Wolves rough up Eagles

ROCKVILLE – The South Putnam Eagle girls’ basketball team had started the year 2-0 but travelled to Rockville to play the Parke Heritage Wolves and saw a different type of team and game. The bigger, longer, stronger Wolves pressured and pounded the Eagles into a 56-35 loss at the Rock-a-Dome.

The Eagles struggled to take care of the basketball and found shots not so easy to come by as the Wolves forced 33 turnovers and the Eagles could only garner 35 points on the night.

The loss dropped the Eagles to 2-1 on the season and Parke Heritage improved to 2-0.

“This was certainly a learning curve for us. They (Parke Heritage) are going to play you that way. They are going to hack you, pound you and get after you. It is what it is and we want to play physical too, so we can learn from this,” South Putnam head coach Brian Gardner said.

The Eagles kept it close early as they trailed just 5-4 three minutes into the game, but the Wolves went on an 8-0 run and then despite a Danae Cline three-pointer finished the quarter with a 15-7 lead. The first quarter was at a frantic pace and both teams combined for 21 turnovers. In addition, the Eagles leading scorer coming into the game, Chlara Pistelli, was saddled with two quick fouls and would not play most of the first half.

“We played Friday, Monday and again tonight. That was an adjustment for our team, we have to learn from this and get better,” Gardner said.

South hung with the Wolves early in the second quarter. Kelsey Custis drained a trey to cut the lead to 17-15, but Riverton Parke continued to force turnovers and went on a 12-0 run to take a 29-15 lead enroute to a 31-17 halftime advantage. The combination of turnovers (nine) and the Wolves taking advantage of them in the open floor and getting layups hurt the Eagles. Parke Heritage shot 7-of-12 from the floor in the period.

“I thought we played some good defense in the half court tonight, but we turned the ball over too many times and we let them get out in transition We also gave up too many second chance points,” Gardner said.

The Eagles could not cut into lead much in the third period. Despite getting Pistelli back and her getting four early points, the Eagles gave up ground as the relentless pressure by Riverton Parke got the best of the Eagles. Parke’s Emma Simpson scored eight of her game-high 21 points in the quarter and the Wolves led 46-27 heading into the final quarter.

“They (Parke Heritage) are a really good team. She (Simpson) is pretty good and we just have to go and work on some of the things we need to,” Gardner said.

The pace slowed some in the final stanza and the lead stayed approximately 20 points until Parke finished with the last bucket of the night to set the final score at 56-35.

Simpson led all scorers with 21, while Raegan Ramsay had 16 for the Wolves. The tough offensive night for the Eagles did not allow for a lot of scoring, but Danae Cline led South Putnam with 11 points.

“Danae does a great job of getting us in the right places. She has worked really hard in getting her shot off quicker and she played well,” Gardner said.

The Eagles will play their fourth game in seven days and third in the road on Friday night when they open Western Indiana Conference play at Edgewood.

SOUTH PUTNAM (35) –Custis 2-4 2-2 7, Cline 5-8 0-0 11, Pistelli 2-5 0-0 4, Pilcher 3-9 0-0 7, Gardner 2-5 0-0 4, Dooley 0-6 0-0 0, Emmerich 0-5 0-1 0, Jeter 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 15-43 FG, 2-3 FT, 35 TP.

PARKE HERITAGE (56) – O’Brien 2-5 1-2 5, Jenkins 1-4 2-2 4, Simpson 9-20 0-0 21, Ramsay 7-11 2-5 16, Benjamin 2-4 1-2 5, Perkins 1-5 2-2 5. Totals 22-49 FG, 8-13 FT, 56 TP.

3-point shooting – SP 3-16 (Custis 1-2, Cline 1-3, Pistelli 0-1, Pilcher 1-4, Dooley 0-5, Emmerich 0-1), PH 4-16 (O’Brien 0-3, Jenkins 0-1, Simpson 3-7, Ramsay 0-1, Perkins 1-4). Rebounds – SP 25 (Custis 2, Cline 2, Pistelli 1, Pilcher 6, Gardner 2, Dooley 3, Emmerich 5) PH – 28 (O’Brien 3, Jenkins 1, Simpson 8, Ramsay 5, Benjamin 5, Perkins 1) FG Pct. – SP 34.9, PH 44.9. FT Pct. – SP 66.7, PH 61.5. Turnovers – SP 33, PH 24.