BB: Greencastle edges South Putnam in WCC thriller

South Putnam’s Jenny Thompson is surrounded by a trio of Tiger Cub defenders during Saturday’s contest. [Order this photo]

When two county opponents get together, it’s an almost guaranteed good
time. Saturday proved to be more than a good time as Greencastle held
off a charging South Putnam squad to grab a two-point victory 42-40.

“I thought it was game of runs,” South Putnam head coach Debbie
Steffy said. “There at the beginning of the game, we got out to a
little bit of a lead and then they took it back and we couldn’t get it
back until the end of the game. I thought everybody played pretty
steady in the middle, both Greencastle and South Putnam. It was just a
good game. (It was) fun to be a part of and fun to coach.”

The fourth quarter began with the Tiger Cubs leading by four
and it was at the 3:33 mark when GHS was able to extend their lead
enough to survive the Eagles. Sophomore Mallory Miller was fouled on a
three-point attempt and converted a trio of free tosses to give GHS a
nine-point lead 39-30.

“We did a nice job of building the lead in the fourth quarter.
They made a nice run there at the end,” GHS head coach Glenn Hile
commented. “If we finished layups and hit some free throws (we could)
sit back and relax, but that didn’t happen. They hit some big shots and
their young kids have improved immensely.”

Two of those talented underclassmen were freshman Jenny
Thompson, who scored five points in the final stanza, and sophomore
Kelsey Searles scored a bucket to pull the Eagles within two with 2.2
second remaining.

Thompson also gave the Eagles their final opportunity of the
night when she tied up Greencastle’s Hannah Spencer in hopes of getting
a jump ball call to no avail. The Tiger Cubs held on for the 42-40 win.

Greencastle took control of the game early and held an
advantage from the end of the first quarter for the remainder of the
game. The Tiger Cubs used a balanced attack in the first half to take a
22-19 advantage into the half.

Kayla Nobles led GHS with five points, with Spencer and Kelsey Wainman following with four each.

South Putnam’s Oceaia Boetjer scored 11 of her game-high 17
points in the first half to lead the Eagles, as freshman Emily
Dabkowski added six of her own.

“I thought our freshmen stepped up again for us. Our
upperclassmen — they did a good job too, it’s just kind of an
expectation, we know they’re going to do a good job for us,” Steffy
said. Freshmen Dabkowski and Thompson scored 13 points for the Eagles.

Hile commented after the contest that his team executed well,
but failed to convert on its opportunities. When asked to explain his
team’s difficulties, Hile pointed out the fact that his team has had
less court time than a coach would like.

“(I think it’s) rustiness,” he said. “We hadn’t played in a
week and we didn’t practice three days this week. Chelsea’s (Samuels)
sick, Becky’s (Grivas) been sick; I’m not making any excuses; we just
have been kind of disrupted since Dec. 13 to be quite honest. We just
haven’t been able to get into any kind of rhythm. Everyone else has
been able to play at least one a week and we had two weeks where we
didn’t play at all.”

Steffy spoke about how the team wanted to pound it inside, but
settled for outside shots. Though the shots fell, she also wanted to
see what her team was capable of and that didn’t happen on Saturday.

“I thought we did a pretty good job early,” Steffy said. “We
tried to get the ball inside early and we settled for some job shots.
It was a little frustrating on the sideline because we wanted to get
the ball into the post to see what we could get done there. For the
most part I was pleased.”

With the win, Greencastle moved to 7-9 on the season and sits
in third place in the WCC with a record of 3-1. Hile was encouraged
after the game and was more than complamentary to Steffy and her core
of young players.

“It’s always good to get a win against a county opponent. South
Putnam has to be, in my opinion, the most improved team since the
beginning of the year. Her young kids are playing really well,” Hile
said.

South Putnam (8-8, 1-4 WCC) will travel to Tri-West today at 6
p.m., while Greencastle (7-9, 3-1 WCC) will host Indianapolis Manual
Tuesday at 6 p.m.

At Greencastle

South Putnam 8 11 11 10 — 40

Greencastle 9 13 17 3 — 42

South Putnam — O. Boetjer 17, Dabkowski 8, Jen. Thompson 5,
Searles 5, Jes. Thompson 3, B. Boetjer 2. Totals: 15-38 FG 4-6 FT 40
TP.

Greencastle — M. Miller 11, Grivas 9, Spencer 7, Nobles 5,
Wainman 4, Burgeson 3, Samuels 2, Alspaugh 1. Totals: 14-40 FG 12-18 FT
42 TP.

Next game — South Putnam (8-8, 1-4 WCC) will travel to
Tri-West today at 6 p.m., while Greencastle (7-9, 3-1 WCC) will host
Indianapolis Manual Tuesday at 6 p.m.