The Press-Dispatch
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B-2 Sports Wednesday, Februar y 7, 2018 The Press-Dispatch Call us at 812-354-8500 or email sports@pressdispatch.net GOT SPORTS NEWS? PAST Continued from page 1 UPCOMING SPORTS SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7 High School Boys' Swimming and Diving: Evansville Central and Evansville Bosse at Pike Cen- tral, 6:30 p.m. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8 Middle School 6th Grade Girls' Basketball: Pike Central at South Spencer, 6:30 p.m. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9 High School Boys' Basketball: Pike Central at Tell City – Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. High School Girls' Swimming: Pike Central in State Meet at IU Natatorium in Indianapolis – Swim- ming preliminaries, 6 p.m. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10 High School Boys' Basketball: Heritage Hills at Pike Central – Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. High School Girls' Swimming: Pike Central in State Meet at IU Natatorium in Indianapolis – Diving preliminaries and semifinals, 9 a.m.; Consolations and finals for all events, 1 p.m. High School Wrestling: Pike Central in Semi-State Meet at Ford Center in Evansville, 10 a.m. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13 High School Boys' Basketball: Gibson South- ern at Pike Central – Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Var- sity, 8 p.m. Middle School Wrestling: Pike Central at Boon- ville Invitational, 6 p.m. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15 High School Boys' Swimming and Diving: Pike Central in Sectional Meet at Jasper – Swimming pre- liminaries, 5:30 p.m. Middle School Wrestling: Pike Central and Jas- per at Vincennes Lincoln, 6 p.m. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16 High School Boys' Basketball: Pike Central at Forest Park – Junior Varsity, 6 p.m.; Varsity, 7:30 p.m. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17 High School Boys' Basketball: Jasper at Pike Cen- tral – 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.; Consolation and finals, 1 p.m. HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' BASKETBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall Team W-L W-L Gibson Southern ................................. 8 -0 ................ 19 -5 Heritage Hills .......................................7-1 .................17-4 Forest Park .......................................... 6 -2 ................ 15 -9 Pike Central ........................................ 4-4 ............... 11-11 Tell City ................................................ 4-4 ............... 11-13 Tecumseh ............................................ 4-4 ............... 11-12 North Posey ........................................ 2-6 ............... 11-14 Southridge ........................................... 1-7 .................3-18 South Spencer ..................................... 0 -8 .................2-21 STATE TOURNAMENT (All times Eastern) Results of January 30 Sectional 31 (3A) At Princeton Vincennes Lincoln 60, Southridge 24 Pike Central 40, Washington 36 Sectional 32 (3A) At Mount Vernon (Posey) Mount Vernon (Posey) 42, Heritage Hills 40 Evansville Bosse 48, Boonville 47 Sectional 48 At Forest Park (2A) North Posey 55, Perry Central 33 Forest Park 61, South Spencer 24 Sectional 64 At Wood Memorial (1A) Tecumseh 52, Springs Valley 50 (OT) Results of Feb. 2 Sectional 31 (3A) At Princeton Vincennes Lincoln 65, Sullivan 37 Princeton 56, Pike Central 52 Sectional 32 (3A) At Mount Vernon (Posey) Gibson Southern 54, Mount Vernon (Posey) 40 Evansville Memorial 54, Evansville Bosse 35 Sectional 48 At Forest Park (2A) North Posey 40, Tell City 39 Evansville Mater Dei 55, Forest Park 37 Sectional 64 At Tecumseh (1A) Wood Memorial 68, Cannelton 26 Northeast Dubois 37, Tecumseh 27 Results of Feb. 3 Sectional 31 (3A) At Princeton Vincennes Lincoln 69, Princeton 54 Sectional 32 (3A) At Mount Vernon (Posey) Evansville Memorial 56, Gibson Southern 41 Sectional 48 (2A) At Forest Park Evansville Mater Dei 46, North Posey 29 Sectional 64 (1A) At Tecumseh Northeast Dubois 35, Wood Memorial 30 Games of February 10 Regional 8 (3A) At Charlestown Greensburg (20 -4) vs. Vincennes Lincoln (21-4), 10 a.m. Salem (22-4) vs. Evansville Memorial (16 -6), noon Championship game, 7:30 p.m. Regional 12 (Class 2A) At Paoli North Knox (21-4) vs. South Ripley (21-3), 10 a.m. Paoli (19 -5) vs. Evansville Mater Dei (11-12), noon Championship game, 8 p.m. Regional 16 (Class 1A) At West Washington Vincennes Rivet (25 -2) vs. South Central (19 -5), 10 a.m. Northeast Dubois (17-7) vs. Trinity Lutheran (21- 5), noon Championship game, 8 p.m. Following an exchange of baskets by Lewis and Nal- ley, a