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Greencastle fends off South Putnam for county title
CLOVERDALE – The end result of Saturday night’s Putnam County Girls’ Basketball Tournament championship game looked like a contest that was without a doubt at the final horn.
Anyone watching had plenty of doubt which way it would finish until the final minutes as Greencastle struggled from the field most of the night but finished 24-of-34 at the free throw line to claim a 66-41 win over South Putnam and the title of county champions for the 2022-23 season.
“We’re pretty proud of the girls this weekend,” Greencastle head coach Doug Greenlee said. “South Putnam played pretty well for a long time and it was a two-point game late in the third quarter.
“We were down early to start but we told the girls at halftime, as we were up seven, we had made a 14-point turnaround since the start, which was a positive, but we had to sustain it as we knew there were a couple of runs coming. We scored some big baskets when we needed to and put the game away with our patience and free throw shooting.”
“I felt our energy and intensity was great,” South Putnam head coach Brian Gardner said. “I felt for the most part we executed our game plan.
“We gave up too many offensive rebounds which led to second-chance points. That really made things tough for us but we had a lot to be happy about, especially being down two players.”
It was a final score that was far from how the game began as the Eagles (3-2), missing Danae Cline and Emmalyn Jeter, were 7-0 up in the blink of an eye with Chlara Pistelli scoring at the rim, Lilly Emmerich hitting a three and Kelsey Custis notching a jumper in the first two minutes.
The Tiger Cubs (5-1) found the going tough early on offensively on a night in which they would shoot just 10 percent from behind the arc and 38 percent inside it.
Emma Hunter finally got Greencastle on the board with a three-point play, a putback and a steal and layup that made it an 8-7 game.
Gloria Brewer added two free throws and a layup yet a set of jumpers from Ariel Dooley, Pistelli and Custis brought South Putnam back in front 13-12.
Hunter hit a late three, the final lead change of the night, to give the Tiger Cubs a 15-13 lead after a quarter of play.
“One thing we did was switch from man-to-man to a half-court trap,” Greenlee said about digging out of the early hole. “We forced South Putnam to make decisions with the ball, which is always more difficult.
“Stephanie Morales, at the top of the trap, was very effective as she is long, athletic and causes a lot of havoc with deflections. We took them out of their rhythm after they hit some nice shots to start the game, though they adjusted well throughout the night as we knew they would.”
“Part of it was not having Danae and having other girls in spots they were not used to being in,” Gardner noted about the turnover struggles as the Eagles lost the ball 34 times. “You have to give credit to Greencastle for how they played their 1-3-1 defense.
“Greencastle had very active hands and were good in the passing lanes. I did not think we made very good passes against it but they were very good at getting hands on the ball.”
Fouls had also piled up for the Eagles quickly in the first quarter and Greencastle was in the bonus 30 seconds into the second as Brewer hit two more and added four more and a layup to make it 22-13.
Madison Gardner stopped the 10-0 run with a jumper while Custis added a three to half the deficit at 23-18.
Hunter hit her second, and the team’s last, three of the night along with a late putback to make it a 30-23 game at halftime.
South Putnam was quick to bring the lead down again at the start of the second half as a Custis jumper and three from Joscelyn Pilcher made it a 32-28 game.
After the Tiger Cubs had managed to push the lead up to eight following two Brewer free throws, back-to-back threes from Custis and Pistelli closed the gap to two at 39-37.
“We did a great job of being physical and making things difficult when (Greencastle) caught the ball,” Gardner said about the defense through the first three quarters. “Kelsey did an outstanding job on Brewer in being in space from the time she caught the ball.
“We really contested shots and tried to make the shots they took hard shots.”
Late baskets from Hunter on an inbounds play and Brewer off a steal allowed Greencastle to make it a seven-point game at 44-37 entering the final eight minutes of play.
Fatigue began to take its toll on the Eagles, who were playing a six-deep rotation, as Madi Plew hit 1-of-2 at the line to start the period, the miss being converted into an unconventional three-point play by Brewer.
Pilcher hit two at the stripe but Hunter and Brewer answered back with baskets and the final points for South Putnam came with over half the period to play when Custis sank two free throws.
From there, Greencastle continued to add to what was a 13-point lead as Hunter scored off a Brewer steal before the latter added two free throws and another unconventional three-point play, scoring off her own miss at the line.
Other Tiger Cubs finally got in on the action as Evelyn Briones, Aleeyah Johnson and Bailey Brown all knocked down free throws late to add to the celebratory atmosphere as the final horn sounded.
“We talk about this all the time but every game is different and in some games, you’re doing things well and other night you are not,” Greenlee said about the shooting struggles. “The girls have enough experience not to get flustered to the point where they let things affect them.
“It was not a good shooting night for us as we felt like we took too many threes instead of using our height advantage inside. Last year, we had to rely on the three as we didn’t have answers inside.
“We took too many threes in the first half and we needed to get paint points in the second half,” Greenlee said about taking control late. “We got those points and the difference tonight came from various players throughout.”
| South Putnam | 13 | 10 | 14 | 4 | 41 |
| Greencastle | 15 | 15 | 14 | 22 | 66 |
SOUTH PUTNAM (41) — Gardner 2-3 0-0 4, Emmerich 1-2 0-0 3, Pistelli 4-6 0-1 9, Pilcher 1-6 2-2 5, Custis 5-10 3-4 15, Dooley 2-6 0-0 5, Holderfield 0-0 0-0 0, Switzer 0-1 0-0 0, Wallace 0-0 0-0 0, Phillips 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-34 FG, 5-7 FT, 41 TP.
GREENCASTLE (66) — Dobbs 0-2 0-0 0, Briones 1-7 2-4 4, Morales 0-3 1-2 1, Brewer 9-31 13-15 31, Hunter 10-22 4-7 26, Plew 0-2 1-2 1, Brown 0-0 1-2 1, Johnson 0-0 2-2 2, Doan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-68 FG, 24-34 FT, 66 TP.
3-point shooting – SP 6-15 (Emmerich 1-1, Pistelli 1-2, Pilcher 1-3, Custis 2-5, Dooley 1-4), GHS 2-20 (Dobbs 0-1, Briones 0-3, Brewer 0-7, Hunter 2-9) Rebounds – SP 33 (Gardner 4, Emmerich 4, Pistelli 6, Pilcher 9, Custis 4, Switzer 1) GHS – 44 (Dobbs 4, Doan 1, Morales 5, Brewer 15, Hunter 6, Plew 6, Brown 1, Johnson 2) FG Pct. – SP 44.1, GHS 29.4. FT Pct. – SP 71.4, GHS 70.6. Turnovers – SP 34, GHS 14.