The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Sports Wednesday, Januar y 31, 2018 B- 7 For the game, Pike Cen- tral made 14 of 52 field goal attempts – a 26.9 per- cent average – and hit two of four tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 12 times. "We had our chances, but we went cold," Mc- Cutchan said. "My good- ness, 14-for-52, that's atro- cious. We forced a few shots but I think, for the most part, we had some pretty good looks. It's just we're not hitting them, and that's the tough part. We had some really good looks and didn't finish them off." "In games like this, you can point to a lot of things, but it just comes down to we've just got to put togeth- er four full quarters on the offensive end," McCutchan added. "Defensively, for the most part, all season, we've played well enough to win. It's just, offensively, it's not the effort. It's just execu- tion. We just have to exe- cute and hit some shots." Meyer added eight points and seven rebounds for the Lady Braves, while Dono- hoo, who also grabbed sev- en rebounds, scored four points. For the game, Tecumseh made 14 of 34 field goal at- tempts – a 41.2 percent av- erage – and hit six of 10 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 26 times – including 10 in the fourth period. Pike Central, however, was unable to take advan- tage of their opponent's careless ball-handling, con- verting just nine of the La- dy Braves turnovers into a total of 19 points. During Senior Night festivities held prior to tip- off of the varsity contest, the Lady Chargers' sev- en seniors – Jalah Barnes, Natalie Burkhart, Demi Croak, Erika Hendrixson, Brook Nalley, Halley Pow- ers and Audra Stone – were recognized. "It's a great group of kids," McCutchan said. "When I started coaching four years ago, they were all freshmen. It's kind of a special group of me, seeing kind of how they started as freshmen and where they are now." "We're going to hate it when they're gone, but I ap- preciate what they've done for me as a coach my first year as a varsity coach," McCutchan added. "They have been perfect in ev- ery sense. They come to practice every day ready to compete, because that's the expectation and they've brought it. I can't com- plain about any of these kids on our team, but our seniors have gone a good job this year, and we will miss them, for sure, when they're gone." • • • In the junior varsity contest, freshman Gracie Jones scored a game-high 17 points and freshman Kenzie Powell added 10 points to lead Pike Central to a 48 -22 victory over Te- cumseh. Junior Kelsey Bar- rett tossed in seven points and freshman Mallory Hickey netted five points. Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Chargers were juniors Hannah Carnahan and Kenzie Dunn (3 points each), junior Emily Carna- han (2 points) and fresh- man Kailee Mann (1 point). SHORT Continued from page 6 Pike Central Middle School eighth grad- er Albany Ashley (left) battles Owensville's Al- lie Townsend (31) for control of the ball during South Gibson Girls' Basketball Invitational Tour- nament action on Monday, Jan. 29, at Haubstadt. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central Middle School eighth grader Alex Clark (3) looks on as teammate Ashton Stafford grabs a rebound during South Gibson Boys' Bas- ketball Invitational Tournament action against Owensville on Monday, Jan. 29, at Haubstadt. Stafford scored 12 points in the Chargers' 32-30 victory over the Kickapoos. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central Middle School eighth grader So- phie Carnahan (15) prepares to shoot a free throw during South Gibson Girls' Basketball Invi- tational Tournament action against Owensville on Monday, Jan. 29, at Haubstadt. Carnahan scored four points in the Lady Chargers' 41-20 victory. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central Middle School eighth grader Evan Conder (11) finds his path to the basket blocked by Ow- ensville's Kix Douglas (33) and Kyle Fireline (right) during South Gibson Boys' Basketball Invita- tional Tournament action on Mon- day, Jan. 29, at Haubstadt. Conder scored five points in the Chargers' 32-30 victory. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central Middle School eighth grader Kya Sullivan (23) goes up for a shot as Owensville's Alexa Dilbeck (13) pursues during South Gibson Girls' Basketball Invi- tational Tournament action on Mon- day, Jan. 29, at Haubstadt. Sullivan scored five points in the Lady Char- gers' 41-20 victory. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central Middle School eighth grader Caleb Zazzetti (43) goes up for a shot during South Gib- son Boys' Basketball Invitational Tournament action against Owens- ville on Monday, Jan. 29, at Haub- stadt. Zazzetti scored two points in the Chargers' 32-30 victory over the Kickapoos. Ed Cahill photo Above Left: Pike Central Middle School eighth grader Ashton Stafford (31) drives toward the basket during South Gibson Boys' Basketball Invitational Tournament action against Owensville on Monday, Jan. 29, at Haubstadt. Stafford scored 12 points in the Chargers' 32-30 victory over the Kickapoos. Ed Cahill photo Above Right: Pike Central Middle School eighth graders Kya Leighty (left) and Alli Holder (right) battle Owensville's Madeline Douglas (21) for the ball during South Gibson Girls' Basketball Invitational Tourna- ment action on Monday, Jan. 29, at Haubstadt. Leighty scored eight points in the Lady Chargers' 41-20 vic- tory. