The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1079256
B-2 Sports Wednesday, Februar y 6, 2019 The Press-Dispatch period to put the Lady Char- gers on the scoreboard. A fter a lay-in by junior Grace Sickbert extended Southridge's lead to 12-1 with 1:41 left in the first pe- riod, Hickey scored on a put- back of a missed shot by ju- nior Lauren Vaughn – Pike Central's first field goal in 10 attempts – to pull the Lady Chargers to within 12-3 go- ing into the second quarter. Southridge would stretch its lead to 13-3 when fresh- man Myah Montgomery hit one of two free throw at- tempts but three-pointers by sophomore Kenzie Powell and senior Hailey Marchino – sandwiched around a bas- ket by Montgomery – nar- rowed the deficit to 15 -9 with 5:09 left in the first half. Two free throws by Neu- kam and two free throws by Nalley extended the La- dy Raiders' lead back to 10 points – at 23-13 – with 1:47 remaining in the second period before Pike Central answered with a basket by Hickey and a three-pointer by Powell to close to within 23-18 at the end of the first half. Neither team scored on its first two possessions of the second half – South- ridge turned the ball over twice while Vaughn and Jayln Nelson missed shots from three-point range for Pike Central – before Hick- ey grabbed the rebound of a miss by Vaughn and scored to cut the Lady Raiders' lead to 23-20 with 6:26 left in the third period. That proved to be the high-water mark for Pike Central, as Southridge scored five straight points, on a three-pointer by Nalley and a basket by Neukam, to stretch its lead to 28 -20. "We just couldn't quite recover," said Lady Char- gers head coach Kyle Mc- Cutchan. "They scored five quick and, when you're fight- ing to come back from be- hind, it's tough when we're not hitting shots." A fter a free throw by Vaughn pulled Pike Central to within 28 -21, Southridge went on a 6 -2 scoring run to take a 34-23 lead with 1:58 left in the third period. Back-to-back baskets by Vaughn and Nelson cut the Lady Raiders' lead to 34-27 before back-to-back baskets by Montgomery gave South- ridge a 38 -27 advantage. Two free throws by senior Becca Crow cut the deficit to single digits – at 38 -29 – at the end of the third quarter, but a three-pointer by Neu- kam at the start of the fourth period upped the Lady Raid- ers' lead to 41-29. A free throw by senior Hailey Marchino pulled Pike Central to within 41- 30 with 4:23 to play, but that would be the only point the Lady Chargers would score in the fourth quarter, as Southridge scored six un- answered points – four by Neukam and one each by Montgomery and sopho- more Kennedy Siddons – to close out the contest. "We gave good effort to- night, but we just couldn't muster up enough offense to be a serious threat," Mc- Cutchan said. "We got with- in three (points) starting the second half, and then just struggled to score con- sistently after that. You're not going to win games scor- ing 30 points." Powell and Hickey came off the bench to lead Pike Central in scoring with eight points and seven points, re- spectively, while Vaughn pitched in five points and led both teams with four steals. Nelson, who led the Lady Chargers in rebounds with six, and Marchino net- ted four points each, while Crow accounts for two points while dishing out a pair of assists. For the game, Pike Cen- tral (5 -17) made 11 of 43 field goal attempts – a 25.6 percent average – and hit five of 12 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 11 times. A fter making seven of 20 field goal attempts during the first half – including three of 10 tries from beyond the three-point arc – the La- dy Chargers hit just four of 23 shot attempts during the second half, missing all nine tries from three-point range. "Tonight, we missed shots," McCutchan not- ed. "We missed some lay- ups early. We missed some open jump shots. Southridge allowed us to move the ball ... but we just didn't take ad- vantage of the opportunities that we had." Neukam paced South- ridge (7-14) with 16 points while Montgomery – who torched the Lady Chargers for 38 points in a 54-50 over- time win during the regular season – added 