The Press-Dispatch
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B-4 Sports Wednesday, December 13, 2017 The Press-Dispatch know Heritage Hills is re- ally good. But we want to be competitive in the con- ference." The win also ended a nine-game losing streak against Southridge, which slipped to 1-10 overall and 0 -4 in the PAC. The Lady Chargers jumped out to a 5 -0 lead – on a three-pointer by Croak and a basket by ju- nior guard Brook Nalley – before Southridge senior Breanna Wilkey scored with 2:37 left for the Lady Raiders' first points of the game. A three-point play by Hendrixson and a three- point shot by senior guard Audra Stone then sparked a 14-5 scoring that extend- ed Pike Central's lead to 17-6 with 3:51 left in the first half. Southridge would pull to within 10 points twice – at 17-7 and 19 -9 – before Hen- drixson hit four free throws in as many attempts to give the Lady Chargers a 23-9 halftime lead. Pike Central would sub- sequently score the first nine points of the second half – on three-pointers by Croak and junior forward Hailey Marchino, a basket by sophomore guard Jayln Nelson and a free throw by Nalley – to extend its lead to 32-9 with 3:09 left in the third period. The Lady Raiders would fall behind by as many as 26 points – at 36 -10 – be- fore scoring the last eight points of the game. Nalley added seven points in the winning ef- fort while grabbing a team-high five rebounds. Stone had five pints while Marchino and junior guard Becca Crow tallied three points each. Nelson round- ed out the scoring for the Lady Chargers with two points. In addition, Hendrixson dished out a game-high three assists while senior guard Natalie Burkhart had a game-high three steals. For the game, Pike Cen- tral made nine of 32 field goal attempts – a 28.1 per- cent average – and hit 13 of 18 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over nine times. Junior guard Mady Neu- kam led Southridge with seven points. Wilkey and junior guard Macie Mar- ley added five points and five rebounds each. For the game, the Lady Raiders made six of 34 field goal attempts – a 17.6 per- cent average – and hit five of nine tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 16 times. McCutchan said that he was very pleased with his team's defensive effort, which has fueled the Lady Chargers' winning streak. During a 1-3 start, Pike Central gave up an aver- age of 43.25 points per game. In the following five games, however, the Lady Chargers gave up an aver- age of only 22.8 points per game. "That's what's going to keep us competitive and winning games," Mc- Cutchan said. "You can have off nights on offense, but on defense, you can't have off nights, because if you have a bad shooting night, that's going to keep you in the game." "I think, for the most part, our defense has been pretty good all year," Mc- Cutchan added. "That's what's kept us competitive, and allowed us to win these last five games in a row." See BASKET on 5 HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' BASKETBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall Team W-L W-L Forest Park .......................................... 1-0 .................. 4-0 Heritage Hills ...................................... 1-0 .................. 4-0 Pike Central ........................................ 1-0 ...................1-2 Tell City .................................................1-1 ...................4-1 Gibson Southern ................................. 0 -0 ................... 1-1 South Spencer ..................................... 0 -0 ...................1-2 Tecumseh ............................................ 0 -0 ...................2-3 North Posey ........................................ 0 -1 ...................3-1 Southridge ........................................... 0 -2 ...................0 -2 Results of December 5 Boonville 56, Tecumseh 45 North Posey 63, Evansville Day 55 Results of December 8 Forest Park 61, Loogootee 50 Gibson Southern 50, Evansville Central 45 Heritage Hills 62, North Posey 49 Tecumseh 70, Cannelton 28 Tell City 53, Southridge 51 Results of December 9 Pike Central 70, Southridge 50 Forest Park 55, Washington 44 South Spencer 66, Mount Vernon (Posey) 50 Tell City 49, South Central (Elizabeth) 45 Games of December 12 Gibson Southern at Evansville North Heritage Hills at Hancock County (Ky.) Games of December 15 Vincennes Rivet at Pike Central: Junior Varsity, 6 p.m.; Varsity, 7:30 p.m. North Posey at Evansville Mater Dei South Spencer at Gibson Southern Tell City at Tecumseh Games of December 16 Crawford County at South Spencer Mount Vernon (Posey) at Heritage Hills North Daviess at Tecumseh Dubois County Tournament at Jasper Northeast Dubois vs. Jasper Southridge vs. Forest Park Northeast Dubois-Jasper