Brewer's 46-22 outing powers Tiger Cubs past Brown County

NASHVILLE – Greencastle is “brewing” something special early in the season.

The Tiger Cubs traveled down to Brown County and improved to 3-1 on the season and 3-0 in Western Indiana Conference play with a 64-53 victory over the host Eagles. Senior Gloria Brewer put together one of the most impressive individual nights that a player can have. She had 46 points, 22 rebounds, four assists and five steals.

“(Brewer) was a force tonight. She got to the glass, she got to the rim, she just dominated the game at times. She is so strong and just was unstoppable,” Greencastle coach Doug Greenlee said.

The Eagles fell to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the WIC as Brewer quietly scored from a variety of ways. She was 3-of-9 from long range, picked up 15 points from the free throw line and dominated the glass, even at five-foot-six.

The game was closer than the final score indicated. The teams were tied at 49-49 with just over two minutes to play before the Cubs pulled away late.

The two teams came out early and struggled shooting the ball and traded the lead six times in the opening stanza. Brewer and Emma Hunter combined for 14 of the 15 points early as the Cubs went on an 8-2 run to close the first period and lead 15-10. A big reason was the Cubs’ work on the glass. Greencastle won the rebound battle 16-11 in the quarter, with nine of them coming from Brewer.

Greencastle could not shake the Eagles as the pace and scoring slowed in the second quarter. The fast pace, which was a trademark of the first quarter, settled into a slower half-court game.

Brewer had seven of the Cubs’ nine points while Maddie Huff had five for Brown County as the visitors maintained their lead in part as freshman Bailey Brown gave them a spark with three boards and two points off the bench, helping Greencastle take a 24-19 lead at the intermission.

“(Brown) really came in and battled. She played some good JV minutes and then came in and worked the boards and helped us,” Greenlee said about the freshman.

The long, lean Eagles would not go away. Lexie Austin began finding the range for Brown County in the third quarter. The junior put up 10 points with a pair of three-pointers late as the Eagles would be able to overtake the Cubs while freshman Ava Stogsdill scored the last three points of the quarter and Brown County would head into the final quarter with a 36-35 lead.

“(Brown County) is a really good team. We had a stretch where we couldn’t stop it and (Stogsdill) really hurt us,” Greenlee said.

The final period saw the teams battle closely for the first six minutes of action. A Stogsdill layup tied the score at 49-49 with 2:07 on the clock and then it became Brewer time.

Brewer would nail a three-pointer and then proceeded to march to the foul line repeatedly as the Eagles could not contain her. She would hit 12-of-13 from the line in the final quarter, never allowing the Eagles to close the gap. She repeatedly broke free to get the ball in her hands and Brown County was forced to foul and she made them pay.

“(Brewer) is so strong. She did a great job of taking over and just dominating stretches of the game,” Greenlee said as his team would nail down the 64-53 victory.

Brown County had some potent offensive weapons as the Cubs were forced into their 1-3-1 zone as Austin had 19 points, Huff 14 and Stogsdill contributed 12 off of the bench.

Brewer’s 46 points may be a Greencastle girls’ single game record along with the 22 rebounds, a line that could arguably be one of the best individual performances of the year in the state so far. Hunter kept the Eagles honest by getting 10 points of her own.

“Emma didn’t have her outside shot going, but she was steady giving us 10 points. The team was solid in a lot of ways,” Greenlee said.

The Tiger Cubs will now rest until next Friday when they begin the battle for the Putnam County Paddle as the Putnam County Tournament will start.

GREENCASTLE (64) –Hunter 5-16 0-2 10, Briones 0-4 2-4 2, Brewer 14-29 15-19 46, Dobbs 0-4 1-2 1, Morales 0-1 1-2 1, Plew 0-2 0-0 0, Brown 2-4 0-0 4, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-60 FG, 19-29 FT, 64 TP.

BROWN COUNTY (53) – K. Tipton 1-10 3-4 5, Austin 6-24 4-4 19, Huff 4-7 5-6 14, Oden 0-2 1-2 1, An. Stogsdill 1-10 0-0 2, Av. Stogsdill 5-12 2-4 12, A. Tipton 0-1 0-0 0, Kemp 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-66 FG, 15-20 FT, 53 TP.

3-point shooting – GHS 3-20 (Hunter 0-6, Brewer 3-9, Briones 0-3, Dobbs 0-2), BC 4-21 (K. Tipton 0-5, Austin 3-9, Huff 1-2, An. Stogsdill 0-1, Av. Stogsdill 0-4) Rebounds – GHS 52 (Hunter 6, Brewer 22, Morales 4, Briones 4, Dobbs 2, Plew 2, Johnson 2, Brown 6) BC – 44 (K. Tipton 6, Austin 5, Huff 6, Oden 2, An. Stogsdill 14, Av. Stogsdill 5, Kemp 2) FG Pct. – GHS 35.0, BC 25.8. FT Pct. – GHS 65.5, BC 75.0. Turnovers – GHS 17, BC 15.