The Press-Dispatch
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B-2 Sports Wednesday, November 15, 2017 The Press-Dispatch By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Trailing host Boonville 32-27 early in the fourth quarter on Tuesday, Nov. 8, the Pike Central High School girls' basketball team scored seven straight points – on a three-pointer by senior Audra Stone and back-to-back baskets by se- nior Erika Hendrixson – to take a 34-32 lead with 3:26 remaining. However, the Lady Char- gers turned the ball over on each of their next four pos- sessions – allowing Boon- ville senior Abbey Green to tie the score at 34-34 with 13 seconds left in regulation – as the Lady Pioneers rallied for a 44-40 victory in over- time. "Like I told the girls in the locker room, we put our- selves in a position to win the game – but when it gets to crunch time, you've just got to execute," Pike Central head coach Kyle McCutchan said. "We turned it over four times in a row. You can't win close ball games that way." But McCutchan quickly added that he would take the blame for the loss, which evened the Lady Chargers' record at 1-1. "They picked up their in- tensity in man-to-man and we just didn't really play with a sense of urgency to close the game out," the first-year head coach said. "I put that on my shoulders. That's something that I've got to get better at. Winning the game was on me." "I had to figure out a way to get us in a position to fin- ish the game off. We made some turnovers and we missed some free throws, but it's on me. I've got to fig- ure out a way to get us over that hump." A basket by senior for- ward Hallie Mockobee and a three-pointer by Green – bracketed around a free throw by Pike Central junior guard Becca Crow – gave Boonville (1-0) an early 5 -1 lead before a three-pointer by Hendrixson and a basket by senior Natalie Burkhart propelled the Lady Chargers to a 6 -5 lead with 2:38 left in the opening period. The Lady Pioneers an- swered with three straight points – on a basket by se- nior Della Gardner and a free throw by Green – to take an 8 -6 lead before Stone scored to pull Pike Central even at 8 -8. Boonville would score the last two points of the first period – on a basket by Gardner with 1:02 left – and the first three points of the second period – on a three-pointer by Green with 7:36 left – to open up a 13- 8 lead. The Lady Chargers ral- lied, however, scoring four straight points – on a pair of free throws by senior for- ward Brook Nalley and a basket by Hendrixson – to cut the deficit to 13-12 with 6:16 remaining in the sec- ond period. Then, after junior Brooke Allen scored to extend the Lady Pioneers' lead to 15 -12, senior guard Demi Croak hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 15 -15 with 4:44 left in the first half. Following an exchange of baskets, Boonville senior Mckenna Walter scored to give the Lady Pioneers a 19 - 17 lead before Croak hit an- other three-pointer – off an assist from Hendrixson – as Pike Central surged ahead 20 -19 with 1:26 remaining in the second quarter. However, a three-pointer by Green with 35 seconds left sent Boonville into half- time with a 22-20 advantage. A fter Green scored early in the second half to stretch the Lady Pioneers' lead to 24-20, a three-pointer by Croak and a lay-up by Nal- ley – off an assist from ju- nior forward Lauren Vaughn – gave Pike Central a 25 -24 lead with 5:29 left in the quarter. A fter a basket by Gardner and a pair of free throws by Hendrixson left the Lady Chargers holding a 27-26 lead with 2:39 remaining in the third period, Boonville scored six straight points – on a pair of put-backs by Wal- ter and a basket by Green – to take a 32-27 lead with sev- en minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Lady Pioneers would not score on any of their next eight possessions – four of which ended with turnovers – before Green scored, send- ing the game into overtime after a desperation shot by Hendrixson at the buzzer fell short. "There's probably a few things I could have changed, or tried different, but it's a matter of just making plays down the stretch, and turn- overs really hurt," Mc- Cutchan said. "We had the ball and the lead with 30 sec- onds left and we turned the ball over right in front of our bench." A free throw by Mockobee gave the Lady Pioneers a 35 - 34 lead with 3:40 left in the four-minute overtime peri- od, but a lay-up by Hendrix- son – off of an assist from Nalley – catapulted Pike Central ahead 36 -35 just 20 seconds later. Boonville would answer by scoring three straight points – on a basket by Mockobee and a free throw by Green – to take a 38 -36 lead with 1:51 left in over- time. A fter Vaughn missed two free throw attempts with 1:44 remaining, back-to- back baskets by the Lady Pioneers – wrapped around a turnover by Pike Central – extended