The Press-Dispatch
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B-2 Sports Wednesday, December 5, 2018 The Press-Dispatch including five in the second period. "We had open looks – we were just hesitant to take them," McCutchan said. "And so, at halftime, we said, 'My gosh, just play basket- ball! '" "We were hesitant with our shots, and we missed open shots," McCutchan added. "We were playing hard, but we were just al- most out of control. We couldn't relax and just play basketball." Pike Central opened the second half with a three-pointer by senior Becca Crow, which pulled the Lady Chargers to with- in 17-15. A fter a basket by sopho- more Kira Padgett extended Eastern Greene's lead to 19 - 15, back-to-back baskets by Hickey and Marchino tied the score at 19 -19 with 5:30 left in the third period. However, the Lady Thun- derbirds scored three straight points – on a free throw by sophomore Sophi Edwards and a basket by Hatfield – to take a 22-19 lead with 2:22 remaining in the third quarter. A fter Eastern Greene head coach Greg Burton immediately called a time- out, Crow dribbled the ball across the midcourt line and was caught in a double-team near the sideline, forcing McCutchan to call a time- out of his own to prevent a turnover. "We challenged them to want the ball," McCutchan said. "They double-teamed Becca, and nobody came back to the basketball." "You've got to want the basketball," McCutchan added. "When you've got five kids who want the ball, you're tough to guard. When you've got two or three kids who maybe want it and the rest are just kind of just find- ing a place to be on the floor, it's not good enough." When play resumed, Marchino hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 22-22 with 1:58 left in the third period. Then, after a steal by Crow, junior Lauren Vaughn scored on a lay-up to give Pike Central a 24-22 lead with 1:45 remaining in the third quarter. Eastern Greene pulled even at 24-24 on a basket by Padgett before the Lady Chargers took a 28 -24 lead on back-to-back baskets by Marchino and junior Jayln Nelson. A fter a basket by junior Abby Fuller cut the deficit to 28 -25 with 7:13 left in the fourth quarter, a three-point- er and a pair of free throws by Marchino stretched Pike Central's lead to 33-26 with 6:25 remaining. The Lady Thunderbirds would close to within 33-29 before Hickey stepped up to the free throw line twice and buried all four shots to ex- tend Pike Central's lead to 37-29 with 1:16 left. A fter two free throws and a basket by senior Shayden Flynn pulled Eastern Green to within 37-33 with 16.1 sec- onds left, Hickey hit two more tries from the charity stripe with 5.7 seconds re- maining to end the scoring. "We just started playing basketball on the offensive end," McCutchan said. "We were open and we knocked it down. I don't know why we don't do that sometimes. I don't understand it. But we've got to work to get bet- ter because we want to com- pete and win." McCutchan also credited assistant varsity coach Trent Whitehead for inspiring the Lady Chargers' second-half comeback during his half- time locker room "talk." "He'd had enough," Mc- Cutchan said. "We got onto them, but he let them have it, and they were ready to go. We picked up the intensity." "You can't beat varsity teams if you don't play in- tense and flat out get after it, and they did," McCutchan added. "I give credit to the kids, but it can't take two quarters to get adjusted in- to the rhythm of the game." Hickey – who hit eight of nine free throw attempts, including all six of her tries during the fourth period – added 12 points while grab- bing a game-high seven re- bounds in the win. "We've been pretty for- tunate," McCutchan said. "These games that we've won that's been close, we have been money down the stretch from the free throw line. We have been big down the stretch on our free throws, and that's why we're winning these close games." Nelson and Vaughn scored four points each while Crow and freshman Malllory Hunt added three points and two points, re- spectively. Vaughn also had a team-high three assists and three steals. For the game, Pike Cen- tral made 13 of 39 field goal attempts – a 33.3 percent av- erage – and hit 10 of 15 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 15 times. Hatfield paced Eastern Green with eight points while dishing out three as- sists. Flynn, Padgett and Young added six points each. Flynn also grabbed a team-high six rebounds. For the game, the Lady Thunderbirds made 13 of 35 field goal attempts – a 37.1 percent average – and hit five of 15 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 20 times. "I've got to do a better job of getting us to compete for four quarters," McCutchan said. "It's on me. I've got to do something. I've got to keep figuring things out. But they've got to help me out as well. But they are. They came after it the sec- ond half and that was the dif- ference. We outworked that team in the second half." In the junior varsity con- test, Hunt scored a game- high 15 points while soph- omore Gracie Jones and freshman Sophie Carnah- an added 10 points each as Pike Central defeated East- ern Greene 42-28. Soph- omore Kenzie Powell (5 points) and sophomore Kail- ee Mann (2 points) rounded out the scoring for the Lady Chargers. Pike Central – which slipped to 4-4 overall and 0 -2 in the Pocket Athletic Conference with a 55 -37 at South Spencer on Monday, Dec. 3 – will return to action on Thursday, Dec. 6, when it will host Southridge, with the junior varsity contest tip- ping off at 6 p.m. On Satur- day, Dec. 8, the Lady Char- gers will travel to Evans- ville Bosse, before returning home to play Gibson South- ern on Thursday, Dec. 13. MARCHINO Continued from page 1 UPCOMING SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5 Middle School 6th Grade Boys' Basketball: Pike Central at Boonville, 6:30 p.m. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6 High School Girls' Basketball: Southridge at Pike Central – Junior Varsity, 6 p.m.; Varsity, 7:30 p.m. High School Girls' and Boys' Swimming and Diving: Pike Central and Southridge at South Spen- cer, 6:30 p.m. High School Boys' C Team Basketball: Pike Cen- tral at Tecumseh, 6:30 p.