15 points and grabbed a game-high 13 re- bounds. "We slowed her down," McCutchan said. "We start- ed off in man, with Jayln just taking her away, but they kept beating us off the drib- ble. They've got a couple of quicker guards, and they got around us too easy. That was the problem. We just didn't contain." For the game, the Lady Raiders made 16 of 29 field goal attempts – a 55.2 per- cent average – and hit 13 of 25 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 13 times. The season-ending loss also marked the end of the high school careers of the Lady Chargers' seven se- niors – Kelsey Barrett, Em- ily Carnahan, Hannah Car- nahan, Becca Crow, Kenzie Dunn, Hailey Marchino and Allesha Sisk. "When you lose seven kids, it's tough," McCutchan said. "Last year, we lost six, so kids had to learn a new role. That was our adjust- ment this year we faced. But the seven seniors are great kids. We're going to miss them." "But we've got to re- group," McCutchan add- ed. "This is a year we didn't want to have, I didn't expect to have, but we've got to re- group with the remaining kids and get better. So we've got to have a big offseason and bounce back." Leading the returning players for Pike Central will be rising seniors Jenna Hor- rall, Jayln Nelson and Lau- ren Vaughn, rising juniors Mallory Hickey and Ken- zie Powell and rising soph- omore Mallory Hunt, all of whom saw extensive playing action this past season. "We've got players com- ing back, so we've got tools to work with," McCutchan said. "We've just got to con- tinue to grow and get better. It's going to be a big offsea- son for us. We've just got to get in the gym. We've got to get better, so we don't strug- gle against next year." "Kids have got to put time in; if they do, we're going to improve," McCutchan add- ed. "I like what we've got coming back, but we've all got to put work in, including myself. I hold myself just as accountable as any of the players. I've got to do better myself. " CHARGERS Continued from page 1 UPCOMING SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6 High School Boys' Swimming and Diving: Tri- meet at Pike Central, 6:30 p.m. Middle School Wrestling: Pike Central at Evans- ville Memorial, 6:30 p.m. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7 Middle School 6th Grade Girls' Basketball: South Spencer at Pike Central (Old Petersburg Gym), 6:30 p.m. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8 High School Boys' Basketball: Tell City at Pike Central – Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. High School Girls' Swimming and Diving: State Finals at Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapo- lis – Swimming preliminaries, 6 p.m. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9 High School Boys' Basketball: Pike Central at Boonville – Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. High School Girls' Swimming and Diving: State Finals at Indiana University Natatorium in Indianap- olis – Diving preliminaries and semifinals, 9 a.m.; Fi- nals, 1 p.m. High School Wrestling: Semi-State Meet at Ford Center in Evansville, 9 a.m. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12 High School Boys' Basketball: Pike Central at Gibson Southern – Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. Middle School Wrestling: Pike Central in Boon- ville Invitational, 6 p.m. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14 High School Boys' Swimming: Pike Central in Sectional Meet preliminaries at Jasper, 6:30 p.m. Middle School Wrestling: Pike Central at Jasper, 6 p.m. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15 High School Boys' Basketball: Pike Central at Jas- per – Junior Varsity, 6 p.m.; Varsity, 7:30 p.m. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 High School Boys' Basketball: Forest Park at Pike Central – Junior Varsity, 6 p.m.; Varsity, 7:30 p.m. High School Boys' Swimming and Diving: Pike Central in Sectional Meet at Jasper – Diving prelimi- naries and semifinals, 10 a.m.; Finals, 2 p.m. HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' BASKETBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall Team W-L W-L Gibson Southern ............................. 