Charles 1-3, France 0-2), South Putnam 2-12 (Capps 0-1, Custis 0-1, Bratcher 2-6, Steffy 0-1, Egold 0-3). Turnovers — Southmont 24, South Putnam 11.

In other Monday action:

• South Vermillion 42, North Putnam 34 — At Clinton, the Cougars played one of their best games of the year and fell just short against a good Wildcat squad.

“I was really proud of how we competed tonight, especially on the defensive end,” North coach Jarrod Duff said. “Baylee Osburn guarded one of the best players in the area, Mallory Hawkins, the entire game. We did a really good job of helping on her as well, and she made some really tough shots.”

Junior Rebecca Berry had eight of her 18 points in the first period for South Vermillion as the Wildcats led 14-12 at the firs stop. Freshman Brie Miller had seven of her team-high 13 points in the period.

The Wildcats opened their lead up to 25-15 at halftime and 35-21 after three quarters.

North nearly doubled the hosts with 13 points in the final perior, but found itself eight points short.

“We struggled offensively in the second quarter, after getting off to a good start early in the game,” Duff said. “We were much more efficient on the offensive end in the second half. We had a couple opportunities to cut the lead to four or five, but missed some good shots and came up a little bit short.

Dana Tennis added nine points on three treys for the Cougars.

Hawkins, who averaged 20.2 points last year as a sophomore, was limited to 18.

NORTH PUTNAM (34) — Tennis 3 0-0 9, Sims 2 1-2 5, Young 0 1-2 1, Osburn 0 1-2 1, Lyons 1 0-0 3, Willis 1 0-0 2, Miller 5 3-5 13. Totals 12 FG, 6-11 FT, 34 TP

SOUTH VERMILLION (42) — Berry 8 2-5 18, Gilman 1 1-2 3, Hawkins 7 4-4 18, Meyers 1 1-4 3, Silver 0 0-0 0, Grange 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 FG, 8-15 FT, 42 TP

North Putnam12361334
South Vermillion141110742

3-point goals — Tennis 3, Lyons.

Swimming

• North has good opener — North Putnam opened its season at South Putnam on Monday night.

Sophomore Lauren Lotzow won the diving competition, while junior Kyle Young won the 100 butterfly and senior Dustin Novak won the 100 breaststroke.