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central Middle School eighth grader Sway Pollock (with ball) looks to make a pass during South Gibson Boys' Basketball Invitational Tour- nament action against Owensville on Monday, Jan. 29, at Haubstadt. Pollock scored four points in the Chargers' 32-30 victory over the Kicka- poos. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central Middle School eighth grader Mallory Hunt prepares to take a shot during South Gibson Girls' Basketball Invitational Tour- nament action against Owensville on Monday, Jan. 29, at Haubstadt. Hunt scored 18 points in the La- dy Chargers' 41-20 victory. Ed Ca- hill photo PCMS 8th grade girls' basketball team wins opening game of South Gibson Invitational By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Mallory Hunt scored all 18 of her points in the sec- ond half to lead the Pike Central Middle School eighth grade girls' basket- ball team to a 41-21 victo- ry over Owensville in the first round of the South Gib- son Invitational Basketball Tournament at Haubstadt on Monday, Jan. 29. "Mallory had a huge game for us tonight," Lady Chargers head coach Eric Knight said of Hunt, who al- so grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. "In the first half, she had a hard time getting her shots to fall. But in the second half, she came out fired up and played really well." Pike Central, trailing 3-2 midway through the opening period, scored six straight points – on a bas- ket by Kya Leighty, a free throw by Hannah Woodford and a three-pointer by Kya Sullivan – to take an 8 -3 lead with 4:16 left in the second period. A fter a free throw by Mad- die Kautzman pulled the La- dy Kickapoos to within 8 -4, two free throws by Leighty and two free throws by So- phie Carnahan extended the Lady Chargers' lead to 12-4. Leading 12-6 at the in- termission, Pike Central scored the first seven points of the second half – five by Hunt and two by Sullivan – to stretch its lead to 19 - 6 with 4:16 left in the third period. Two free throws by Kautz- man cut the deficit to 19 -8 before the Lady Chargers went on a 9 -0 scoring run – on four points by Leighty, three by Hunt and two by Hailey Parker – to extend their lead to 28 -8 with 1:13 remaining in the third quar- ter. Owensville would get no closer than 17 points the rest of the contest. "The first half, the girls came out and played a little out of control," Knight said. "It looked like we were try- ing too hard to score. We had a lot of open shots and drives, but just could not get them to fall." "At halftime, we talk- ed about slowing the game down a little and trying to work on better passes and better shots, and they came out in the third quarter and played really good ball." The Lady Kickapoos, Knight noted, had a diffi- cult time attacking Pike Central's zone defense. "I always tell my girls they have the best defense in the conference, and I still believe that," Knight said. "I am really proud of this group." Leighty added eight points in the winning effort while Parker and Sullivan netted five points each. Car- nahan had four points while Woodford wrapped up the scoring for the Lady Char- gers with one point. Ashton Catt, meanwhile, grabbed seven rebounds, while Leighty and Sullivan had four steals each. For the game, Pike Cen- tral made 14 of 52 field goal attempts – a 26.9 percent av- erage – and hit 11 of 20 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 18 times. Kautzman paced Owens- ville with 15 points while Al- exa Dilbeck and Madeline Douglas added three points each. Douglas also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. For the game, the Lady Kickapoos made seven of 35 field goal attempts – a 20 percent average – and hit four of nine tries from the free throw line while turn- ing the ball over 29 times. With the win, Pike Cen- tral advanced to the tour- nament's semifinal round against North Posey on Tuesday, Jan. 30. The win- ner of that contest will ad- vance to the championship game on Thursday, Feb. 1, at 7 p.m., Eastern time. "We face a tall and rough North Posey team that took us down in the regular sea- son at their place, but I be- lieve the girls are ready," Knight said. "If we take care of the three main things – rebounds, free throws and turnovers – we will be just fine." "The girls have improved a lot this year and it has been a blast to see them grow and mature in basketball," Knight added. "They have been picking up the little things and it is starting to show on the floor." • • • In the boys' contest, Ash- ton Stafford scored a game- high 12 points while grab- bing a team-high 10 re- bounds to lead Pike Central to a 32-30 victory over Ow- ensville. Trailing 29 -28 with 2:03 left in the fourth period, the Chargers scored four straight points – on a bas- ket and a free throw by Staf- ford and a free throw by Ash- ton Evans – to take a 32-29 lead with 33.7 seconds re- maining. The Kickapoos would miss three of four free throw attempts – including two front ends of one-and-ones – in the game's final minute. Evans added eight points for Pike Central while Evan Conder and Sway Pollock tossed in five points each. Caleb Zazzetti netted two points. For the game, the Char- gers made 10 of 39 field goal attempts – a 25.6 per- cent average – and hit 11 of 18 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 20 times. Kix Douglas paced Ow- ensville with 10 points. Kyle Fireline added eight points while Freddy Toth tossed in six points. Toth al- so grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds while Douglas and Fireline had seven each. With the win, Pike Cen- tral advanced to the tour- nament's semifinal round against North Posey on Tuesday, Jan. 30. The winner will advance to the champi- onship game on Thursday, Feb. 1, at 8:15 p.m., Eastern time.