Boonville's lead to 42-36 with 1:17 remaining. A pair of free throws by Croak narrowed the defi- cit to four points – 42-38 – with one minute remaining before a basket by Mocko- bee extended the Lady Pio- neers' lead to 44-38 with 30 seconds left. A basket by Hendrixson in the closing seconds of the contest capped the scoring. During the overtime pe- riod, Pike Central attempt- ed just three field goals – hit- ting two – and were 2-for-4 from the free throw line while turning the ball over five times. "The girls did compete," McCutchan said. "They bat- tled. But when we got down the stretch and in overtime, we just didn't make enough plays." "There's a lot of little things that we just need to get a little bit better at," Mc- Cutchan added. "Hats off to Boonville. They made the plays they needed to make, and that's why they got the victory." The Lady Pioneers out-re- bounded Pike Central 32-22, converting seven of its 12 offensive rebounds into 13 points. The Lady Chargers, however failed to score fol- lowing any of their six offen- sive rebounds. The 6 -foot-1 Walter came off the bench for Boonville and grabbed six rebounds – including three on the offen- sive end, two of which she scored on – while blocking three shots on defense. "We missed a few block- outs, and she's big," Mc- Cutchan said. "Just getting in front of her's not good enough to block her out and drive her back a little bit, and maybe force an over- the-back call." "Part of it is, when you play a half-court trap, you're not always in the best position to rebound," McCutchan add- ed. "But sometimes it just boils down to you've got to go get it, you've got to want the ball." Green paced Boonville with 21 points while Mock- obee added nine points. Gardner and Walter added six points each while Allen netted two points. Mocko- bee grabbed a game-high nine rebounds while Green, Walter and sophomore Ra- mey Wilder added six each. Mockobee also led the La- dy Pioneers in steals with three. For the game, Boonville made 19 of 44 field goal at- tempts – a 43.2 percent av- erage – and hit three of 11 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 21 times. Hendrixson led Pike Cen- tral with 17 points while Croak added 11 points. Stone tallied five points and Nalley scored four points. Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Chargers were Burkhart (two points) and Crow (one point). Nalley had a team-high seven rebounds and Hen- drixson grabbed five more. Nalley and Hendrixson al- so dished out three assists each. In addition, Hendrix- son had a game-high five steals while Nalley had four. For the game, Pike Cen- tral made 14 of 42 field goal attempts - a 33.3 percent av- erage – and hit 7 of 14 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 18 times. "I don't know how many turnovers we forced, but we only gave up 34 points in reg- ulation," McCutchan said. "You expect to win those games." "Offensively, we rushed ourselves all night," Mc- Cutchan added. "When we were patient and moved it, we usually got a good look out of it. But that's just some- thing we're going to have to get better at." "We are still struggling to score," Pike Central coach Rachelle Johns said. "De- fense and rebounding gave us the win as we outrebound- ed them 25 -10 in the first half. Liberty put the team on her back by scoring from outside. Kennedy Willis and Delaney Welch shut down their scoring threat with te- nacious defense." "We still have lots to work on but I am proud of the girls' effort and aggressive defense," Johns added. Erin Hoehn paced the La- dy Vikings with a game-high nine points. Pike Central, which host- ed Washington on Tues- day, Nov. 14, will host South Spencer on Thursday, Nov. 16, with the seventh grade contest tipping off at 6:30 p.m. The Lady Chargers will then play at Washing- ton Catholic on Monday, Nov. 20., and at Haubstadt on Tuesday, Nov. 21. SPORTS BRIEFS Boys' Charger Cub basketball to conduct sign-ups Nov. 16 Charger Cub basket- ball sign-ups for any boy in grades 1 through 5 who are interested in partic- ipating will be conduct- ed on Thursday, Nov. 16, at the Pike Central High School gymnasium, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Charger Cub basketball practices will be on Satur- day, Nov. 18, in the Pike Central Middle School gym. Grades 1-2 will prac- tice from 9 a.m.-10 :15 a.m. and Grades 3-5 will prac- tice from 10 :30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. Registration will be conducted at the door on Saturday, Nov. 18, as well. Each player will re- ceive instruction on the skills and drills essential for the game of basketball, game play, contests, and a league T-shirt. The cost is $40 for the first child and $ 30 for each additional child in the same family. Checks should be made payable to Pike County Youth Bas- ketball. For more information, contact Chargers boys' basketball head coach Hunter Elliott at (812) 354-4884 or by e-mail at helliott@pcsc.k12.in.us. PCMS Continued from page 1 HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' BASKETBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall Team W-L W-L Forest Park .......................................... 