The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/917847
B-4 Sports Wednesday, December 20, 2017 The Press-Dispatch By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Senior Erika Hendrix- son scored a game-high 25 points – including 17 in the second half – but it wasn't enough as the Pike Central High School girls' basketball team dropped a 63-47 loss at Gibson Southern on Thurs- day, Dec. 14. Senior Brook Nalley, who added 12 points, scored seven in the first quarter and Hen- drixson added six more to give the Lady Chargers a 13- 12 lead at the end of the first quarter. However, the Lady Titans would hit 10 of 13 field goal attempts during the sec- ond quarter – including four three-pointers in as many tries – to outscore Pike Cen- tral 25 -9 while racing to a 37- 22 halftime lead. The Lady Chargers weren't able to get any closer than 12 points during the second half. "They picked up a little bit of pressure and we had a few bad turnovers, but noth- ing outrageous," Pike Central head coach Kyle McCutchan said. "When we took shots that were too quick, they got out in transition and made some easy buckets, got confi- dence, and that was just kind of the difference in the game, honestly." "You can't win a varsity game against good teams playing two or three quarters of basketball," McCutchan added. "We were up by one and then we were down by 15 at half, and that just can't happen." The Lady Chargers, who fell to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in the Pocket Athletic Confer- ence, trailed 10 -6 when they went on a 7-0 scoring run – on a pair of baskets and a three- point play by Nalley – to take a 13-10 lead with 20 seconds left in the first quarter. A fter Gibson Southern sophomore Meredith Raley hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 13-12, Pike Cen- tral senior Demi Croak hit a three-pointer at the start of the second period to give the Lady Chargers a 16 -12 lead. The Lady Titans ral- lied, however, scoring eight straight points – on a basket by Raley and back-to-back three-pointers by junior Ta- batha Klem and freshman Kami Miller – to take a 20 - 16 lead with 5:02 left in the first half. A fter a basket by Hendrix- son pulled Pike Central to within 20 -18, Gibson South- ern went on a 15 -1 scoring run to extend its lead to 35 -19. A three-point play by Nal- ley cut the Lady Titans' lead to 35 -22 before a basket by Raley gave Gibson Southern a 15 -point halftime lead. Croak opened the second half with a three-pointer to draw the Lady Chargers to within 37-25. Gibson South- ern, however, answered with a 6 -1 scoring run – on a bas- ket, a three-pointer and a free throw by Klem – to stretch its lead to 43-26 with 4:56 left in the third period. The Lady Titans would continue to stretch out their lead to 54-32 with 1:18 re- maining in the third quarter going to be really big, and we came out and, honestly, defensively, we were doing what we wanted to do – force them into taking some con- tested threes, and they were just hitting them." "That's a situation where we have to have some kids step up," Elliott added. "I thought tonight we did a pretty good job. We were getting the shots we want- ed. We just weren't hitting them." A three-point play by Keller would pull Vincennes Rivet to within nine points – at 53-44 – with 4:12 left in the fourth period. Howev- er, the Chargers scored six straight points – on back-to- back baskets by Booker and a dunk by Henson – to ex- tend their lead to 59 -44 with 2:19 left. The Patriots would get no closer than 12 points the rest of the game as Pike Cen- tral made all six of its free throw attempts in the final two minutes. Also scoring for the Char- gers were Tormohlen (four points) and senior Kaleb Claridge (three points). Nalley, meanwhile, grabbed a game-high eight rebounds while Booker had a game-high five assists and two steals. For the game, Pike Cen- tral made 24 of 40 field goal attempts – a 60 percent av- erage – and hit 12 of 17 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over four times. "We still haven't shot the ball the way I think we're capable of shooting it yet," Elliott said. "That's one of those things that's going to come. We always have to bring it on the defensive end and I thought, tonight, for the most part, we really did." Keller, who hit six of 10 tries from beyond the three- point arc, paced Vincennes Rivet with 21 points while also grabbing a team-high five rebounds. Mouzin, who made three of 10 three-point attempts, added 16 points. Claycomb was 2-for-4 from three-point range while toss- ing in 12 points. For the game, the Patriots made 19 of 45 field goal at- tempts – a 42.2 percent av- erage – and hit two of three tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over six times. The Patriots, for the game, were 11 for 24 on three-point attempts. "I was so mad in the third quarter about our defense," Elliott said. "It might be dif- ferent when I look at the film, but I think most of them we had a hand in their face and they were about three or four feet behind the line." "When they're going to hit those, that makes it pret- ty difficult to guard any- body," Elliott added. "They started hitting some shots, and when you hit shots, stuff goes well for you." Pike Central will return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 20, when the Chargers will play at Evansville Bosse. The Bulldogs, current- ly 6 -0 and ranked second in Class 3A, has given Pike Central its final loss in each of the last two years, includ- ing a 94-66 win in the region- al championship game last season. "They've got one of the best kids in the state," Elliott said, referring to Evansville Bosse senior point guard Mekhi Lairy, who scorched the Chargers for 35 points as a junior. "He's very small but he's a heck of a player, and they have a heck of a team. We are going to have to come out