The Press-Dispatch
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B-6 Sports Wednesday, Januar y 31, 2018 The Press-Dispatch proved to 17-3 overall and 7- 1 in the PAC, was led by Ab- by Wahl, who scored a game- high 19 points. The 6 -foot-1 senior, who has signed to play basketball at Division I Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill., also grabbed six rebounds and blocked two shots. "They're a really good team – they're 17-3 – but we gave them all they wanted," Pike Central head coach Kyle McCutchan said after- ward. "We just couldn't make enough shots." A three-pointer by senior Kate Kaetzel and a put-back by Wahl gave the Lady Patri- ots an early 5 -0 lead before a basket by senior Brook Nal- ley – off an assist by Hendrix- son – and a three-pointer by Hendrixson – off an assist by senior Demi Croak – pulled Pike Central even at 5 -5 with 3:34 left in the first period. However, Heritage Hills re- gained a five-point lead – at 10 -5 – on a three-pointer by Kaetzel and, following a La- dy Charger turnover, a bas- ket by Wahl. A fter Pike Central senior Audra Stone hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 10 - 7 with 51.6 seconds left in the first period, the Lady Char- gers would go scoreless for almost four-and-a-half min- utes as Heritage Hills – on a basket and a pair of free throws by Wahl – extended its lead to 14-7. A three-pointer by soph- omore Lauren Vaughn and a basket by Hendrixson – sandwiched around a bas- ket by Wahl – pulled Pike Central to within 16 -12 be- fore a three-pointer by fresh- man guard Avery Neff and a pair of free throws by Wahl sparked a 5 -1 scoring spurt that stretched the Lady Patri- ots' lead to 21-13 with 1:59 re- maining in the first half. Back-to-back baskets by Hendrixson, the first with 1:33 left in the second peri- od, the second with 7:44 re- maining in the third, cut Her- itage Hills' lead to 21-17 be- fore the Lady Patriots scored 11 straight points – four by Heckel, three by senior Ker- ragan Mulzer and two each by freshman Rebekah Gor- don and Wahl – to open up a 32-17 lead with 5:19 left in the third quarter. The Lady Chargers would answer with an 11-1 run – on five points by Vaughn and two points each by Hendrix- son, Nalley and Stone – to close to within 33-28 with 2:52 remaining in the third period. However, Heritage Hills answered by rolling off nine straight points – three by Kaetzel and two each by Wahl, Gordon and Heckel – to stretch its lead to 42-28 with 5:03 left in the fourth quarter. A three-pointer by sopho- more Jayln Nelson and a bas- ket by Nalley cut the Lady Pa- triots' lead to 42-33, but that would be as close as Pike Central would get for the rest of the contest. "We competed," Mc- Cutchan said. "Heritage Hills is big and physical. We knew that coming in. They're a nice team. We gave ourselves a chance at a win, but they made more plays down the stretch than us. We couldn't get it back close enough." "But I'm really proud of their effort and I'm proud of their season so far," Mc- Cutchan added. "It was one of our best defensive efforts." Vaughn added eight points for Pike Central while Nal- ley, who had a team-high four steals, tossed in six points. Nelson and Stone netted four points each. Senior Demi Croak dished out a game- high three assists. For the game, the Lady Chargers made 14 of 43 field goal attempts – a 32.6 per- cent average – and hit five out of seven tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 18 times. "We're not the greatest of- fensive team," McCutchan said. "We got looks. We just missed some looks. We had a few bad turnovers but, for the most part, we got really what we wanted on offense. We just couldn't convert." "We do things right offen- sively, but it just boils down to we've got to make a few shots," McCutchan added. "That's part of it. When we get hot one game, we're going to be really tough to beat, no matter who we play." Kaetzel added nine points and six rebounds in the win- ning effort by Heritage Hills, while Heckel had seven points and a game-high six steals. Gordon tossed in six points while Neff and Mulzer netted five points and three points, respectively. For the game, the Lady Patriots made 17 of 39 field goal attempts – a 43.6 per- cent average – and hit 11 of 15 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 16 