The Press-Dispatch
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B-2 Sports Wednesday, December 12, 2018 The Press-Dispatch Above: Pike Central High School sophomore Lane Miller (right) grapples with his North Posey opponent during the Pocket Athletic Conference Duals on Friday, Dec. 9, at Heritage Hills. Miller went 5-3 during the two-day event with three wins by pin, one win by major decision and one win by forfeit. Ed Cahill photo Right: Pike Central High School sophomore Isa- iah Greer (right) battles with a North Posey wres- tler during the Pocket Athletic Conference Duals on Friday, Dec. 9, at Heritage Hills. Greer went 6- 2 during the two-day event with one win by deci- sion and five wins by forfeit. Ed Cahill photo Far right: Pike Central High School senior Hunt- er Kunz (bottom) gets thrown down onto the mat by his Tell City opponent during the Pocket Athlet- ic Conference Duals on Friday, Dec. 9, at Heritage Hills. Kunz went 2-6 during the two-day event with two wins by forfeit. Ed Cahill photo By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Junior Denaya Harris scored 15 points while soph- omore Ke'Asia Edwards and senior Jaden McElroy added 11 points each to lead Evans- ville Bosse to a 53-42 victory over visiting Pike Central in high school girls' basketball action on Saturday, Dec. 8. Harris scored seven points – on two baskets and a three-pointer – and McEl- roy netted two more as the Lady Bulldogs (2-7) scored the first nine points of the game to seize the lead for keeps. Pike Central, which slipped to 4-7 with its third straight loss, missed its first eight field goal attempts – including four from beyond the three-point line – and turned the ball over twice in its first eight possessions. Back-to-back baskets by sophomore Mallory Hick- ey and junior Jenna Horrall cut Evansville Bosse's lead to 9 -4 with 2:02 left in the first period. A fter a three-pointer by sophomore Antania Funch- es extended the Lady Bull- dogs' lead to 12-4, a lay-up by Horrall – off of an as- sist by senior Allesha Sisk – pulled Pike Central to with- in 12-6 at the end of the first quarter. Neither team would score again until junior Jayln Nel- son hit one of two free throw attempts to cut the Lady Bulldogs' lead to 12-7 with 3:06 left in the second pe- riod. A fter a three-pointer by Edwards stretched Evans- ville Bosse's lead to 15 -7 with 2:22 remaining in the first half, Lady Chargers senior Becca Crow hit four straight free throws to slash the deficit to 15 -11. A basket by junior Millai Madison and a free throw by McElroy, sandwiched around a free throw by Nel- son, extended the Lady Bull- dogs' lead to 18 -12, a basket by Horrall – off of an assist by Sisk – sent the game in- to halftime with Evansville Bosse leading 18 -14. During the first half, Pike Central made just four of 21 field goal attempts – includ- ing 0 -for-7 from three-point range – and hit six of 10 free throws while turning the ball over 11 times. "The first half, we played a little hesitant on offense, and that is something we have struggled with this year – being consistent on offense," Pike Central head coach Kyle McCutchan said. "But I thought our defensive effort was good and kept it close." A fter Edwards opened the second half by hitting a three-pointer to extend Evansville Bosse's lead to 21-14, the Lady Chargers scored five straight points – two each by Nelson and Crow and one by junior Lauren Vaughn – to close to within 21-19 with 5:48 left in the third period. The Lady Bulldogs an- swered by scoring seven straight points – four by Har- ris and three by McElroy – to open up a 28 -19 lead, but Pike Central replied with a 7-0 run of its own – five points by Horrall and two by Sisk – to pull back to within 28 -26 with 1:05 remaining in the third quarter. Following an exchange of baskets that left Evansville Bosse with a 30 -28 lead, a pair of free throws by soph- omore Miakhara Hazelwood and a basket by Harris gave the Lady Bulldogs a 34-28 lead at the heading into the final period. A three-pointer by Vaughn – the Lady Chargers' on- ly trey in nine attempts – slashed the deficit to 34-31 with 7:32 remaining before a pair of free throws by Ha- zelwood and a three-pointer by McElroy extended Evans- ville Bosse's lead to 39 -31 with 6:50 left. Pike Central would close to within six points twice – at 39 -33 and 41-35 – but a 10 -0 scoring run by the La- dy Bulldogs stretched their lead to 51-35 with 3:35 re- maining. The Lady Chargers would outscore Evansville Bosse 7-2 – on a pair of baskets by Horrall and Nelson and three free throws by senior Kelsey Barrett – to close out the contest. Horrall came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points for Pike Central while Nelson added eight points and a game-high eight rebounds. Crow and Vaughn netted six points and four points, respective- ly. Barrett (three points), Hickey (two points) and Sisk (two points) rounded out the scoring for the La- dy Chargers. For the game, Pike Cen- tral made 15 of 39 field goal attempts – a 38.5 percent av- erage – and hit 11 of 18 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 26 times, 11 of which Evans- ville Bosse converted into 24 points on the offensive end. "I thought the team played hard against Bosse," McCutchan said. "We just did not handle their pres- sure very well. If we could get into our offense, we usu- ally got an easy shot." Harris had a game-high five steals for the Lady Bulldogs while McElroy – who dished out a game- high three assists – and Ed- wards added four and three, respectively. Hazelwood led Evansville Bosse in re- bounds with seven. For the game, the Lady Bulldogs made 17 of 49 field goal attempts – a 34.7 per- cent average – and hit 12 of 16 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 20 times. In the junior varsity con- test, sophomore Gracie Jones scored a game-high 22 points and freshman Kya Leighty added 21 points to lead Pike Central to a 70 - 30 victory over Evansville Bosse. With the Lady Chargers leading 23-21 at halftime, Pike Central outscored Evansville Bosse 57-9 in the second half, including 18 by Jones and 17 by Leighty. Sophomore Kailee Mann added 16 points in the win- ning effort. Freshman Mal- lory Hunt and sophomore Kenzie Powell added six points and five points, re- spectively, for Pike Central, which improved to 7-2 with its fifth straight victory. Sophomore Jana Baker paced Evansville Bosse with 10 points. Junior Tyra Felt- ner and sophomore Keasha McCants added eight points each. The Lady Chargers will host Gibson Southern on Thursday, Dec. 13, with the junior varsity game tip- ping off at 6:30 p.m., East- ern time. The Lady Char- gers will then travel to North Knox on Saturday, Dec. 15, and to Jasper on Tuesday, Dec. 18. 