Published: November 13, 2008 11:56 pm         

Northview hangs on for close Clabber Girl win against West Vigo

West Terre Haute — Northview was dominant on the boards. Northview traipsed to the free throw line early and often, outscoring West Vigo 21-6. But the Knights also committed a staggering 28 turnovers.

West Vigo only turned the ball over 17 times, thanks to their improved ball-handling led by freshman point guard Brooklyn Waters. But the Vikings were outrebounded 48-24, while misfiring on 15 of 21 free throws.

That combination of circumstances enabled Northview to escape with a 46-35 victory over host team West Vigo in a hotly-contested nightcap of the WTHI-FM/Clabber Girl Classic girls high school basketball tournament Thursday at the Green Dome.

In Thursday’s other first-round matchup, Fountain Central erased a six-point deficit early in the second half with a 20-2 spurt in defeating North Central 45-38.

The two winners, along with Wednesday night winners Terre Haute North and Terre Haute South advance to Saturday’s championship round. The consolation round will be played starting at 6 p.m. tonight.

“This is the first Clabber Girl game in four years that we haven’t came out and got beat by at least 30 [points],” laughed West Vigo coach Ryan Easton afterward. “That means we’re a step in the right direction. A lot of positives to build on.”

While he obviously wasn’t pleased with the loss, Easton had a hard time being too critical of his squad.

“On a loss there’s two ways you can take it,” Easton explained. “You can pout about it or take it as a learning experience and go forward. [The latter is] the approach we’re going to do.”

Northview led from the get-go, jumping to a 20-8 lead late in the first half. But in what became a trend the balance of the game, the Vikings just never went away.

The Vikings proceeded to score five straight points, then a 3-pointer by Breanna Marrs cut their deficit to 23-16 by intermission. Again in the third quarter, the Knights built a 10-point lead, only to have the Vikings whittle it to four points at 36-32 on a 3-pointer by Brittany Marrs with 5:23 to go.

Brittany Marrs hit a another trey with 2:40 remaining to get the Vikes with 40-35. But the Vikes would not score again.

“Last year at West Vigo they played us close,” stated Northview’s first-year coach LuAnne Anderson. “We expected that from them.

“The girls know the turnover stat is something that kept us from getting a bigger lead. I told them, you better thank West Vigo for not making those free throws because that would have been the difference [in winning and losing]. I our scrimmage, we only had 13. We went way, way over our goal.”

Northview was paced by Spring Raines and Emily Phillips with 10 points apiece. Kirstin Kimball nearly had a double-double with nine points and 14 rebounds as the first player off the bench.

“I don’t think West Vigo came in here expecting us to use as many bench players as we did,” Anderson mentioned. “We played most of the first half with four non-starters … we put our whole roster in [the game]. I think that’s great we can develop that kind of depth.”

Breanna Marrs scored 10 points, including three 3-pointers. Waters had seven points and five steals in her varsity debut, while Brittany Marrs added six points on a pair of treys.

The first game of the night was a tale of two halves.

The first half was a see-saw affair — one tie and six lead changes — before the North Central took a 23-21 lead to intermission.

In the second half, the T-Birds scored the first four points, then were out-pointed 20-2 by Fountain Central and were never seriously threatened again.

Natalie Robinson nearly had a triple-double, with 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight steals to lead the winners. Kenzi Lindquist added 15 points, five boards and four steals.

Megan Stone paced the T-Birds with 16 points, eight rebounds, six steals and four blocked shots. Amber Kemp added 12 points —10 in the first half — while Jocelyn Boyll pulled down 11 rebounds.

“I told the kids at halftime that in order for us to get a win, we had to do a better job on the boards,” said Fountain Central coach Brad Odom. “[NC] got off a lot of shots inside in the first half. Everything was inside 10 feet. We just didn’t do a good job of being physical.

“We just got out of synch, didn’t play our kind of basketball,” explained a frustrated North Central coach Gretchen Brown. “The first half I thought we played a good game.

“Then we come out in the third quarter and we just get sloppy. [FC] picked up their defensive pressure on us and we just didn’t take care of the ball. What did we score? 35 points? 35 points are not going to win very many basketball games.”