times. "The effort was great, and just execution really wasn't bad," McCutchan said. "It's just we did not hit a few shots." "I think they respect- ed us," McCutchan added. "Whether they did before we got there, I assume they did, but I think they really respected us leaving there. It was a tough game, a phys- ical game, and, hopefully, it was an entertaining game to watch." Pike Central was sched- uled to play Washington – ranked No. 16 in Class 3A – in the opening round of the sec- tional tournament at Prince- ton on Tuesday, Jan. 30, with the winner advancing to a semifinal matchup against the host Lady Tigers on Fri- day, Feb. 2. • • • In the junior varsity con- test, freshman Kylee Ap- pman scored 11 points and freshman Nevah Barnett add- ed 10 points to lead Heritage Hills to a 43-31 victory over Pike Central. Freshman Mal- lory Hickey netted 14 points to lead the Lady Chargers, who ended the season 15 -4 overall and 6 -2 against PAC foes. Lady Chargers fall short in 39-36 loss to Tecumseh By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Junior Kaitlyn Helfert scored 11 points while soph- omore Chloe Holder added 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to lead Tecum- seh to a 39 -36 victory over host Pike Central in high school girls' basketball ac- tion on Tuesday, Jan. 23. Pike Central, playing its third game in four days fol- lowing a 39 -37 overtime win over Barr-Reeve on Satur- day, Jan. 20, and a 59 -48 win at North Posey on Monday, Jan. 22, slipped to 10 -9 over- all and 4-3 in the Pocket Ath- letic Conference. Tecumseh improved to 9 -11 overall and 3-4 in the PAC while ending a four-game losing streak. The three-point loss was the Lady Chargers' sixth of the season by seven points or less. "What's made this season so enjoyable, and also frus- trating, is we have put our- selves in positions to win in, I would say, 16 of the 19 games," Pike Central head coach Kyle McCutchan said. "So we are there. We're com- peting. We just haven't got the job done." "We're making strides in the right direction," Mc- Cutchan added. "It's just got to come together so we can get over that hump and start to win these close games." The Lady Chargers fell behind by as many as eight points – at 14-6 with 6:24 left in the second period – before a three-pointer by se- nior Demi Croak and back- to-back baskets by senior Erika Hendrixson and ju- nior Hailey Marchino cut the deficit to 14-13 with 3:35 remaining in the first half. A fter a basket by fresh- man Gracee Sullivan ex- tended Tecumseh's lead to 16 -13, Pike Central scored seven straight points – on back-to-back three-point- ers by Marchino and Croak and a free throw by senior Audra Stone – to take a 20 - 16 halftime lead. Baskets by senior Jordyn Donohoo and junior Dalina Meyer to open the second half pulled the Lady Braves even at 20 -20 with 6:05 left in the third period. However, a three-pointer by Croak – off an assist by senior Brook Nalley – and a three-pointer by junior Becca Crow – off an assist by Croak – would give Pike Central a 26 -20 lead with 1:20 remaining in the third quarter. During that almost five-minute span, Tecumseh was 0 -for-3 from the floor while turning the ball over on six of eight possessions. The Lady Braves an- swered by scoring seven straight points – five by Hel- fert and two by Holder – to take a 27-26 lead with 7:03 left in the fourth period. A fter sophomore Jayln Nelson scored on a putback of her own missed shot to give the Lady Chargers a 28 -27 advantage, Tecumseh surged ahead 31-28 on a pair of free throws by Meyer and a basket by Donohoo. A 15 -foot jumper by soph- omore Lauren Vaughn pulled Pike Central to with- in 31-30 with 5:36 remain- ing. However, the Lady Char- gers would go 0 -for-6 from the field – including 0 -for-3 from beyond the three-point line – and turn the ball over once on their next sev- en possessions as Tecum- seh scored seven straight points to take a 38 -30 lead with 1:32 left in the contest. Following a timeout, a basket by Nelson and a three-pointer by Croak cut the Lady Braves' lead to 38 -35 with 32.2 seconds re- maining. Then, following a turn- over, Meyer was called for an intentional foul on Crow, who hit one of two free throws to pull Pike Central to within 38 -36 with 19 sec- onds left. However, the Lady Char- gers were unable to capital- ize on