The Press-Dispatch
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B-4 Sports Wednesday, December 27, 2017 The Press-Dispatch SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY? Give us a call: 812-354-8500 Hope It's A Blast! With best wishes to you and yours for the coming year. It's been a privilege and a pleasure serving you. Thanks! 2018 812-354-2121 K & S HOME IMPROVEMENTS 812-354-4771 Quality Work • Affordable Prices Turning your ideas into REALITY! Check us out on the web at kandshomeimprovements.com We'd Like to Shout It From the Rooftops: HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Thanks to all of our friends and clients for making 2017 an outstanding year for us. We owe our success to your loyal support, and we wish you and yours a very Happy New Year! Thank you for making it a pleasure to serve you all! SIEMERS GLASS CO. INC. 902 Newton St., Jasper (812) 634-6500 1251 E. Broadway, Princeton (812) 386-1100 or 1-800-793-1676 Satisfied Customers Are Our Best Advertising "Since 1943" HOURS: MONDAY-FRIDAY: 7:30 AM - 5 PM 2018 HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' BASKETBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall Team W-L W-L Heritage Hills ...................................... 4-0 .................12-1 Gibson Southern ................................. 4-0 .................11-3 North Posey ........................................ 1-0 .................. 5 -5 Pike Central ........................................ 3-1 .................. 8 -5 Forest Park .......................................... 3-2 .................. 8 -5 Tell City ................................................ 2-3 ...................7-9 Tecumseh ............................................ 1-3 ...................7-6 South Spencer ..................................... 0 -3 ................. 1-13 Southridge ........................................... 0 -5 .................2-12 Results of December 19 Pike Central 53, Jasper 36 Forest Park 47, Crawford County 44 Heritage Hills 58, Evansville Reitz 20 Toyota Teamwork Classic Gibson Southern 61, Mount Vernon (Posey) 52 Result of December 20 South Spencer 31, Cannelton 18 Results of December 21 Forest Park 41, Northeast Dubois 32 Loogootee 48, Tecumseh 38 Tell City 45, Lanesville 34 Result of December 22 Toyota Teamwork Classic Gibson Southern 62, Mt. Carmel (Ill.) 56 Result of December 23 Toyota Teamwork Classic Castle 67, Gibson Southern 46 Game of December 26 North Posey in Merry Mule Holiday Tournament at Fairfield (Ill.) Games of December 27 Heritage Hills at Washington North Posey in Merry Mule Holiday Tournament at Fairfield (Ill.) Game of December 29 Forest Park in Toby Yoho Classic at Eastern Greene Games of December 30 Hancock County (Ky.) at South Spencer Forest Park in Toby Yoho Classic at Eastern Greene Games of January 2 Boonville at Tecumseh Washington at Southridge Games of January 4 Washington at Pike Central – Junior Varsity, 6 p.m.; Varsity, 7:30 p.m. Gibson Southern at Boonville Heritage Hills at South Spencer Jasper at Forest Park North Posey at Tecumseh Southridge at North Knox Games of January 6 Pike Central at Forest Park – Junior Varsity, 1 p.m.; Varsity, 2:30 p.m. Perry Central at North Posey Springs Valley at Tecumseh Tell City at Gibson Southern four possessions as Jasper took an early 4-2 lead be- fore a three-pointer by se- nior Demi Croak – off on an assist from Lauren Vaughn – gave Pike Central a 5 -4 lead with 5:41 left in the first pe- riod. A fter the Lady Wildcats reclaimed the lead on a bas- ket by sophomore Claire Knies with 5:05 left in the opening quarter, a basket by Hendrixson – on a put- back of her own miss – and a three-pointer by Vaughn propelled Pike Central ahead 10 -6 with 3:03 re- maining in the opening pe- riod. A basket by Riley Merder pulled Jasper to within 10 - 8 before Hendrixson, after rebounding a missed shot on the defensive end, drove the length of the floor and scored on a lay-in to give Pike Central a 12-8 lead with 1:20 left in the first quarter. A basket by senior Audra Stone and a free throw by Vaughn extended the Lady Chargers' lead to 15 -8 with 4:50 left in the second peri- od. A fter Jasper sophomore Brooke Nottingham hit a three-pointer to cut the defi- cit to 15 -11 with 4:32 remain- ing in the first half, back-to- back baskets by Hendrixson and junior Becca Crow and a three-pointer by Vaughn stretched Pike Central's lead to 22-11 with 2:12 left in the second quarter. The Lady Wildcats would pull to within 22-13 on a bas- ket by Knies with 1:16 re- maining in the first half be- fore Crow hit a three-point- er to give the Lady Chargers a 25 -13 halftime lead. "Becca played her best game I've seen her play, maybe in her Pike Central career," McCutchan said of Crow, who had three re- bounds and one steal and dished out one assist in the last four minutes of the first half. "She's had some confi- dence issues, but she had a good practice yesterday, and she just came out and played under control. That's her is- sue – she kind of gets