2-6 with one win by pin and one win by forfeit; senior Hunter Kunz, competing at 182 pounds, went 2-6 with two wins by forfeit; fresh- man Adon Sanchez, com- peting at 285 pounds, went 1-7 with one win by forfeit; and sophomore Lane Potts, competing at 106 pounds, was 1-0 with one win by forfeit. Senior Jaydon Gordon, competing at 132 pounds, was 0 -8, while sophomore Cody Davis, competing at 220 pounds, was 0 -5. Overall, Pike Central wrestlers were 38 -56 with 14 wins by pin, four wins by decision, one win by ma- jor decision, two wins by technical fall and 16 wins by forfeit. Of the Chargers' 56 loss- es, 47 were by pin, five by decision, two by major de- cision and two by techni- cal fall. In addition, Pike Central forfeited a total of 17 bouts. "It was a pretty rough weekend overall," Char- gers head coach Ryan Mc- Cain said. "I didn't feel we wrestled to our potential." As a team, Pike Central won two matches – defeat- ing South Spencer 46 -30 and Tecumseh 53-50 – while losing matches to North Posey (70 -6), Tell City (54- 19), Heritage Hills (58 -21), Forest Park (36 -29), South- ridge (64-15) and Gibson Southern (57-18) to finish the nine-team round-robin tournament 2-6. "We lost a close dual to Forest Park," McCain said. "My guys just weren't ag- gressive, and didn't act like they wanted it." "We talked about it after- wards," McCain continued. "I've got to find a way to mo- tivate these guys to give six solid minutes on the mat, not give up pins. Our con- ditioning is not at question here. I know we're in shape by the way we train. It's our heart and mental toughness that's going to need some work. We will get there." Heritage Hills placed first overall at 7-1 while three teams – Gibson Southern, North Posey and Southridge – each went 6 -2 to tie for second place. Tell City went 5 -3 to place fifth while Forest Park went 3-5 to place sixth. Tecumseh (1-7) and South Spencer (0 -8) placed eighth and ninth, respec- tively. "The conference overall is really good this year," Mc- Cain said. "Since I've been back coaching, I've never seen the top five teams so competitive. For a wrestling fan, the conference tourney in January is going to be a lot of fun to watch." Pike Central, which com- peted in a tri-meet hosted by Jasper on Tuesday, Dec. 11, will compete in the Evansville Harrison Invi- tational on Friday, Dec. 14, and Saturday, Dec. 15. "We've got a long week with the tri-meet at Jas- per and the 10 -way at Har- rison this weekend," Mc- Cain said. "We're going to find out what we're made of. Then we get a nice break until Jan. 5th to regroup, heal up and, hopefully, get back a few losses we've suf- fered as a team." DUALS Continued from page 1 UPCOMING SCHEDULE 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. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14 High School Wrestling: Pike Central in Evansville Harrison Invitational, 5 p.m. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15 High School Wrestling: Pike Central in Evansville Harrison Invitational, 9 a.m. 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. MONDAY, DECEMBER 17 High School Girls' and Boys' Swimming and Diving: Evansville Reitz at Pike Central, 6:30 p.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Boys' Bas- ketball: Pike Central at Loogootee, 6 p.m. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18 High School Boys' Basketball: Pike Central at Southridge – Junior Varsity, 6 p.m.; Varsity, 7:30 p.m. High School Girls' Basketball: Pike Central at Jasper – Junior Varsity, 6 p.m.; Varsity, 7:30 p.m. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21 High School Boys' Basketball: Vincennes Lin- coln at Pike Central – Junior Varsity, 6 p.m.; Varsi- ty, 7:30 p.m. Pike Central High School sophomore Isaiah Greer (right) battles with a North Posey wrestler during the Pocket Athletic Conference Duals on Friday, Dec. 9, at Heritage Hills. Greer went 6-2 during the two-day event with one win by decision and five wins by forfeit. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Dalton Williams (right) tries to take his North Posey opponent to the mat during the Pocket Athletic Conference Du- als on Friday, Dec. 9, at Heritage Hills. Williams went 2-6 during the two-day event with one win by pin and one win by forfeit. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Blake Henson (right) battles with his Tell City opponent during the Pocket Athletic Conference Duals on Friday, Dec. 9, at Heritage Hills. Henson went 4-4 during the two- day event with one win by pin, two wins by decision and one win by technical fall. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Lauren Vaughn (23) looks for a teammate to pass the ball to during varsity girls' high school basketball action against visiting Southridge on Thursday, Dec. 8. Vaughn scored a team-high 19 points in the La- dy Chargers' 54-50 overtime loss and four points in a 53-42 loss at Evansville Bosse on Saturday, Dec. 10. Ed Cahill photo Lady Chargers fall short in 53-42 loss at Evansville Bosse