the ensuing posses- sion, leaving Tecumseh with a two-point lead. Pike Central would get another chance after an- other turnover by the Lady Braves with 10.4 seconds re- maining. Following a timeout, the Lady Chargers got the ball to Hendrixson, whose 15 -foot jumper hit off the front of the rim and was re- bounded by Holder. "We drew up a play and it was there," McCutchan said. "We just didn't exe- cute it. But that's part of it. It was just one of those nights where we'd make a play and then shoot ourselves in the foot." Meyer subsequently hit the first of two free throws to extend Tecumseh's lead to 39 -36 with 3.7 seconds left. When Meyer missed the second free throw, Crow re- bounded the ball and raced to midcourt and threw up a desperation shot that fell short as the final buzzer sounded. "It was one of those games where we put ourselves in a position to win it, but we al- so put ourselves in a posi- tion to lose the game," Mc- Cutchan said. "We just can't go through spurts where we don't score. I don't know how long we were stuck on 30. I know at one time, it was 31-30 and they scored seven straight, and then we came back. We hit shots. We got stops down the stretch. We gave ourselves a chance to tie or go ahead." Croak, who hit four of sev- en tries from beyond the three-point arc, scored a game-high 12 points to lead the Lady Chargers, while Nelson and Marchino came off the bench to add six and five points, respectively. Hendrixson, meanwhile, netted just four points, mak- ing just two of 11 field goal attempts, while grabbing a team-high seven rebounds. "They ran a box-and-one a few times on her," Mc- Cutchan said. "Most teams are going to focus on tak- ing Erika away. They did a good job of it. She didn't score very many, but she played fine. Part of being a well-rounded player is if you're not going to score, then let's play defense and rebound." Vaughn had a game-high four assists while Croak added three. Nalley had a game-high four steals. McCutchan said that he was pleased with the contri- butions made, on both ends of the floor, by the five play- ers who came off the bench – Crow, Marchino, Nelson, Vaughn and senior Halley Powers – who combined to score 17 points and grab eight rebounds. "We're starting to get all 10 of the main varsity girls to contribute," McCutchan said. "It's just getting ev- erybody to contribute at one time. Monday night at North Posey, we had some kids step up and we played well offensively. Then, to- night, Marchino came off the bench and hit a couple of big shots. Halley's bring- ing defense. I mean, ev- erybody's starting to hit a stride." "We've just got to put it all together," McCutchan add- ed. "It's getting late in the season, and that's the tough part. We're not getting the job done right now, but we're getting closer. If we can just get hot, get hot at one time, when the whole team's hit- ting shots, I think we'll be dangerous." LOSS Continued from page 1 Above: Pike Central High School junior Kenzie Dunn (right) has the ball knocked away from her by Tecumseh sophomore Layne Pemberton (15) during junior varsity girls' basketball action on Tuesday, Jan. 23. Ed Cahill photo Below: Pike Central High School sophomore Lauren Vaughn (30) eyes the basket as Tecum- seh sophomore Chloe Holder (33) defends during varsity girls' basketball action on Tuesday, Jan. 23. Ed Cahill photo Above: Pike Central High School sophomore Jayln Nelson (20) goes up for a shot as Heritage Hills freshman Avery Neff (left) defends during varsity girls' basketball action on Thursday, Jan. 25. Nelson scored four points in a 49-37 loss to the host Lady Patriots. Ed Cahill photo Below: Pike Central High School senior Audra Stone (15) looks to shoot the ball during varsity girls' basketball action at Heritage Hills on Thurs- day, Jan. 25. Stone scored four points in a 49-37 loss to the Lady Patriots. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Natalie Bur- khart (22) prepares to take a shot at the basket during varsity girls' basketball action against visit- ing Tecumseh on Tuesday, Jan. 23. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Brook Nalley (13) goes up for a shot during varsity girls' bas- ketball action at Heritage Hills on Thursday, Jan. 25. Nalley scored six points in a 49-37 loss to the Lady Patriots. Ed Cahill photo See SHORT on pg 7