lay-up by junior Lindsay Moody and another basket by Lewis – sandwiched around a free throw by Nelson – pulled Washington to within 16 -13 with 2:09 left in the second quarter. However, a basket by Nal- ley – off of an assist by Croak – with 1:24 remaining in the second period gave Pike Cen- tral an 18 -13 halftime lead. During the first half, the Lady Chargers – who shot just 33 percent from the field during the regular-season loss to Washington – made eight of 20 field goal attempts, a 40 percent average. The Lady Hatchets, mean- while, shot just 28.6 percent from the field, hitting 6 -for-21 shot attempts, including an 0 -for-5 effort from beyond the three-point arc. "It's nice to come out and actually play with a lead," Mc- Cutchan said. "We've been in the habit of we'll fall behind, but they'll battle their butts off to get back in it, but then you kind of expend so much energy getting back in it." "That was the difference," McCutchan added. "We hit some shots." The Lady Hatchets would open the second half with an 8 -2 scoring run – on three baskets by Lewis and one by Shrieves – to take a 21-20 lead with 5:34 left in the third pe- riod. A fter Hendrixson hit a three-pointer to put Pike Cen- tral ahead 23-21, Washington scored four straight points – on back-to-back baskets by Shrieves and Lewis – to re- gain the lead at 25 -23 with 4:09 remaining in the third quarter. However, three-pointers by Vaughn and Croak – sand- wiched around a basket by Shrieves – spurred the Lady Chargers to a 29 -27 lead with 2:58 left in the third period. Still trailing 29 -27 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Lady Hatchets scored sev- en consecutive points – on a three-pointer by senior Eliz- abeth Stallman and back-to- back baskets by Lewis – to take a 34-29 lead with 4:39 remaining. However, three free throws by Hendrixson and a three-pointer by Vaughn pro- pelled Pike Central back into the lead – at 35 -34 – with 2:28 left in the contest. A fter Stallman hit a short jumper to give Washington a 36 -35 lead, the Lady Hatchets – following a timeout called by head coach Gretchen Miles with 2:08 left – switched from a zone defense to a man- to-man defense, forcing Mc- Cutchan to call a timeout of his own with 1:23 remaining. "They were trying to take away our flashes on our zone, so we went to a 2-1-2 to iso- late Erika on the block," Mc- Cutchan said. "I said, 'If they double, you've got to look.' And they doubled and she kicked it – and Demi hit the big shot." "It felt pretty great," Croak said. "Erika drove it in and kicked it right back out to me and gave me a wide-open shot. So, good job to her. That was just a great feeling." A fter an exchange of turn- overs, Shrieves rebounded a missed shot by Lewis, but her put-back attempt was off the mark and Hendrixson grabbed the rebound for the Lady Chargers. Croak, fouled with 13.7 sec- onds left, hit both ends of the one-and-one to extend Pike Central's lead to 40 -36. "I did feel a little bit of pres- sure, but I knew my team had my back," Croak said. "I just knew I was going to hit them, and I was going to do it for my team." A three-point shot by Lewis in the game's closing seconds missed the mark, and Hen- drixson grabbed the rebound as the final horn sounded. "This has been us all year," McCutchan said. "We've giv- en ourselves chances to win all year, but we finally hit the big shots. We came through in crunch time. We stayed mentally tough. We just hit a big shot when we needed to down the stretch." "We had to do it up here, mentally," said Croak, point- ing to her right temple. "If we wouldn't have done that, I don't think we would have pulled it off. But we just played so smart this game and it was awesome that we pulled out a win." Vaughn hit four of seven field goal attempts – including three out of four tries from be- yond the three-point line – to score a team-high 11 points. "She played outstanding," McCutchan said. Croak and Hendrixson tossed in eight points each while Nelson and Nalley add- ed seven points and six points, respectively. Nelson also had a team-high seven rebounds while Nalley dished out a game-high three assists. "Everybody contributed tonight," McCutchan said. "Ten kids played and 10 kids did something positive. That's big, whether it's rebounding, playing defense, tipping pass- es." For the game, Pike Cen- tral made 14 of 32 field goal attempts – a 43.8 percent aver- age – and hit six of eight tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 16 times. "It was nothing I did," Mc- Cutchan said. "The kids just stepped up and hit it. They wanted to play. They knew they could compete and win tonight, and they had that feeling. When they fell down five, they knew that they could keep playing, because we've done that all year. Down the