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Boys' Bas- ketball: Jasper at Pike Central, 6 p.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Girls' Basket- ball: Pike Central at Heritage Hills, 6:30 p.m. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7 High School Wrestling: Pike Central in Pocket Athletic Conference Duals at Heritage Hills, 6 p.m. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8 High School Girls' Basketball: Pike Central at Evansville Bosse – Junior Varsity, noon; Varsity, 1:30 p.m. High School Wrestling: Pike Central in Pocket Athletic Conference Duals at Heritage Hills, 9 a.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Girls' Bas- ketball: Pike Central at Dubois, 9:30 a.m. Middle School 6th Grade Boys' Basketball: Princeton at Pike Central (Old Petersburg Gym), 10 a.m. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10 High School Girls' and Boys' Swimming and Diving: Evansville Reitz at Pike Central, 6:30 p.m. High School Boys' C Team Basketball: South Knox at Pike Central, 6 p.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Girls' Bas- ketball: Forest Park at Pike Central, 6 p.m. Middle School 6th Grade Boys' Basketball: Oak- land City at Pike Central (Old Petersburg Gym) (B Team First), 6 p.m. Middle School 6th Grade Girls' Basketball: Pike Central at Washington Catholic, 6 p.m. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11 High School Wrestling: Pike Central at Jasper, 6 p.m. High School Boys' C Team Basketball: North Posey at Pike Central, 6:30 p.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Boys' Bas- ketball: Forest Park at Pike Central, 6 p.m WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12 High School Girls' and Boys' Swimming and Diving: Evansville North at Pike Central, 6 p.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Girls' Basket- ball: Princeton at Pike Central, 6:30 p.m. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13 High School Girls' Basketball: Gibson Southern at Pike Central – Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. High School Boys' C Team Basketball: Pike Cen- tral at Princeton, 6:30 p.m. Middle School Boys' 7th and 8th Grade Boys' Basketball: Owensville at Pike Central, 6:30 p.m. Middle School Girls 7th and 8th Grade Girls' Basketball: Pike Central at Owensville, 6:30 p.m. Middle School 6th Grade Girls' Basketball: Pike Central at Heritage Hills, 6:30 p.m. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15 High School Girls' Basketball: Pike Central at North Knox – Junior Varsity, 10 a.m.; Varsity, 11:30 a.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Girls' Bas- ketball: Pike Central at Barr-Reeve, 1 p.m. Pike Central High School sophomore Mallory Hickey (31) tries to dribble past Eastern Greene sophomore Shelley Tarr (12) during varsity girls' high school basketball action on Tuesday, Nov. 27. Hickey scored 12 points in the visiting Lady Char- gers' 39-33 victory. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Lauren Vaughn (left) looks for a teammate to pass the ball to as Eastern Greene sophomore Kira Padgett (10) de- fends during varsity girls' high school basketball action on Tuesday, Nov. 27. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School freshman Hailey Parker (40) drives toward the basket as Eastern Greene junior Zoe Logston (34) pursues during junior varsity girls' high school basketball action on Tuesday, Nov. 27. Ed Cahill photo Above: Pike Central High School junior Jayln Nelson (20) tries to drive past Eastern Greene sophomore Kira Padgett (left) during varsity girls' high school basketball action on Tuesday, Nov. 27. Ed Cahill photo Below: Pike Central High School freshman So- phie Carnahan (33) gets set to take a shot during junior varsity girls' high school basketball action at Eastern Greene on Tuesday, Nov. 27. Carnahan scored 10 points in the Lady Chargers' 42-28 vic- tory. Ed Cahill photo PCMS 8th grade girls' basketball team rolls to 27-17 win over North Knox Jaylynn Capehart scored a game-high eight points to lead the Pike Central Mid- dle School eighth grade girls' basketball team to a 27-17 victory over visit- ing North Knox 27-17 on Thursday, Nov. 29. Liberty Taylor added sev- en points while Chloe Wil- liams tossed in six points as the Lady Chargers im- proved to 6 -1. "The girls' Mad Dog 'D' really flustered North Knox and that disrupted them from getting settled in and running any set plays," Pike Central eighth grade head coach Eric Knight said. "We put on a full-court press and dropped back in- to a trapping zone defense. The girls played it to per- fection. It was a really fun game to coach and proba- bly watch." A fter the first quarter ended with the score tied at 6 -6, the Lady Chargers outscored North Knox 9 -3 in the second period to take a 15 -9 halftime lead. Then, after the Lady Warriors closed to with- in 17-13 by the end of the third quarter, Pike Central scored 10 fourth-quarter points – including seven by Capehart – to seal the win. "North Knox doubled down on Chloe tonight and that led to Liberty and Jay- lynn having big games," Knight said. "Delaney Welch, Kahle Young, Tiffa- ny Arteaga, Keena Young and Kennedy Willis all took turns pressuring the ball and running the traps on the full-court press." Keena Young (4 points) and Kahle Young (2 points) rounded out the scoring for the Lady Chargers. "I was very proud of the way all the girls worked to- night," Knight said. "One thing that is always writ- ten on the big board be- fore the game is 'play with heart.' The girls did that to- night and it was the reason they took the win." In the seventh grade game, Madison McCo- ry scored a game-high 17 points and Reagan Jones added 10 points as North Knox defeated Pike Cen- tral 36 -8. Kelby Leighty and Brailey Mills scored three points each for Pike Central (5 -2) while An- na Whitehead netted two points. Pike Central, which hosted Wood Memorial on Tuesday, Dec. 4, will travel to Heritage Hills on Thurs- day, Dec. 6, and to Dubois on Saturday, Dec. 8, be- fore returning home to host Forest Park on Mon- day, Dec. 10, and Prince- ton on Wednesday, Dec. 12. Call us at 812-354-8500 or email sports@pressdispatch.net GOT SPORTS NEWS?