loser vs. Southridge-For- est Park loser Northeast Dubois-Jasper winner vs. Southridge-For- est Park winner Games of December 19 Tecumseh at South Spencer Toyota Teamwork Classic North Posey at Gibson Southern Game of December 20 Pike Central at Evansville Bosse – Junior Varsity, 7 p.m.; Varsity, 8:15 p.m. Game of December 21 Toyota Teamwork Classic North Posey at Mt. Carmel (Ill.) Games of December 22 Heritage Hills at Evansville Memorial Shoals at Southridge Toyota Teamwork Classic Mt. Carmel (Ill.) at Gibson Southern Games of December 23 North Posey and Gibson Southern in Toyota Team- work Classic MAC'S HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING 812-789-3065 104 E Center St, Winslow • macshtgac@hotmail.com T H I S F E A T U R E I S S P O N S O R E D B Y : PIKE CENTRAL OF THE WEEK Mac's Heating and Air Conditioning recognizes the Pike Central seniors who are involved in athletics. MIKI FELDPAUSCH is a Cheerleader at Pike Central and has also participated in Swimming and Softball. She is the recipient of the American Leadership Pin. She is a member of Swing Choir and the National Honor Society. Her favorite class- es are Biomedical Innovations and Calculus. She is the daughter of Lisa Godwin and Greg Feldpausch, of Winslow. DYLAN JONES has wrestled at Pike Cen- tral for four years. His favorite class is Automotive Mechanics. He enjoys working on vehicles. Dylan is the sun of Julia and Mark Nowark, of Winslow. LADY Continued from page 3 Colson Montgomery hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 8 -8, senior guard Kyson Western scored on a drive to the basket to give the Char- gers a 10 -8 lead. Following a steal by West- ern on the Raiders' ensuing possession, Booker scored on a breakaway slam dunk, extending Pike Central's lead to 12-8. A technical foul against Booker for hanging onto the rim sent Southridge junior guard Joe LaGrange for two free throws. He missed the first and made the second, pulling the Raiders to with- in 12-9 with 4:10 left in the first period. The Chargers would an- swer by scoring six unan- swered points – on baskets by Claridge and Nalley and a pair of free throws by senior forward Tyler Tormohlen – to stretch their lead to 18 -9. A fter a free throw by Mont- gomery pulled the Raiders to within 18 -10, senior for- ward Cameron Henson hit a three-pointer to extend Pike Central's lead to 21-10 with 43 seconds left in the open- ing period. Southridge would score the next six points – on a pair of free throws by Montgom- ery and two free throws and a basket by LaGrange – to nar- row the deficit to 21-16 early in the second quarter. However, a basket by Tor- mohlen – off an assist from Nalley – and a three-point play by Booker sparked a 9 - 0 scoring run as the Char- gers opened up a 30 -16 lead with 4:24 left in the first half. Following an exchange of baskets, the Raiders started chipping away at Pike Cen- tral's lead, scoring the last eight points of the second period – on three baskets by junior forward Jaden Hayes and a pair of free throws by Montgomery – to close to within 32-26 at halftime. "I don't know if we got tired or lazy or just a little complacent," Elliott said. "We stopped cutting. We stopped playing as hard de- fensively. We were giving them easy looks and then, on our end, we were making one or two passes and taking a quick shot, and that's not how we had built the lead. We were moving the ball and cut- ting hard, and we just got a little complacent there and kind of let them cut into our lead a little bit." Southridge would contin- ue the rally in the second half, scoring the first four points – on back-to-back bas- kets by Hayes – to close to within 32-30. A fter a basket by Nalley extended the Chargers' lead to 34-30, back-to-back bas- kets by LaGrange and Mont- gomery tied the score at 34- 34 before a free throw by Montgomery gave the Raid- ers a 35 -34 lead with 3:06 left in the third period. An exchange of baskets by Nalley for Pike Central and by LaGrange for South- ridge left the Raiders hold- ing a 37-36 lead, but a three- point play by junior guard Christian Benson – off an assist from Henson – pro- pelled the Chargers ahead 39 -37 with 1:17 remaining in the third period. A steal by Nalley on South- ridge's ensuing possession led to a lay-up by Benson, ex- tending Pike Central's lead to 41-37 with one minute left in the third quarter. "He's a spark," Elliott said of Benson. "I think he's one that really can do a lot of dif- ferent things for us. The first half, I was a little disappoint- ed. He didn't come out ready to play, I didn't think, and I challenged him at halftime." "The second half, he re- ally responded," Elliott con- tinued. "He was playing de- fense and he was aggressive offensively, and that's what we need." A fter a lay-in