TERRE HAUTE —
Terre Haute South’s Tasia Brewer created a gap all by herself in the Braves’ Class 4A girls basketball sectional opener.
If Brewer started white hot, Terre Haute North’s Nicole Anderson smoldered at a steady, but equally effective, burn.
The Braves and Patriots both advanced in the first round of the South Sectional. South defeated Northview 65-32 in the opener. North knocked off Martinsville 40-34 in the nightcap.
Brewer scored 21 for the Braves, 18 of which came in the first half. Anderson scored 26 for the Patriots as the Artesians could never account for her steady scoring in the paint.
South (15-7) will next play Plainfield and North (15-7) will play four-time defending champion Mooresville in Friday’s sectional semifinals.
TH South 65, Northview 32 – The Knights never recovered from Brewer’s early spurt.
The senior scored South’s first seven points – in the first two minutes of the game – to stake South to a lead it would never relinquish.
“We talked about playing the 6 p.m. game because that’s unusual, so we wanted to set the tone. Getting off to a quick start was one of our goals,” South coach Cara Stuckey said.
Brewer never really stopped in the first half. She was 5 of 6 from the field for 11 points at the end of the first quarter as South led 19-7. Brewer drained three more shots in the second quarter and had 18 points at halftime. South’s second quarter lead peaked at 20. Northview rallied to cut its halftime deficit to 33-18.
The closest Northview (8-14) would get in the second half was 13 points. South finished the third quarter on an 11-1 run to put the game out of reach.
South was 9 of 20 from 3-point range and held Northview to 23.8 percent from the field. Both are traits Stuckey hopes continues to serve the Braves as the sectional continues.
“The last week of practice we worked a lot on shooting because we know what we want to do offensively and defensively. We’ve been getting a lot of shots up and it paid off for us tonight,” Stuckey said. “We’ve been working on defense more than we were at the beginning of the season because we’re statistically one of the worst teams on defense. We have to be able to stop opponents.”
The bright spot for the Knights was Mikayla Rowan. The sophomore worked hard and earned herself a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
South will play Plainfield (9-11) at 6 p.m. on Friday. The Braves defeated the Quakers on Dec. 8, 2012 in an 88-80 overtime thriller.
“We know they’re going to be out for redemption. Based on how this year’s game went and us beating them in sectionals last year. It’ll be a tough matchup and a fun game,” Stuckey said.
TH North 40, Martinsville 34 – Unlike the South-Northview game, North-Martinsville was close the whole way.
The difference? The Artesians – 3 of 22 from 3-point range – couldn’t make enough outside shots to defeat North’s 2-3 zone.
That … and Anderson made 8 of 11 from the field and scored 26 points.
“Nicole comes to play every day. She never takes a drill off, she never takes a play off. That’s who she is. She’s the center of our offense, she’s the center of our defense. She’s helping me coach. She tells me went to switch from zone to man,” North coach Mike Allen said.
North staked itself to a 9-3 lead, but once Martinsville cut its deficit to three by the 2:41 mark of the first period, neither team could separate themselves from the other.
Neither team’s advantage would be greater than three points until late in the third quarter. Despite Anderson’s control of the paint, Martinsville’s trapping and three-quarter court press gave the Patriots problems. North’s halftime lead was 20-19.
The Artesians (11-11) seemed poised for a breakthrough when they used a 6-0 run to take a 29-26 lead with 2:40 to go in the third quarter. But the Patriots responded. A 7-0 run – with two Anderson buckets preceding a Lindsay Clark 3-pointer – helped the Patriots re-assume the advantage at 33-29 entering the final period.
“We had to settle down a little bit. They put pressure on the ball. When we start playing helter skelter that’s when things go poorly for us. We ran a play and got things settled down,” Allen said.
The last quarter was a tense defensive stand-off. Martinsville’s press and North’s 2-3 zone couldn’t be solved and just four points were scored in the first six minutes of the quarter.
With the lead, the stalemate favored North, and though the Patriots struggled at the line down the stretch, their defense never gave the Artesians – who were 2 of 10 in the final period from the field – any hope of a comeback.
North faces a stiff challenge against Mooresville at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The Pioneers (16-4) beat the Patriots 46-37 on Nov. 27, 2012 and they have knocked North out of the last two sectionals.