ready to play and try to control their speed a little bit and try to play the game at our pace instead of theirs." Pike Central will then take on Fort Wayne Black- hawk – which is currently 5 - 1 and ranked fifth in Class 1A – in the opening round of the Graber Post Buildings Tournament at North Da- viess on Wednesday, Dec. 27, with tip-off scheduled for 4:30 p.m. "Fort Wayne Blackhawk's really big," Elliott said. "That tournament's a good tournament and it will be a good test for us. The three games that close together, I always think that's a good preparation for sectional. So we need to come out there and have a good showing." Placing fifth in individ- ual events for the Char- gers were Diggs in the 200 -yard individual medley with a season-best time of 2:29.47; junior Colton Car- penter in the 100 -yard free- style with a season-best time of 1:11.02; and soph- omore Coleman Henson in the 200 -yard freestyle with a personal record time of 2:26.37, besting his pre- vious PR time of 2:37.92, and in the 500 -yard free- style with a personal re- cord time of 6:40.86, best- ing his previous PR time of 6:41.89. Placing sixth in individ- ual events for the Char- gers were Boyd in the 100 -yard freestyle with a season-best time of 1:18.71; Carpenter in the 100 -yard breaststroke with a time of 1:31.18; sophomore A.J. Hill in the 50 -yard freestyle with a season-best time of 35.12 seconds; and sopho- more Sam Theising in the 200 -yard freestyle with a season-best time of 2:28.63 and in the 100 -yard back- stroke with a season-best time of 1:19.52. In addition, the team of Cooper, Diggs, Dudenhoef- fer and Henson placed third in the 200 -yard medley re- lay with a time of 2:03.73; the team of Dudenhoeffer, Henson, Keepes and The- ising placed fourth in the 400 -yard freestyle relay with a time of 4:20.84; and the team of Boyd, Carpen- ter, A.J. Hill and Theising placed fifth in the 200 -yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:11.84. Pike Central will return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 2, when the Chargers will take on Southridge and Castle in a tri-meet hosted by Castle. See FALL on 5 SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY? Give us a call: 812-354-8500 HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' BASKETBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall Team W-L W-L Forest Park .......................................... 1-0 .................. 6 -0 Gibson Southern ................................. 1-0 ...................3-1 Heritage Hills ...................................... 1-0 .................. 6 -0 Pike Central ........................................ 1-0 ...................2-2 Tecumseh ............................................ 1-0 ...................4-3 Tell City ................................................ 1-2 ...................4-2 South Spencer ..................................... 0 -1 ...................2-3 North Posey ........................................ 0 -1 ...................4-1 Southridge ........................................... 0 -2 ...................2-3 Results of December 12 Gibson Southern 64, Evansville North 61 Heritage Hills 55, Hancock County (Ky.) 35 Southridge 67, Corydon Central 43 Results of December 15 Pike Central 67, Vincennes Rivet 51 North Posey 72, Evansville Mater Dei 66 (OT) Gibson Southern 74, South Spencer 55 Tecumseh 45, Tell City 39 Results of December 16 South Spencer 56, Crawford County 48 Heritage Hills 72, Mount Vernon (Posey) 38 Tecumseh 42, North Daviess 39 Dubois County Tournament at Jasper Jasper 54, Northeast Dubois 48 Forest Park 68, Southridge 49 Southridge 60, Northeast Dubois 34 Forest Park 55, Jasper 34 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 Gibson Southern and North Posey in Toyota Team- work Classic at Princeton Game of December 27 Graber Post Buildings Tournament at North Daviess Pike Central vs. Fort Wayne Blackhawk, 4:30 p.m. Games of December 28 Forest Park, Southridge and Tecumseh in Forest Park Tournament Games of December 29 Pike Central in Graber Post Buildings Tournament at North Daviess Heritage Hills, South Spencer and Tell City in Per- ry-Spencer Tournament Forest Park, Southridge and Tecumseh in Forest Park Tournament Game of December 30 Pike Central in Graber Post Buildings Tournament at North Daviess LOSS Continued from page 3 CHARGERS Continued from page 1 Pike Central High School freshman Garrett Boyd competes in the boys' 100-yard freestyle during a home meet against Evansville Reitz on Wednesday, Dec. 13. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Bryant Nalley (40) prepares to go up for a shot while Vincennes Rivet junior Macaine Claycomb (left) and sopho- more Noah Donovan (right) defend during varsity boys' basketball action on Friday, Dec. 15. Nalley scored a game-high 26 points in a 67-51 victory over the Patriots. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Kyson West- ern goes up for a shot as Vincennes Rivet junior Logan Keller (left) and sophomore Noah Dono- van (11) defend during varsity boys' basketball action on Friday, Dec. 15. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School sophomore Con- nor O'Neal goes up for a shot during junior var- sity boys' basketball action against visiting Vin- cennes Rivet on Friday, Dec. 15. O'Neal scored five points in a 43-20 victory over the Patriots. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Audra Stone drives toward the basket as Gibson Southern ju- nior Jordyn Graham (14) defends during varsi- ty girls' basketball action on Thursday, Dec. 14. Stone scored two points in a 63-47 loss to the host Lady Titans. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Gavin Diggs competes in the boys' 100-yard butterfly during a home meet against Evansville Reitz on Wednesday, Dec. 13. Ed Cahill photo Lady Chargers fall at Gibson Southern, 63-47