Bulldogs speed past Tiger Cubs on senior night

After getting past one defender, Greencastle senior Evie Briones eyes up the next defender to beat during Tuesday night's home finale against Monrovia. Briones scored 19 points on senior night but the Bulldogs started fast and completed a 64-49 win over the Tiger Cubs.

Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT

Senior night at Greencastle was shrouded in onsetting fog, cover that Monrovia simply outran at times on the final Tuesday of the 2023-24 girls’ basketball regular season.

The Bulldogs had plenty of vision of the basket in the first quarter, jumping out to a 20-6 advantage, and later scored 38 second-half points to ease past the Tiger Cubs 64-49.

“We struggled to rebound in this game,” Greencastle head coach Jessica Lenihan said. “(Monrovia) was outworking us, out-hustling us.

“We got the lead down to nine at halftime and felt good about that, talking at the break about what we needed to do. Monrovia was able to hit a lot of good shots in the second half and they’re a fast-paced team, which was hard for us to stop.”

Greencastle’s only lead of the night came on its first basket as Evie Briones hit a three in reply to a Mary Cox layup that made it 3-2.

Briones would score all six of the Tiger Cubs’ first-quarter points, hitting a second three to make it a 9-6 game, but Monrovia would lead 20-6 after the end of the period thanks to an 11-0 close.

Cox, who scored nine points in the frame, Ruby Murrell and Grace Deaton each notched free throws while Emery Newlin scored off a steal and set up Murrell for a basket with another steal.

The Bulldogs took their feet off the pedal in the second quarter, though, with Briones notching a third three before a putback basket from Sarah Simmerman and a basket from Emily Hunsinger halved the deficit at 20-13.

“Emily, one of my freshmen, played amazing,” Lenihan noted. “She stepped in, rebounded, handled the ball under pressure and it was amazing to see her play well for us, playing a large part of the second quarter.”

Deaton hit a three to stop the 7-0 run but back-to-back baskets from Bailey Brown shrank the lead down to six at 23-17.

Late points from Trinity Inglert and Cat Bell extended the visitors’ lead to 26-17, the score at halftime.

Brown and Murrell traded off points to start the second half while Deaton hit a three to make it 33-21.

Murrell canceled out three points from Ali Dobbs as the pace began to quicken with a six-point burst from Monrovia out of a timeout, a Cox three-point play sandwiched between three Avery Wolfe points, giving the visitors a 42-26 lead.

“We tried to emphasize getting back defensively but there were several times where we were just jogging back,” Lenihan said about Monrovia’s different offensive spurts. “We struggled on deciding whether to put the team in a man-to-mad defense because I wasn’t sure if we could keep up with them. Zone was our best option but we fell short.”

Greencastle was able to stay even the rest of the quarter as Briones and Dobbs added five points from the line and Brown scored another basket before Cox ended the third quarter with a three to restore the 16-point gap.

Dobbs answered a Deaton basket with a three to start the final period but the Tiger Cubs went cold from the field and a 13-0 Bulldog run sealed the deal.

Inglert started the run with a putback before a series of Greencastle misses on one end turned into fast break points the other way as Deaton, Newlin, Cox and Murrell all scored in quick succession.

The Tiger Cubs scored the game’s final 11 points as Briones and Dobbs scored five points each while Simmerman hit a free throw.

Deaton scored a game-high 20 points in the win with Cox adding 19 points. Briones scored 19 for the Tiger Cubs in the loss while fellow seniors Aleeyah Johnson and Madi Plew were held off the scoreboard.

“I was glad for the seniors that we were able to play tonight,” Lenihan said as school was out due to inclement weather earlier in the day. “The girls have played well this season; having been the JV coach the past couple of years, I’ve gotten to know these girls as players as well as students.

“I’ve gotten to learn how they react, what to say to get reactions and the response from them has gotten better as the season has gone along.”

Scoring

Monrovia (19-42 2FG; 5-18 3FG; 11-17 FT) — Deaton 20, Cox 19, Murrell 11, Inglert 6, Newlin 4, Wolfe 3, Bell 1

Greencastle (10-25 2FG; 6-21 3FG; 11-16 FT) — Briones 19, Dobbs 13, Brown 12, Simmerman 3, Hunsinger 2

Statistics