By Andy Amey
TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute South and Owen Valley advanced to the championship game of the HI-99/Terre Haute Savings Bank Classic for girls high school basketball at West Vigo on Saturday — but not without considerable difficulty.
The Braves appeared to be ready to coast home against Terre Haute North in the morning’s first semifinal — although coach Dave Cassell knew better, he said later — when they scored the last six points of the first half and the first basket of the third quarter to take a 26-14 lead. But although North never took the lead, the Patriots had a chance to do that with 1:20 left in the game, eventually won 33-30 by the Braves.
By contrast, Owen Valley’s 59-41 win over North Central — on paper — looked one-sided. But the Thunderbirds had a 34-29 lead midway through the third quarter before wearing down and giving up a 30-5 run to the Patriots.
In the third game of Saturday’s first round, Fountain Central won a consolation-bracket game 40-29 over West Vigo.
South never trailed in the opener, taking the lead for good when six straight free throws by Claire Bailey broke a 2-2 tie.
North missed five of its first seven free throws and wasn’t shooting any better from the field, but the Patriots established Francesca McCarthy in the post and were within 18-14 with 2:33 left in the second quarter. Then South’s Haley Seibert came to the forefront.
Seibert’s two free throws made it 20-14, and she scored two baskets in the last two minutes as South went to a spread offense. “We were wanting to hold the ball so we would be up no less than six points, and maybe go up eight or nine,” Cassell said of the decision to spread the court. “Instead, we end up being up by 10 [at intermission].”
Neither team scored for more than three minutes in the second half, until Seibert tallied again for South. Then the Braves went scoreless for more than eight minutes, and North got the defensive struggle’s next nine points — a 3-pointer and a rebound basket by Lindy Jones, then inside baskets by Nicole Anderson and McCarthy.
Bailey got a three-point play on a feed from the post by Hannah Lee to break South’s drought and put the Braves ahead 29-23, but Anderson hit two free throws and Mary Kate Etling scored on a midcourt steal and drive to bring North within a basket. Seibert scored for South, but Anderson came back with a 3-pointer for the Patriots, and a South turnover gave North the ball against a 31-30 deficit.
As the Patriots worked for a good shot, the ball was knocked free and Lee wound up with a breakaway layup at the other end. North missed a pair of 3-point shots in the final seconds.
“Unfortunately the game is four quarters, not just two,” coach Mike Allen of the Patriots said afterward. “We had a good second half, but were just not ready to play the first half … I was very proud of the effort in the second half.”
“It was a battle, experience against youth, and our youth needed to have an experience like that,” Cassell said.
Seibert led all scorers with 14 points and also led the Braves with six rebounds. “A couple of times I thought [Seibert] could have dished it,” Cassell said, “but at the same time I was happy to have the ball in her hands.”
Bailey added nine points for South, while Anderson led North with nine points and seven rebounds, McCarthy scored eight and Jones had seven. North also got a gutty effort from Danielle Ketner, who played her first game of the year despite being less than 100 percent because of an ankle injury.
“It was nice having Danielle back in the lineup,” Allen said. “It will take her awhile to get her basketball legs under her again.”
As far as his team’s first weekend was concerned, the North coach pointed out, “Last year we came out 1-2 [after the tournament] and this year we’re 2-1. We’re a work in progress.”
In the second semifinal game, Owen Valley looked early like it was ready to pull away from North Central at any time, but the Thunderbirds were having none of that.
They recovered from an early 9-3 deficit to tie the score 12-12 early in the second quarter. After Owen Valley scored five straight for a 20-14 lead, North Central got 10 straight and stayed ahead for the next seven minutes.
Maria Drake’s 3-pointer gave North Central its 34-29 lead, but then Sam Cooper took over for Owen Valley. The four-year point guard had two assists, a 3-pointer, a steal that led to a basket and a back-door cut for a layup to account for her team’s next 12 points as the Patriots assumed a 41-37 lead at the third stop. When the Patriots scored the first 12 points of the fourth period, they’d finally put the Thunderbirds away.
“We hit a brick wall that fourth quarter,” coach Gretchen Brown of North Central said later. “We ran out of gas, we ran out of everything. When [the Patriots] turned on their press, we turned it over way too many times.”
Cooper finished with 23 points and six assists and Kaitlin Sweatman had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Patriots. Drake led a balanced North Central attack with 10 points, Kate Brown and Amber Kemp scoring nine each, and Jocelyn Boyll had 11 rebounds.
“[The Thunderbirds] certainly shouldn’t be disappointed with their effort,” coach Brown said, “and by no means am I disappointed in the girls. We hung with [the 2009 Class 3A state runners-up] for three quarters … we’ve got a lot to look forward to this year.”
West Vigo’s play in the third game wasn’t as good as it had been on Thursday, when the Vikings also hung with Owen Valley for three quarters. And in a game in which both teams struggled to score, the 25 points and 11 rebounds by Fountain Central’s Kenzi LIndquist proved to be the difference.
“We didn’t match up very well with [the Mustangs],” said coach Ryan Easton, whose team was missing one more starter — Cassidy Carlson is in the midst of back treatments — after playing without one regular on Thursday.