stretch, the kids made plays." Croak agreed. "We were feeling pretty good," Croak said. "We were feeling pretty good to be up by five (at halftime). They made a run after halftime, but we didn't back down. We kept on going and going, and it was just great." Lewis paced Washington (16 -6) with 20 points while Shrieves added seven points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. For the game, the Lady Hatchets made 17 of 45 field goal attempts – a 37.8 percent average – and hit one of two tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 10 times. With the win, Pike Cen- tral advanced to a semifinal match-up with Princeton on Friday, Feb. 2. Pike Central High School junior Becca Crow (11) drives past Washington senior Sara Lewis (32) as Lady Hatchet senior sophomore Ali Bar- ber (middle) pursues during IHSA A Girls' Bas- ketball Sectional 31 action at Princeton on Tues- day, Jan. 30. Ed Cahill photo Above: Pike Central High School senior Brook Nalley (13) goes up for a shot as Princeton senior Kiare Young (2) looks on during IHSA A Girls' Basketball Sectional 31 action at Princeton on Friday, Feb. 2. Nalley scored six points in the La- dy Chargers' 56-52 season-ending loss. Ed Cahill photo Right: Pike Central High School senior Erika Hendrixson (23) puts up a shot over Princeton ju- nior Keona Lewis (left) during IHSA A Girls' Bas- ketball Sectional 31 action at Princeton on Friday, Feb. 2. Hendrixson scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Lady Chargers' 56-52 season-ending loss. Ed Cahill photo By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central High School girls' basketball team saw its season come to an end with a 56 -52 loss to Princeton in the semifinals of the sectional tournament hosted by the Lady Tigers on Friday, Feb. 2. Senior Erika Hendrix- son scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed 10 re- bounds while senior Demi Croak added 11 points as the Lady Chargers ended with a won-loss record of 11- 11 – their first non-losing re- cord since the 2009 -10 sea- son, when Pike Central also went 11-11. "We didn't play our best game, but I can't be more proud of a group of kids just for what they've given me as a coach all year," Lady Chargers head coach Kyle McCutchan said. "I have no complaints whatsoever. They had a good, solid sea- son. They've done a lot of things we hadn't done in a while here, and we've got a lot to build on." "We're coming back next year," McCutchan added. "We lose six seniors who played this year, but we're going to be ready to go next year." A fter senior Brook Nal- ley scored the game's first points to give Pike Central a 2-0 lead with 5:13 left in the first period, the Lady Tigers scored nine straight points – five by senior Kiare Young and two each by junior Keo- na Lewis and Hannah Sisk – to take a 9 -2 lead. A basket by Hendrixson pulled the Lady Chargers to within 9 -4 with one min- ute left in the opening quar- ter, but a steal and lay-up by Young and a steal and lay-up by freshman Reaghan Page extended Princeton's lead to 13-4 early in the second pe- riod. However, after Mc- Cutchan called a 30 -second timeout with 7:22 left in the first half, Pike Central rat- tled off eight straight points – on baskets by Croak, Hen- drixson, senior Audra Stone and junior Becca Crow – to narrow the Lady Tigers' lead to 13-12. Back-to-back baskets by Young and Sisk stretched Princeton's lead to 17-12 with 3:25 left in the second period, but a three-pointer by Croak, a free throw by Nalley and a basket by Hen- drixson propelled Pike Cen- tral to an 18 -17 lead with 2:03 remaining in the first half. A fter a free throw by freshman Emma Sartore pulled the Lady Tigers even at 18 -18, Pike Central scored five straight points – on a three-pointer by Croak and a pair of free throws by Hen- drixson – to take a 23-18 lead with 1:19 left in the second quarter. Princeton would end the first half with a 4-0 scoring run – on a basket by Page and a pair of free throws by Sisk – as the Lady Chargers took a 23-22 lead into the sec- ond half. During the first half, Pike Central made nine of 16 field goal attempts – a 56.3 per- cent average – but turned the ball over 12 times, six of which the Lady Tigers converted into a total of 12 points. "They pressured us," Mc- Cutchan said. "That's about as aggressive a team as you're going to face. They were quick, and the refs let them play physical, which is fine. That was to their ad- vantage because they were quicker than us. They sped us up on offense and we just forced stuff. They got us out of any type of rhythm." "I give Princeton a lot of credit," McCutchan add- ed. "One of our weaknesses sometimes is handling pres- Lady Chargers end season with 56-52 loss to Princeton in sectional semifinals See CHARGERS on 5