By Andy Amey
Haley Seibert took care of the heavy lifting early in girls high school basketball Saturday afternoon, and her less experienced Terre Haute South teammates were quick to fall in line.
It’s a formula that’s working beautifully for the Braves so far this season and it did once again, paying off for a 52-36 win over visiting Indianapolis Arlington.
The big tests for the Braves are coming up, starting next Saturday with the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference opener at home against Indianapolis North Central. And although the strong, athletic Golden Knights did everything well but make baskets on Saturday against the Braves, they also have a 50-point loss this year against potential MIC powerhouse Warren Central.
“We faced the same kind of athletes we’ll see in our conference,” coach Dave Cassell of the Braves said after Saturday’s game. “We learned a lot from the Bloomington South game [a 39-21 loss on Wednesday] and today we made good, quick decisions when we were trapped … we paid more attention to some of the little things, and we really executed better.
“And although our offense may sputter at times,” Cassell added, “[the Braves] still have the wherewithal to come back and get stops on the defensive end. That keeps the game close and gives us a chance to win at the end.”
The Braves led all the way Saturday after a 3-pointer by Seibert broke a 2-2 tie, and the junior guard accounted for all her team’s points by scoring them or getting assists until nearly three minutes into the second quarter.
She followed up a spinning, twisting drive down the lane for a basket by stealing the ball and driving for another layup late in the first quarter, expanding South’s lead to 15-6.
Arlington crept to within 16-13 early in the second quarter, shortly after Seibert took an elbow and was staggered temporarily, but Mikayla Metheny assisted on a 3-pointer by Emily Bell — the first non-Seibert points for the Braves — and South led 25-19 at intermission.
Hannah Lee came to the forefront in the third quarter for South, hitting three straight baskets as the home team stretched its lead to 31-21, then finding Metheny for a layup after Arlington had cut that lead to 31-27. Lee followed with a fourth straight basket and Seibert hit her only shot of the third quarter, a 3-pointer, to put South back up by 11. Seibert’s 10 fourth-quarter points, including six straight free throws, kept the Golden Knights at bay.
“It really looked like [Seibert] had her spin move that she’s been working on down to a T today,” Cassell said. “She was able to break the defense down for us.”
Seibert finished with a game-high 25 points plus five steals and four assists for the Braves. Lee scored 12, Bell 10 and Metheny led with five assists.
Mareisha Harris had 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Arlington before fouling out, while little Ivory Pimpton hit a trio of 3-pointers and Dominique Hudson had eight points and seven rebounds.
“It’s been a struggle for us to get in the paint and hit shots,” said coach Stephanie Keller of the Golden Knights, who were 19-5 last season but who shot 30 percent against the Braves. “[The Braves] spread us out and did a good job penetrating.”
Arlington would have had three returning starters from its 2008-2009 team, but one of them is still unavailable because of an offseason knee injury, Keller said. South is also without a regular because Kayla Ennen re-injured her knee against Sullivan last week and is hoping not to have to join fellow sophomore Dallas Butts on the sideline the rest of the season.
Indianapolis Arlington 36
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Hudson 3-14 0-0 2-2 7 0 1 8
Golightly 2-7 0-3 0-2 3 1 3 4
Yateman 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 0
Robinson 2-5 0-1 0-0 3 4 3 4
Pimpton 3-6 3-5 0-0 0 3 2 9
Thomas 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 0
Harris 4-10 0-1 3-4 8 1 5 11
Minor 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Davie 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Warren 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Lawyer 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Haney 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 14-46 3-11 5-8 *32 9 18 36
Terre Haute South 52
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Bailey 1-6 0-0 0-0 2 1 1 2
Bell 4-8 2-5 0-0 6 2 1 10
H.Lee 5-8 0-0 2-4 7 0 4 12
Seibert 7-9 2-3 9-10 1 5 0 25
Metheny 1-4 0-3 0-0 4 0 2 2
Brewer 0-2 0-2 0-2 0 0 1 0
Dietz 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 0
Eller 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0 0 1
Totals 18-37 4-13 12-18 *28 8 9 52
Indianapolis Arlington 8 11 8 9 — 36
Terre Haute South 15 10 13 14 — 52
FG Pct. — IA .304, THS .486. 3-pt FG Pct. — IA .273, THS .308. FT Pct. — IA .625, THS .667. (*) Includes team rebounds — IA 7, THS 5. Turnovers — IA 17, THS 12. Assists — IA 11 (Harris 5), THS 14 (Metheny 5). Blocks — IA 3 (Robinson, Hudson, Thomas), THS 4 (H.Lee 3).
JV — Terre Haute South 35 (Abby Shanks 12, Keli Buchanan 10, LaBrea Joyner 9), Indianapolis Arlington 34 (Jade Warren 13, Natasha Ware 11).
Next — South (7-1) has a home game Saturday against Indianapolis North Central. Indianapolis Arlington (2-3) has a home game Tuesday against Indianapolis Howe.