1-0 ...................2-1 Gibson Southern ................................. 0 -0 ................... 1-1 Heritage Hills ...................................... 0 -0 .................. 2-0 North Posey ........................................ 0 -0 .................. 0 -0 Pike Central ........................................ 0 -0 ...................1-2 South Spencer ..................................... 0 -0 ...................0 -2 Southridge ........................................... 0 -0 ...................1-2 Tecumseh ............................................ 0 -0 ...................0 -1 Tell City ................................................ 0 -1 ...................2-3 Results of November 7 Castle 76, Gibson Southern 40 Princeton 45, Southridge 18 Result of November 8 Boonville 44, Pike Central 40 (OT) Results of November 9 Forest Park 40, Springs Valley 37 Tell City 60, Cannelton 30 Results of November 10 South Knox 40, Pike Central 37 Crawford County 50, South Spencer 20 Wood Memorial at Gibson Southern, ppd. Corydon Central Classic Tell City 49, Indiana Deaf School 25 Results of November 11 Evansville North 71, Tecumseh 34 Gibson Southern 45, Vincennes Lincoln 44 Heritage Hills 66, South Central (Elizabeth) 57 Loogootee 44, Forest Park 36 Corydon Central Classic Providence 50, Tell City 30 Evansville Central 50, Tell City 37 Games of November 14 Vincennes Lincoln at Pike Central Evansville Harrison at North Posey Gibson Southern at Evansville Reitz Heritage Hills at Evansville North South Spencer at Perry Central Southridge at Evansville Mater Dei Tecumseh at Wood Memorial Games of November 16 Heritage Hills at Evansville Harrison Perry Central at Forest Park South Spencer at Evansville Reitz Tecumseh at Cannelton Games of November 17 Pike Central at Wood Memorial: Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. Evansville Bosse at Southridge Gibson Southern at Princeton Mount Vernon (Posey) at North Posey Tell City at Crawford County Games of November 18 North Posey at Vincennes Rivet South Knox at South Spencer Tell City at Evansville Reitz Games of November 20 Evansville Mater Dei at Forest Park Southridge at Boonville Games of November 21 Tell City at Pike Central – Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. Barr-Reeve at Tecumseh Evansville Bosse at Gibson Southern Heritage Hills at Princeton North Posey at Evansville Central South Spencer at Mount Vernon (Posey) UPCOMING SPORTS SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15 High School Boys' Basketball: South Knox at Pike Central (scrimmage), 6 p.m. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16 Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Girls' Basket- ball: South Spencer at Pike Central, 6:30 p.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Boys' Basket- ball: Pike Central at Heritage Hills, 6:30 p.m. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17 High School Girls' Basketball: Pike Central at Wood Memorial – Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18 High School Wrestling: Pike Central in Wood Me- morial Duals, 10 a.m. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20 High School Girls' and Boys' Swimming: Tell City at Pike Central, 6:30 p.m. High School Boys' Freshmen Basketball: Jasper vs. Pike Central at Old Petersburg Gym, 6 p.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Boys' Basket- ball: Haubstadt at Pike Central, 6:30 p.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Girls' Bas- ketball: Pike Central at Washington Catholic, 6 p.m. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21 High School Girls' Basketball: Tell City at Pike Central – Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Girls' Basket- ball: Pike Central at Haubstadt, 6:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22 High School Boys' Basketball: Pike Central at Northeast Dubois – Junior Varsity, 6 p.m.; Varsity, 7:30 p.m. Pike Central High School junior Becca Crow (right) looks to shoot as Boonville sophomore Ra- mey Wilder (10) defends during varsity girls' bas- ketball action on Wednesday, Nov. 8. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Halley Pow- ers (left) looks to shoot the ball during varsity girls' basketball action at Boonville on Wednes- day, Nov. 8. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Audra Stone (left) fakes a drive to the basket during varsity girls' basketball action at Boonville on Wednes- day, Nov. 8. Ed Cahill photo Turnovers prove costly for Lady Chargers in 44-40 overtime loss at Boonville