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Tiger Cubs eviscerate Cougars for county final spot
CLOVERDALE – “We wanted to get off to a good start tonight. North Putnam was 4-1 an won a lot of close games. We didn’t want it to be close,” Greencastle head coach Doug Greenlee said, understating what happened as Greencastle defeated North Putnam in the first round of the Putnam County Girls’ Basketball Tournament 75-19 to advance to the championship game.
The Tiger Cubs sprinted out to a 17-0 lead early in the game behind the potent scoring combination of Gloria Brewer and Emma Hunter. The two seniors combined for 54 points on the night as Greencastle pushed the tempo and dominated from start to finish to improve their record to 4-1 on the season as the loss dropped the Cougars to 4-2.
“I thought maybe the moment or the game was too big for us. We have a lot of girls without a lot of varsity experience and it showed,” North Putnam head coach Craig Franklin said.
Greencastle’s Brewer opened the scoring with a rebound bucket and then Hunter scored five quick points to spark a 7-0 lead with the pair later combining for back-to-back treys later to establish a 17-0 lead before Rose Haste put the Cougars on the board with a free throw.
The Cubs ended the first quarter with a 21-3 lead and the tone was set for the night.
North Putnam struggled to hit shots as the Cougars managed just one field goal in the period and just seven on the night. The Cougars missed their first 12 shots on the night and nine of those were from behind the arc, hitting just 1-of-26 from deep on the night.
“It just snowballed on us. When things went bad, we tried to get it all back at once a lot of times and (Greencastle) took advantage of that,” Franklin said.
Lexi Daigle gave the Cougars an early spark in the second period with two quick buckets but Greencastle would close that second quarter with a 24-3 run.
The Cubs’ Hunter continued her prodigious scoring night with 11 points in the quarter as Greencastle pushed the pace and continued to score in transition. The defense sparked the Cubs as they forced 14 turnovers in the stanza and amassed 24 points.
“I wanted a good defensive effort. I knew our offense would flow. I thought our defense was stellar. We wanted to play good defense and get the ball out and go. We did that as the girls played hard,” Greenlee said as the Cubs led 45-10 at the half.
The third quarter opened in similar fashion as Brewer and Hunter combined for the first 10 points of the period while Brewer converted a steal and layup to end the quarter as Greencastle increased its lead to 61-12 with just one quarter to play.
Greencastle’s defense again showed its teeth as they limited the Cougars to just one bucket by Kyndal Brewer in the period.
“We just have to look at this as a learning experience. We have to take that opportunity,” Franklin said.
The teams began to empty their benches in the final quarter, but the Cubs still extended the lead to as much as 73-13 before the game ended at 75-19 as a major portion of the second half was played with a running clock.
The Cougars struggled offensively as they were led by Haste with eight points and Brewer with five. Greencastle had Brewer lead the way with 30 points and 10 rebounds for her second-straight double-double. Hunter had 20 first-half points before finishing with 24 for Greencastle.
“Those two (Brewer and Hunter), when they are both on, can score a lot of points. Emma was really good tonight. We are running to score and I feel like that is one of our strengths. Gloria is a heady player, very cerebral and they can be tough,” Greenlee said.
| Greencastle | 21 | 24 | 16 | 14 | 75 |
| North Putnam | 3 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 19 |
GREENCASTLE (75) –Dobbs 3-6 0-0 8, Briones 0-6 0-0, 8, Morales 1-2 1-2 3, Brewer 12-23 3-3 30, Hunter 10-19 2-2 24, Brown 1-1 2-4 4, Johnson 0-2 0-0 0-0 0, Plew 2-6 2-2 6, Doan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-65 FG, 10-13 FT, 75 TP.
NORTH PUTNAM (19) – Hoops 0-5 0-0 0, Haste 3-11 1-2 8, Daigle 2-7 0-0 4, Huffman 0-4 0-0 0, Brewer 2-3 1-2 5, Osbourn 0-5 0-0 0, Davies 0-2 2-4 2, Day 0-1 0-0 0, Mason 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 7-40 FG, 4-8 FT, 19 TP.
3-point shooting – GHS 7-27 (Dobbs 2-4, Briones 0-3, Morales 0-1, Brewer 3-9, Hunter 2-8, Plew 0-2), NP 1-26 (Hoops 0-4, Haste 1-9, Daigle 0-3, Huffman 0-4, Mason 0-1, Osbourn 0-4, Day 0-1) Rebounds – GHS 47 (Dobbs 7, Briones 3, Morales 8, Brewer 10, Hunter 5, Brown 4, Doan 4, Plew 5) NP – 23 (Hoops 2, Daigle 3, Huffman 1, Brewer 7, Mason 3, Davies 4) FG Pct. – GHS 44.6, NP 17.5. FT Pct. – GHS 76.9, NP 50.0. Turnovers – GHS 14, NP 28.