sped up." Jasper opened the sec- ond half with a three-point- er by junior Kortney Ruhe, cutting the Lady Chargers' lead to 25 -16, before a pair of free throws by Hendrixson and a lay-up by Vaughn wid- ened the gap to 29 -16 with 4:21 left in the third period. A fter a basket by Knies pulled the Lady Wildcats to within 29 -18, Pike Cen- tral rattled off nine straight points – seven by Hendrix- son and two by sophomore Jayln Nelson – to extend its lead to 38 -18 with just under one minute remaining in the third quarter. Then, following a basket by Knies, Croak hit a three- point shot at the buzzer, giv- ing the Lady Chargers a 41- 20 lead heading into the fourth period. "That was a big shot," McCutchan said. "That's a back-breaker." Jasper staged one last comeback attempt at the start of the fourth quar- ter, scoring seven straight points – on a three-pointer by Ruhe and back-to-back baskets by Nottingham – to close to within 41-27 with 5:18 left in the contest. However, Pike Central, after turning the ball over on its first five possessions in the fourth period, would outscore the Lady Wildcats 12-3 – on four free throws by Hendrixson, two free throws by Croak, two free throws by Nelson and a basket by se- nior Halley Powers – to ex- tend its lead to 51-29 with 2:12 remaining. A fter a free throw by Merder cut the deficit to 51- 30 with two minutes left, a lay-up by senior Brook Nal- ley gave the Lady Chargers their largest lead of the game – 53-30 – with 1:56 re- maining. Jasper would score the fi- nal six points of the game – on a free throw by Notting- ham, a free throw by Ruhe and a three-point play by Merder – as Pike Central turned the ball over on four of its final six possessions while going 0 -for-4 from the free throw line. "You're not going to play a perfect game," McCutchan said. "We're not there yet. But what I'm most pleased with is mentally we're start- ing to play tougher, and we played smarter tonight. We had a few turnovers late and a few early, but we compet- ed and we played smart. We look like a good team when we do stuff like that." Hendrixson made seven of 13 field goal attempts and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line while leading the Lady Chargers in scor- ing with 21 points. Vaughn added nine points and Croak tossed in eight points. Croak, who also grabbed four rebounds, and Crow dished out three assists each. Hendrixson, Nelson and Vaughn had two steals apiece. For the game, Pike Cen- trla made 18 of 38 field goal attempts – a 47.4 percent av- erage – and hit 12 of 17 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 16 times. Nottingham and Ruhe both scored nine points to pace Jasper, while Knies and Merder tossed in eight points apiece. Merder, Not- tingham and junior Rachel Gress grabbed seven re- bounds each. For the game, the Lady Wildcats made 14 of 59 field goal attempts – aa 23.7 per- cent average – and hit five of eight tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 13 times. "They struggled to shoot the ball tonight," Mc- Cutchan said. "Nottingham is a nice player. She's a good shooter. We really focused on her, trying to force oth- er kids to have to hit jump shots. That took their ag- gressiveness away. Plus, when we went to zone, they weren't really looking to get to the basket. They were kind of settling, and they weren't hitting their shots tonight, thankfully." Pike Central will resume play on Thursday, Jan. 4, when the Lady Chargers will host Washington. "This was a good win for us," McCutchan said. "Any time we can beat a Jasper team, that's a good win. But our schedule doesn't get any easier. We play good opponents. We have half our conference season left. So there's no off nights." "We've just got to contin- ue to get better," McCutchan added. "We want to be play- ing our best basketball come the beginning of February. We're going to have a lot of tough games, but I think we can really compete with and battle anybody. Every time we step on the floor, we have to think we can compete and win. They're getting better at that, and that's what I'm most excited about, and that's what I love about this group – they're buying in and they are getting tough- er mentally." DOUBLE Continued from page 1 Pike Central High School senior Brook Nalley (13) goes up for a shot during varsity girls' basketball action against visiting Jasper on Tuesday, Dec. 19. The host Lady Char- gers ended a 10-game losing streak to the Lady Wildcats, 53-36. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Natalie Burkhart (left) tries to dribble past Jasper junior Rachel Gress (right) during varsity girls' basketball action on Tuesday, Dec. 19. The host Lady Chargers ended a 10-game losing streak to the Lady Wildcats, 53-36. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Audra Stone (15, with ball) looks to pass the ball to an open teammate during varsity girls' basketball action against visiting Jasper on Tuesday, Dec. 19. The Lady Chargers ended a 10-game los- ing streak to the Lady Wildcats, 53-36. Ed Cahill photo