By Andy Amey
The Tribune-Star
November 15, 2008 11:35 pm
—
Terre Haute South and Fountain Central widened their leads early in the second half of girls high school basketball games Saturday at West Vigo, advancing to meet each other later in the day for the championship of the HI-99 Clabber Girl Classic.
South, seeking its third straight Classic title, wore down Terre Haute North 62-43 in Saturday’s opener while Fountain Central wound up holding off Northview 57-50 in the second game.
After four early lead changes in the first game, North’s Danielle Ketner created the game’s only tie with a 3-pointer for an 8-8 score. The Braves, however, pulled away to a 13-point lead in the second period as North went cold from the field.
A late second-quarter flurry that included back-to-back 3-pointers by Kelly Meggs — who had already come back from a possible separated shoulder in a first-quarter loose-ball scramble — and a basket by Francesca McCarthy lifted North within 30-25 at halftime. But the Braves opened the second half with a 9-1 run — seven of the points by Dragana Grbic — and were on their way.
Grbic finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds and Tessa Johnson had 22 points for the Braves. Krista Smith added eight points, Randa Rector six assists and five steals and Haley Seibert five assists.
“We knew North would come out and be very physical, put their heart into it,” coach Dave Cassell of the Braves said afterward, “but we were worried about playing our game.
“I was really happy with how the interior kids played,” Cassell continued. “Tessa had a wonderful game — her timing was just perfect today.”
“We played hard,” coach Mike Allen of the Patriots said. “We didn’t play smart at times, and we didn’t shoot very well [3 for 26 from the field] in the second half. Some of that was defensive pressure [by the Braves], some of it was just missed shots.
“Give South credit. They executed their offense today. They got the ball in to Dragana and she was able to convert.”
“I was glad to see us have to grind it out today and really work for it,” Cassell said.
Meggs, her left shoulder protected by an elastic wrap from the second quarter on, had 16 points to lead North, while Lindy Jones had seven assists.
“She’s a very tough competitor,” Allen said of Meggs. “She played throughout [the last three quarters] in pain.”
The second game had a few more momentum shifts in it. The Knights had an early 12-2 lead, Fountain Central built a 15-point lead in the third quarter, and Northview was back within 53-50 with a little over a minute to play.
“We’ve got to find a way to start better,” said coach Brad Odom of the Mustangs, who won their opener against North Central on Thursday with a 20-2 mid-game spurt, “but at least we made a nice run both times.”
Fountain Central didn’t catch the Knights — who had a four-point, eight-foul, eight-turnover second quarter — until 20-20, and didn’t take the lead until one of three free throws by Kenzi Lindquist made it 22-21 with 12 seconds left in the half. But after a missed free throw by the Knights, Fountain Central’s Natalie Robinson swished a 35-footer with a second left to send the Mustangs to the lockerroom ahead 25-21. They opened the second half with seven straight points, and eventually built the lead to 40-25.
But Spring Raines, who sat out Northview’s second quarter after picking up a second foul, took over at that point. She scored all nine of her team’s points in the third quarter and added 13 more in the fourth period, hitting one of two free throws with 1:23 left for that 53-50 score. Unfortunately for Northview, she fouled out 18 seconds later.
“We put our best defender on her, but she was a little too strong,” Odom said after the game.
The futile comeback shouldn’t have been necessary, said coach LuAnne Anderson of the Knights.
“If we’d given more effort in the first half, the story would have been different,” she said. “That’s two games in a row we’ve gotten off to a big lead and then suddenly our intensity goes away.”
Spring Raines had 28 points and Stormi Raines 10 for Northview. Robinson had 20 and LIndquist 19 for Fountain Central.
Robinson’s totals would have been higher except for the dogged defensive work of Stormi Raines.
“She’s our top defensive player,” Anderson said of Stormi Raines. “[Robinson’s] a great player, but [Stormi] dug in, was mentally tough and stayed with her.”
Terre Haute North 43
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
McCarthy 2-8 0-0 1-4 3 2 3 5
Adams 0-2 0-0 2-2 4 0 3 2
Meggs 3-10 3-4 7-8 1 3 1 16
Jones 1-8 0-4 2-2 1 2 1 4
Ketner 2-9 1-4 0-2 4 0 1 5
Etling 2-4 0-0 2-4 6 0 4 6
Burkins 1-3 0-0 1-2 1 1 1 3
Eilbracht 0-4 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 2
Totals 11-48 4-12 17-26 *31 9 16 43
Terre Haute South 62
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Johnson 8-10 1-1 5-6 4 0 2 22
Smith 4-10 0-2 0-1 6 1 4 8
Grbic 10-16 0-0 6-8 13 3 3 26
Rector 0-1 0-0 0-1 3 5 3 0
Seibert 1-4 0-0 0-0 3 0 1 2
Lee 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 2 0
Metheny 0-1 0-1 1-3 2 0 0 1
Bailey 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0
Goss 0-0 0-0 0-0 3 0 0 0
Vollrath 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 2 0
Dietz 0-0 0-0 3-4 1 0 1 3
Totals 23-44 1-5 15-23 *44 10 18 62
Terre Haute North 10 15 7 11 — 43
Terre Haute South 16 14 20 12 — 62
FG Pct. — THN .229, THS .523. 3-pt FG Pct. — THN .333, THS .200. FT Pct. — THN .654, THS .652. (*) Includes team rebounds — THN 10, THS 7. Turnovers — THN 17, THS 21. Assists — THN 9 (Jones 7), THS 18 (Rector 6, Seibert 5). Blocks — THN 3 (Adams 2), THS 5 (Rector 2, Grbic 2).
Next — South (2-0) played in the championship game later Saturday. North (1-2) plays Tuesday at Bloomington North.
Fountain Central 57
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
L.Krout 1-2 1-1 0-3 4 0 4 3
N.Robinson 7-18 3-8 3-7 8 2 2 20
Lindquist 4-8 2-4 9-12 5 1 0 19
M.Robinson 3-7 0-4 0-1 2 3 3 6
Shoaf 1-3 0-0 1-2 2 0 4 3
Bowman 0-2 0-0 3-4 3 1 3 3
K.Krout 0-0 0-0 3-5 0 1 2 3
Sanders 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Price 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0
Totals 16-40 6-17 19-34 *39 8 18 57
Northview 50
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Sp.Raines 10-18 3-6 5-9 3 4 5 28
St.Raines 3-12 2-6 2-4 5 3 4 10
Colson 1-5 0-0 1-2 6 0 2 3
Phillips 2-7 0-0 2-2 6 0 3 6
Bell 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 2 2 0
Kimball 1-2 0-0 0-0 4 1 4 2
Webster 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Searing 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 0 1 0
Sampson 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 0 1 0
Sharton 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 1
Lee 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 0
Totals 17-48 5-10 11-20 *39 10 25 50
Fountain Central 9 16 16 16 — 57
Northview 17 4 9 20 — 50
FG Pct. — FC .400, Northview .354. 3-pt FG Pct. — FC .353, Northview .500. FT Pct. — FC .559, Northview .550. (*) Includes team rebounds — FC 14, Northview 9. Turnovers — FC 16, Northview 17. Assists — FC 12 (M.Robinson 4), Northview 7 (Bell 3). Blocks — FC 4 (N.Robinson 4), Northview 3 (Colson, Sampson, St.Raines).
Next — Fountain Central (2-0) played in the championship game later Saturday. Northview (1-1) plays Tuesday at Riverton Parker.
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