Tribune-Star staff report
Warsaw — Turkey Run’s bid to make it to the Class A state finals in girls basketball fell about 40 seconds short Saturday in the semistate at Warsaw.
The Warriors rallied from eight points down in the fourth quarter to gain a 53-53 tie in the final minute but Fort Wayne Canterbury got four points on one possession and went on to defeat the Warriors 58-53.
“We had a glaring turnover at that point, but there’s a lot of things through the course of the game we could have done better,” Turkey Run coach Sam Karr told the Tribune-Star in a telephone interview.
With the victory, Fort Wayne Canterbury has a chance to win three straight Class A championships. The Cavaliers will face undefeated Vincennes Rivet in a rematch of last year’s final game at Indianapolis.
Shelby Davies did everything to keep the Warriors in the game against Canterbury with 19 points, seven rebounds and six steals. She hit the basket that got the 53-53 tie to cap a 10-2 Warrior run as the Parke County team rallied from a 51-43 deficit.
The Warriors had a chance to take their first lead since early in the game after getting the tie but Canterbury capitalized on a turnover to take a 55-53 lead and Tabitha Gerardot rebounded the ensuing missed throw and got a putback to put the Cavaliers up 57-53.
Turkey Run failed to convert from the field or free-throw line and Bailey Farley’s free throw closed out the scoring in the contest.
Turkey Run scored the first five points of the game and had a 15-14 lead after one quarter. Adrianne Francis, who averages in double figures and leads the team in rebounding, picked up her third foul in the first quarter and sat out the rest of the half.
The score was tied twice in the second stanza before the winners took a 28-27 lead at the intermission.
“We felt great at that point with Adrianne playing so little due to foul trouble,” Karr said. “We were very upbeat.”
Cassie Krieger scored 10 of her 17 points for the Cavaliers in the third period and they took a 42-37 lead into the final eight minutes. Davies had four of her team’s points in the quarter.
Turkey Run shot 55 percent in the first half and 50 percent for the game and held the Cavaliers to 38-percent shooting and 14 points under their scoring average. Fort Wayne Canterbury had an edge on the boards and turned the ball over 16 times while the Warriors had 23 turnovers.
Gerardot had a double-double at halftime and finished with 24 points and 17 rebounds, eight of them on the offensive end.
Two players besides Davies scored in double figures for Turkey Run as it concluded a historic 20-6 season.
Jordan Hunt tallied 15 points for the Warriors and Chelsea Francis had 10 while Chelsea Newnum scored seven.
Chelsea Francis was the Warriors’ leading scorer, but Canterbury denied her the ball as much as possible.
“Their gameplan was to be real physical with our three guards and kind of wear them down. We had to have Jordan and Chelsea Newnum bring it up and that threw us out of rhythm some,” Karr said.
With juniors making up the starting lineup for the Warriors, Turkey Run will set its sights on making another trip to the semistate in 2011 — and winning one more game.
Canterbury is the two-time defending state champions.
“It’s invaluable, the experience they have now,” Karr said of his team. “I thought Canterbury’s experience showed down the stretch. They’ve been there. They kept their poise, applied pressure.”
Fort Wayne Canterbury 14 14 14 16 — 58
Turkey Run 15 12 10 16 — 53
Next — Fort Wayne Canterbury (24-2) will meet Vincennes Rivet (26-0) for the Class A championship on Saturday. Turkey Run concludes a 20-6 season.