8 -0 .......... 23-3 Tecumseh .........................................6 -2 .......... 18 -5 Heritage Hills .................................. 5 -3 .......... 17-6 Southridge ....................................... 5 -3 .......... 6 -15 Forest Park ...................................... 4-4 .........11-13 Tell City ............................................ 3-5 ........ 15 -11 South Spencer ................................. 3-5 .........11-12 Pike Central .....................................1-6 .......... 5 -17 North Posey .....................................0 -7 .......... 1-22 STATE TOURNAMENT (All times Eastern) Games of January 29 Sectional 31 (3A) At Vincennes Lincoln Vincennes Lincoln 69, Sullivan 42 Southridge 47, Pike Central 30 Sectional 32 (3A) At Gibson Southern Gibson Southern 86, Evansville Bosse 26 Mount Vernon (Posey) 57, Boonville 49 Sectional 48 At Forest Park (2A) Evansville Mater Dei 62, Forest Park 36 Tell City 33, South Spencer 32 Sectional 64 At Springs Valley (1A) Springs Valley 50, Wood Memorial 37 Games of Feb. 1 Sectional 31 (3A) At Vincennes Lincoln Vincennes Lincoln 53, Washington 49 Princeton 32, Southridge 25 Sectional 32 (3A) At Gibson Southern Gibson Southern 69, Heritage Hills 52 Evansville Memorial 59, Mount Vernon (Posey) 18 Sectional 48 At Forest Park (2A) Evansville Mater Dei 54, Perry Central 29 Tell City 36, North Posey 33 (OT) Sectional 64 At Springs Valley (1A) Tecumseh 63, Cannelton 32 Springs Valley 34, Northeast Dubois 32 Games of Feb. 3 Sectional 31 (3A) At Vincennes Lincoln Vincennes Lincoln 46, Princeton 32 Sectional 32 (3A) At Gibson Southern Gibson Southern 65, Evansville Memorial 52 Sectional 48 (2A) At Forest Park Evansville Mater Dei 52, Tell City 40 Sectional 64 (1A) At Springs Valley Tecumseh 71, Springs Valley 57 Games of February 10 Regional 8 (3A) At Charlestown Salem (22-3) vs. Greensburg (20 -4), 10 a.m. Vincennes Lincoln (23-3) vs. Gibson Southern (23- 3), noon Championship game, 8 p.m. Regional 12 (Class 2A) At Paoli Evansville Mater Dei (15 -10) vs. South Ripley (18 - 7), 10 a.m. Eastern (Pekin) (20 -6) vs. South Knox (16 -11), noon Championship game, 8 p.m. Regional 16 (Class 1A) At Springs Valley Lanesville (18 -6) vs. Vincennes Rivet (26 -0), 10 a.m. West Washington (17-9) vs. Tecumseh (18 -5), noon Championship game, 8 p.m. Pike Central High School sophomore Kenzie Powell (3) goes up for a shot as Southridge soph- omore Abigail Kerkhoff (40) and sophomore Ken- nedy Nalley (right) look on during the opening round of the high school girls' basketball section- al tournament at Vincennes Lincoln on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Powell scored eight points in a 47-30 loss to the Lady Raiders. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Jayln Nelson (20) drives past Southridge senior Mady Neu- kam (15) during the opening round of the high school girls' basketball sectional tournament at Vincennes Lincoln on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Nelson scored four points in a 47-30 loss to the Lady Raiders. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School freshman Mallory Hunt (43) shoots the ball over Southridge junior Grace Sickbert (45) during the opening round of the high school girls' basketball sectional tourna- ment at Vincennes Lincoln on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Ed Cahill photo Right: Pike Central High School senior Hailey Marchino (with ball) looks to shoot while being defended by Southridge sophomore Monica Steck- ler (right) during the opening round of the high school girls' basketball sectional tournament at Vincennes Lincoln on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Marchi- no scored four points in a 47-30 loss to the Lady Raiders. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Becca Crow (11) goes up for a shot as Southridge senior Mady Neukam (15) defends during the opening round of the high school girls' basketball sectional tour- nament at Vincennes Lincoln on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Crow scored two points in a 47-30 loss to the La- dy Raiders. Ed Cahill photo