The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1184010
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, November 13, 2019 B-1 SPORTS Submit sports items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: sports@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg See SHORT on 2 SHORT-HANDED LADY CHARGERS FALL TO PANTHERS IN SEASON OPENER WE ARE PROFFESIONAL GRADE uebelhorgm.com 1-800-937-8721 Jasper, IN By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net A fter trailing by double digits in the first half, the undermanned Pike Central girls' basketball team showed good resolve and battled back within a single possession of Evansville F.J. Reitz (1-0, 0 -0 SIAC) before the Pan- thers pulled away for a 50 -42 victory. The Lady Chargers (0 -1, 0 -0 PAC) were without several key members of their team in the season-opening game at PCHS on Thursday, Nov. 7. "The girls played hard and never quit, even when we fell behind ear- ly," Pike Central head coach Kyle Mc- Cutchan said. " But playing short- handed, we just could not get over the hump." Pike Central was plagued by turn- overs, which was somewhat expected in any season-opener. "At the varsity level, you can't win turning the ball over more than 20 times and that was what we have to get better at," McCutchan said. "Reitz played very hard and aggressive, and every time we got within two points, they hit a shot or made a play. It was a tough loss, but we have a lot of games in front of us and we just have to con- tinue to improve." Junior forward Kailee Mann had a rocky start, but she settled down and scored 12 of her team-high 14 points in the second half, with eight coming in the fourth quarter alone. Sophomore center Mallory Hunt had nine, senior guard Jayln Nelson scored eight, senior guard Lauren Vaughn finished with seven and ju- nior forward Mallory Hickey had five. The Lady Chargers were without senior forward Jenna Horrall, junior guard Kenzie Powell and sophomore forward Kya Leighty. All three are ex- pected to play vital roles for the team this season. The Panthers were led by Alyssa Hayes. The junior guard finished with a game-high 16. Reitz's other scorers were Xavieria Cole with eight; Lillian Beyers scored seven; Kyla Terry, Hol- ly Hodge and Jada Compton each had five; and Catie Shane had four. The Lady Chargers are scheduled Lady Oaks drop season-opener By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Oakland City women's basket- ball team kicked off the regular sea- son with a disappointing loss to Camp- bellsville University-Harrodsburg, 89 - 82, inside the Johnson Center on Mon- day, Nov. 11. The Lady Oaks led 20 -14 at the end of the opening quarter, but saw that lead dwindle to 40 -39 at halftime. OCU outscored CU-Harrodsburg 28 -18 in the third, taking an 11-point advan- tage into the final quarter. However, the Pioneers matched their total points from the first and third quarter combined and outscored the Lady Oaks, 32-14, in the fourth. Re- anne Kietlinski led Oakland City with 20 points. Other contributors for the Lady Oaks were Karen Young and Tab- by Klem with 12 each, Malia Schmit- tler scored 11, Serena Tompkins had 10, Laurin Bentley had nine, McK- endree Ward had seven and Hailey Marchino had one. Oriona Woods paced the Pioneers, notching a game-high 23, going 9 -of- 19 from the field, while grabbing eight rebounds, followed by a 20 -point, 12-re- bound effort from E'moni Washington. OCU held a 57-38 rebounding ad- vantage, including a 22-16 lead on the offensive glass. The Oaks handed out 22 assists, three more than their oppo- nents, while losing the turnover bat- tle 25 -13. As a team, the Oakland City con- nected on 29 -of-73 (39.7 percent) of their shot attempts, including 8 -of- 28 (28.6 percent) from 3-point range. CU-Harrodsburg made 37-of-82 (45.1 percent) of their field goal tries, knock- ing down 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from long range. OCU went 16 -of-22 (72.7 percent) from the charity stripe, while the Pioneers made 12-of-21 (57.1 per- cent) of their foul shots. The Lady Oaks will be back in ac- tion on Wednesday, Nov. 13, as they travel to Owensboro, Ky., to take on Kentucky Wesleyan College at 6 p.m. Mighty Oaks' season off on the wrong foot By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Oakland City University men's basketball team competed in the Re- gion Crossover Tournament in Hills- dale, Mich., this past weekend. The Might Oaks (0 -2) lost both of their tournament games. They fell to Hillsdale College, 105 -54, on Saturday, Nov. 9 and to Malone University, 93-77, on Friday, Nov. 8. Former Pike Central Charger Tyler Toopes was Oakland City's only player in double digits against Hillsdale. He finished the game with 24 points after shooting 8 -of-18 from the field and 8 - of-8 from the free throw line. Toopes also had three steals and two assists. The Mighty Oaks' other scorers were D.J. Redding with eight, J.D. Hoover with seven, Kase Robinson with five, Jacob Sanford and Trevor Ep- pert with four and Nathaniel Schmit- tler with two. The Mighty Oaks (1-1) got off to fast start and led 49 -23 at half- time and finished with seven players in double figures. Javan Miller led the Mighty Oaks in scoring against Malone (1-1) with 18 points on 8 -of-10 shooting. Toopes finished with 16 points after going 5 -of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from the charity stripe. He showed off some impressive shooting from long range, going 4-of-5 from 3-point terri- tory. Schmittler was the Mighty Oaks' on- ly other player in double digits with 12. Robinson finished with nine, Sanford had eight, DJ Redding scored seven, Eppert had four and Hoover finished with three. Malone's Bo Myers was the game's leading scorer with 20. Oakland City also lost an exhibition game at Division I Austin Peay State University on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Toopes scored a game-high 21 points on 8 -of-17 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 from the free throw line. He also had three assists and two steals. Other contributors for the Mighty Oaks were Schmittler with 14, Rob- inson with eight, Redding and Eppert each with six, Hoover with five, San- ford with three, and Miller and Austin Ladd with two each. Oakland City is scheduled to play at Rose-Holman Institute of Technolo- gy (0 -1) on Tuesday, Nov. 12 and host Welch College on Saturday, Nov. 16. Charger Madness set for Saturday The sixth annual Charger Madness will take place on Sat- urday, Nov. 16. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the madness begins at 5:30 p.m. The event costs $5 per adult or one case of water, Gatorade or other sports drink. Students are admit- ted into the game for free. There will be an intra-squad scrimmage and food. Fans will have the chance to meet the high school boys' teams and the Charger Cub squads will be rec- ognized. Pike Central senior guard Jaylyn Nelson dishes to a teammate after driving to the basketball against Reitz on Thursday, Nov. 7 at PCHS. Oakland City's McKendree Ward dribbles up the court against the University of Evansville in a scrimmage on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at Meek Family Fieldhouse. See more photos on the next page