“We got outscored by nine free throws, and if we could cut our turnovers in half … it’s the little things that add up to the big things,” Easton added. “This wasn’t a step back, just a hitch — but we have to be ready to go whatever time it is and whatever day it is.”
Brooklyn Waters had 11 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Vikings, and Alicyn Woodward scored eight.
Fountain Central 40
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Lindquist 5-9 3-5 12-14 11 1 3 25
L.Krout 2-6 0-1 0-1 9 0 3 4
K.Krout 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 2 1 2
Robinson 1-6 0-4 1-1 2 1 4 3
W.Shoaf 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 4 0
Carver 1-6 0-2 2-4 3 3 0 4
Bowman 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 1 2 2
Zachary 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0
Stockdale 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 11-32 3-15 15-20 *36 9 18 40
West Vigo 29
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Beal 1-12 0-3 2-9 7 2 1 4
VanGilder 0-4 0-0 0-0 3 2 3 0
Barton 2-3 0-0 0-2 2 2 5 4
Waters 3-11 1-3 4-5 6 4 2 11
Woodward 3-7 0-0 2-3 5 1 2 8
L.Walters 0-5 0-0 0-0 3 0 1 0
McClain 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 0 0
Silcock 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
A.Walters 1-2 0-0 0-0 4 1 3 2
Kaperak 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 10-47 1-6 8-19 *38 14 17 29
Fountain Central 8 6 15 11 — 40
West Vigo 6 5 12 6 — 29
FG Pct. — FC .344, WV .213. 3-pt FG Pct. — FC .200, WV .167. FT Pct. — FC .750, WV .421. (*) Includes team rebounds — FC 6, WV 6. Turnovers — FC 25, WV 23. Assists — FC 8 (Carver 6), WV 8 (Waters 5). Blocks — FC 4 (Bowman 3), WV 2 (VanGilder, Beal).
Next — West Vigo (0-2) plays Tuesday at White River Valley. Fountain Central (1-1) plays Tuesday at Western Boone.
Terre Haute South 33
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Bailey 1-3 0-0 7-7 5 0 4 9
Bell 0-2 0-2 0-0 2 1 3 0
H.Lee 2-4 0-0 0-0 5 2 3 4
Seibert 6-12 0-1 2-3 6 3 2 14
Metheny 0-2 0-2 0-0 1 1 2 0
Ellis 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2
Ennen 0-2 0-2 2-2 2 0 3 2
Brewer 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2
Totals 11-30 0-7 11-12 *27 7 17 33
Terre Haute North 30
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
McCarthy 2-7 0-1 4-7 1 0 2 8
Anderson 3-9 1-1 2-3 7 2 3 9
Etling 2-2 0-0 0-1 3 1 4 4
Jones 2-10 1-6 2-2 5 2 1 7
Barnhill 0-3 0-2 0-0 2 0 1 0
Ketner 0-3 0-3 2-2 0 1 3 2
Seeley 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 9-34 2-13 10-15 *23 6 14 30
Terre Haute South 10 14 2 7 — 33
Terre Haute North 6 8 7 9 — 30
FG Pct. — THS .367, THN .265. 3-pt FG Pct. — THS .000, THN .154. FT Pct. — THS .917, THN .667. (*) Includes team rebounds — THS 6, THN 5. Turnovers — THS 16, THN 11. Assists — THS 6 (Lee 3), THN 7 (McCarthy 3). Blocks — THS 2 (Lee 2), THN 1 (Etling).
Next — Terre Haute South advanced to the championship game. Terre Haute North (2-1) has a home game Tuesday against Bloomington North.
North Central 41
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Randolph 1-6 1-3 2-2 8 1 0 5
M.Drake 4-9 2-7 0-0 3 0 3 10
Boyll 2-5 0-0 2-3 11 1 1 6
Brown 3-11 2-9 1-2 1 2 3 9
Kemp 3-6 0-0 3-4 3 1 1 9
Hester 0-0 0-0 0-0 3 0 0 0
Croft 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Rehmel 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2
West 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 14-40 5-20 8-11 *31 5 8 41
Owen Valley 59
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Sweatman 8-21 0-0 0-0 12 4 3 16
Marsh 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 2 0
Kinnick 3-5 1-3 0-0 1 3 2 7
Evans 2-8 1-4 1-1 4 2 2 6
Cooper 9-17 4-7 1-2 3 2 0 23
Owens 3-5 0-0 1-1 5 1 1 7
Heaslet 0-1 0-1 0-0 4 0 3 0
Matsel 0-4 0-3 0-0 1 0 0 0
Whittington 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Polley 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 25-63 6-19 3-4 *37 12 13 59
North Central 9 16 12 4 — 41
Owen Valley 12 10 19 18 — 59
FG Pct. — NC .350, OV .397. 3-pt FG Pct. — NC .250, OV .316. FT Pct. — NC .727, OV .750. (*) Includes team rebounds — NC 2, OV 5. Turnovers — NC 20, OV 9. Assists — NC 12 (Kemp 4), OV 17 (Evans 7, Cooper 6). Blocks — NC 1 (Boyll), OV 1 (Sweatman).
Next — Owen Valley advanced to the championship game. North Central (2-1) plays at Eminence next Saturday.
