Cub coach proud of her first team despite title game loss

DANVILLE — Not even the residue from a 48-27 loss to Danville in the girls’ 3A basketball sectional championship game on Saturday night couldn’t stain the overall season turned in by Kellie Kirkhoff’s Greencastle Tiger Cubs.

The home-standing Warriors were expected to win by most observers, and after taking a 15-1 lead in the first four minutes Danville was well on its way to a fourth straight sectional title and fifth in the past six years.

Yet, the outmanned Tiger Cubs in no way backed down from their bigger opponents and their seemingly endless roster of 6-footers with even bigger wingspans.

In fact, after trailing 23-7 after one quarter, the Tiger Cubs won the next two quarters and nearly two minutes by an 18-16 margin before a 9-0 run finally broke the game open for good.

Kirkhoff, the state’s youngest girls’ basketball coach this season applauded her team’s effort,

“Tonight didn’t go as we wanted it to go, but I could not be prouder of this group of girls,” she said. “They made my first year of coaching a year that I will never forget. They are just a great group of girls.”

Kirkhoff’s team fought through injuries and inexperience to go just 2-11 in its first 13 games, yet won nine of its last 11 to finish 11-13 for the year.

“I will remember this team for being as tough and gritty as they are,” Kirkhoff said. “They also want to pat your back afterwards. They are competitive, but also care how you feel. As a whole, they just worked so hard.

“From day one, they bought into what I was trying to teach them,” she added. “That’s not always easy for a first-year coach to get that. We could have shut down after going 2-11, but they stuck with it and got better throughout the season.”

The Warriors opened Saturday night’s game trapping all over the court, using their size and length advantage to make both passing and shooting difficult for the Tiger Cubs.

Greencastle utilized a special defense designed to slow down Warrior standout Ella Collier, in which Madison Rodgers and Anna Zellers both had their chances at guarding Collier man-to-man while the others played a zone.

In a halfcourt setting, the defense was effective. The Warriors frequently turned steals near midcourt into baskets, though, and were on fire early from 3-point range — hitting 5 of 9 in the period.

Greencastle Allison Stevens scored a basket and then an “and one” 3-point play to open the second quarter and cut the deficit to 25-12, and the game was basically even through the 31-17 halftime score.

Stevens led the Cubs with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

The Tiger Cubs lose “only” two seniors from this year’s team in Stevens and Rodgers, but Kirkhoff knows they will be hard to replace.

Rodgers had a career-high 20 points in Friday night’s semifinal win over North Montgomery, while Stevens eventually recovered from a severe ankle injury suffered in volleyball to get double-doubles most nights in scoring and rebounding.

“I told the underclassmen tonight that they have huge shoes to fill [with Madison and Allison graduating],” Kirkhoff said. “As leaders both on and off the court, and as basketball players. We will miss them both more than they know, but we have some girls who can step up and bring it next year.

“Last summer we didn’t get to do much since I was hired pretty late, but we are going to do some things in the spring and summer that help us to better our skills before next season starts.”

GREENCASTLE (27) — Stevens 6-15 5-5 17, Rodgers 0-4 0-1 0, Doan 0-5 2-5 2, Zellers 1-5 0-0 2, Chavez 3-7 0-1 6, Tomamichel 0-0 0-0 0, Dinn 0-0 0-0 0, Brennan 0-0 0-0 0, Trigg 0-0 0-0 0, Morales 0-0 0-0 0, Garl 0-0 0-0 0, Barnhart 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-35 FG, 7-10 FT, 27 TP

DANVILLE (48) — Collier 6-10 3-4 16, Godwin 1-1 1-2 3, Davis 2-4 0-3 4, Gould 2-9 0-0 6, Patterson 3-8 1-2 9, Sommers 0-2 0-0 0, Wooten 2-7 0-0 5, Ancelet 1-2 0-0 3, Pettijohn 1-1 0-0 2, Barber 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-44 FG, 5-11 FT, 48 TP.

3--point shooting — Greencastle 0-5 (Rodgers 0-1, Doan 0-4), Danville 7-17 (Collier 1-1, Gould 2-6, Patterson 2-6, Wooten 1-4, Ancelet 1-2). Turnovers — Greencastle 16, Danville 7.