by Booker gave Pike Central a 43-37 lead at the end of the third quarter, Nalley opened up the fourth period with a three-pointer – off of an as- sist from Benson – to stretch the lead to 46 -37. Then, following a bas- ket by Hayes that pulled the Raiders to within 46 -39, the Chargers scored nine straight points – seven by Nalley and two by Booker – to open up a 55 -39 lead with 4:45 remaining. Southridge would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the game. During the fourth quar- ter, Pike Central outscored the Raiders 27-13, hitting all nine field goal attempts – in- cluding three-pointers by Nalley and junior guard/for- ward Judah Leathco – and went 7-for-8 from the free throw line while committing no turnovers. "That's how we have to play," Elliott said. "We have to be aggressive. We have to be attacking the basket. That second half, especially in that fourth quarter, Nal- ley and Booker were relent- less in just getting it and go- ing to the basket hard. And when we're doing that, it's re- ally hard to guard us." "We were getting good looks and they were hitting them," Elliott added. "And then we got to the free throw line and knocked those down tonight." Claridge and Tormohlen both added eight points in the winning effort while Ben- son and Henson netted five points each. Leathco tallied three points and Western and junior guard Hayden Kabrick netted two points each. Henson grabbed a team- high six rebounds. Nalley had five rebounds while lead- ing the Chargers with three assists and three steals. For the game, Pike Central (1-2 overall, 1-0 in the Pocket Athletic Conference) made 26 of 49 field goal attempts – a 53.1 percent average – and hit 15 of 21 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over five times. Elliott said that he was par- ticularly pleased with the play of Claridge and West- ern, who combined to score a total of 10 points – all in the first quarter. "I talked to both (Kaleb) and Kyson about that – Nal- ley and Booker and Camer- on draw a lot of attention, and they have to be aggressive, too," Elliott said. "They can score. I've seen them shoot it in practice and they can shoot just fine. They have to be aggressive, looking to at- tack. If they have an oppor- tunity, I expect them to take advantage of it." Montgomery paced South- ridge (0 -2 overall, 0 -1 in the PAC) with 18 points. Hayes added 16 points and a game- high seven rebounds, while LaGrange netted 12 points. For the game, the Raiders made 16 of 40 field goal at- tempts – a 40 percent aver- age – and hit 14 of 21 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 11 times. Pike Central will return to action on Friday, Dec. 15, at home against Vincennes Riv- et. The Patriots (3-2) have lost five straight to the Char- gers, including a 77-69 over- time loss last season, a 56 - 55 loss in 2015 and a 42-40 loss in 2014. "They've played us close," Elliott said. "The last cou- ple of years, it's came right down to the wire each game. They're a team that didn't graduate a whole lot last year. They're going to play at a fast pace. We've got to come out ready to go." The junior varsity game will tip off at 6 p.m., with the varsity game to follow at ap- proximately 7:30 p.m. • In junior varsity action, Benson scored 11 points and sophomore forward Ethan Scott added 10 to lead Pike Central to a 49 -33 vic- tory over Southridge. Soph- omore Mario Fields add- ed nine points as the Char- gers' JV squad improved to 3-0. Sophomore guard Jaffet Cruz led Southridge with 11 points. CHARGERS Continued from page 1 Above: Pike Central High School senior Kaleb Claridge (with ball) is fouled by Southridge se- nior Jayce Harter (second from right) while going up for a shot as Raider juniors Jaden Hayes (left) and Joe LaGrange (far right) look on during var- sity boys' basketball action on Saturday, Dec. 9. Claridge scored eight points in a 70-50 victory over the visiting Raiders. Ed Cahill photo Below: Pike Central High School sophomore Noah Whann (42) goes up for a shot while South- ridge sophomore Austin Kaeck (21) defends during junior varsity boys' basketball action on Saturday, Dec. 9. Whann scored four points in a 49-33 victory over the visiting Raiders. Ed Ca- hill photo Pike Central High School junior Andrew Krieg (center) soars between Southridge's Austin Kae- ck (21) and Sam Sermersheim (52) during junior varsity boys' basketball action on Saturday, Dec. 9. Krieg scored five points in a 49-33 victory over the visiting Raiders. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Brook Nalley (13) goes up for a shot as Southridge sophomore Grace Sickbert (52) defends during varsity girls' basketball action on Wednesday, Dec. 6. Nalley scored seven points in a 36-18 victory over the host Lady Raiders. Ed Cahill photo