“They’re a very good shooting team. They execute their offense. For us to be successful, we have to do the same thing. The team that shoots better probably wins that game,” Allen said.
TERRE HAUTE SOUTH (65) – Brewer 9-19 1-3 21, Joyner 1-8 0-0 2, Hambrock 1-8 3-4 5, Bell 4-6 0-0 9, Fendrick 4-8 0-0 10, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Higham 3-7 0-0 6, Buchanan 2-3 0-0 6, Shanks 2-2 0-0 6, Speth 0-0 0-0 0, Callahan 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 0-0 0-0 0. 26-62 FG, 4-7 FT, 65 TP.
NORTHVIEW (32) – Halfhill 1-3 0-2 2, Kumpf 0-4 0-0 0, Hughes 2-10 1-2 6, Rowan 4-14 8-12 16, Smith 3-7 2-2 8, Weddle 0-2 0-0 0, Timberman 0-1 0-0 0, Girton 0-1 0-0 0. 10-42 FG, 11-18 FT, 32 TP.
Terre Haute South 19 14 16 16 — 65
Northview 7 11 6 8 — 32
3-point goals – THS 9-20 (Brewer 2-8, Fendrick 2-3, Buchanan 2-3, Shanks 2-2, Bell 1-2, Joyner 0-1, Hambrock 0-1), N 1-7 (Hughes 1-5, Halfhill 0-1, Weddle 0-1). Rebounds – THS 40 (Bell 7, Brewer 7, Fendrick 6, Higham 6, Team 4, Callahan 2, Shanks, Davis, Joyner), N 34 (Rowan 15, Smith 9, Halfhill 3, Team 3, Hughes 2, Kumpf, Weddle), Steals – THS 13 (Joyner 4, Fendrick 3, Hambrock 3, Bell 2, Brewer), N 6 (Rowan 2, Halfhill, Hughes, Smith, Weddle), Blocks – THS 3 (Higham 2, Brewer), N 2 (Rowan 2), Turnovers – THS 10, N 18, Total fouls – THS 14, N 8. Fouled out – none.
Next – Terre Haute South (15-7) plays Plainfield (9-11) at 6 p.m. on Friday. Northview concluded its season at 8-14
MARTINSVILLE (34) – Dailey 0-3 0-0 0, Fisher 3-6 2-2 8, Nix 5-13 3-3 14, Shields 1-5 0-0 2, G. Elliott 2-6 0-0 6, Peeden 0-3 0-0 0, C. Elliott 1-2 0-0 2, Ferguson 0-3 0-0 0, Martin 1-3 0-0 2. 13-44 FG, 5-5 FT, 34 TP.
TERRE HAUTE NORTH (40) – Clark 1-3 0-1 3, Sykes 0-1 0-0 0, Curley 2-7 1-2 5, Pritchard 3-6 0-0 6, Anderson 8-11 9-12 26, Howes 0-0 0-1 0, Staub 0-0 0-0 0. 14-28 FG, 10-16 FT, 40 TP.
Martinsville 10 9 10 5 — 34
Terre Haute North 10 10 13 7 — 40
3-point goals – M 3-22 (G. Elliott 2-6, Nix 1-5, Fisher 0-3, Dailey 0-2, Peeden 0-2, Ferguson 0-2, Martin 0-2), THN 2-7 (Clark 1-2, Anderson 1-2, Curley 0-3). Rebounds – M 23 (Nix 5, Shields 4, Fisher 3, G. Elliott 3, Team 3, Dailey 2, C. Elliott 2, Ferguson), THN 24 (Anderson 10, Clark 5, Curley 3, Sykes 2, Pritchard 2, Howes 2, Team 2), Steals – M 7 (Fisher 2, Nix 2, Dailey, Shields, Peeden), THN 5 (Sykes, Curley, Pritchard, Anderson, Howes), Blocks – M 1 (Nix), THN 3 (Sykes, Pritchard, Clark), Turnovers – M 9, THN 13, Total fouls – M 15, THN 6.
Next – Terre Haute North (15-7) will play Mooresville (16-4) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Martinsville concluded its season at 11-11.
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