Published: November 11, 2009 11:38 pm         

North, South girls basketball teams win

WEST TERRE HAUTE — The Hi-99 Terre Haute Savings Bank Classic was good to both Terre Haute South and Terre Haute North during Wednesday’s opening night of the 9th annual tournament.

But neither the Braves nor the Patriots had an easy night.

South was in control in its 63-44 victory over South Vermillion, but the Wildcats were within striking range for longer than the Braves would have liked. North forced 29 turnovers in its 50-36 win over Northview, but the Knights were within seven points of the Patriots late in the fourth quarter.

South (1-0) and North (2-0) will play each other in Saturday’s 10 a.m. semifinal. South Vermillion (0-1) and Northview (0-1) will play on Friday in the consolation round at either 6 p.m. or 7 p.m.

The game time in contingent on whether Fountain Central advances tonight against North Central as the Mustangs’ football team plays in a regional against Linton on Friday night.

If the Mustangs lose, their consolation round game will be played Saturday after the two morning semifinals. In that case, there will be one game on Friday at 7 p.m. If Fountain Central wins tonight, they would play Saturday and the pre-arranged schedule would remain unaltered.

Here’s a review of Wednesday’s two games:

n TH South 63, South Vermillion 44 — The Braves had radical roster turnover after they finished 18-2 in 2009. Haley Seibert is the only returning starter and none of the rest of the Braves have extensive varsity experience.

Given that, South coach Dave Cassell was happy with South’s debut in a game where the Braves enforced their will at times on South Vermillion, but also, let the Wildcats have momentum at times to keep themselves in the game.

“I like how hard they played. Sometimes they got out of position, sometimes they reached too much, but overall we did what we wanted to do defensively. Offensively, we got into scoring situations, a lot of times we just didn’t finish,” Cassell said. “We’ll be patient with them. They work hard and we’re just glad to have a group like that.”

Freshman Emily Bell made her debut and she played well. Along with Seibert, she co-led the Braves with 18 points as she made 4 of 8 from 3-point range. Tasia Brewer also made her high school debut and had four steals.

Hannah Lee, who spelled graduated Dragana Grbic last year in the middle, now anchors the middle for the Braves. She had 12 points and 13 rebounds. Seibert had seven assists.

South used its full-court pressure to force five Wildcat turnovers in the first quarter to build a 14-2 advantage. However, South Vermillion finished the quarter on a 9-3 run to slice South’s advantage to 17-11.

The Braves countered with a 14-4 run to start the second quarter to build a 31-15 lead, only to have the Wildcats regain composure to make it 37-24 at halftime.

“We didn’t quit and that was a key and that’s what is good about this group,” South Vermillion coach Tim Terry said.

The gap was maintained by South throughout the second half. The Braves ultimately forced 18 South Vermillion turnovers.

South Vermillion was led by Allie Milam, who gave up several inches to Lee inside, but still managed 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

n TH North 50, Northview 36 — Turnovers were the dominant theme as the two teams combined to give the ball away 48 times. The Patriots prevailed because they forced 16 of Northview’s 29 turnovers in the second and third quarters, completely stifling the Knights’ offense. Northview scored just 11 points in the two quarters.

“We were able to force turnovers and score from them to get us a cushion. It really helped us in the end,” North coach Mike Allen said.

With a team that has just three seniors, Northview coach LuAnne Anderson expected a bit of a bumpy road, but not as rough as it was on Wednesday.

“Turnovers absolutely killed us. We expect a high turnover ratio with an inexperienced team in their first game of the season, but we don’t expect [29] turnovers,” Anderson said.

The Knights started well, making 50 percent from the field in the first quarter to take a 14-11 lead. However, North kept the defensive pressure up, forced turnovers, and Northview wilted. In addition to its turnover woes, the Knights made just 3 of 15 from the field in the second and third quarters.

North built its lead to 38-19 at one point during that span, but when Northview put full-court pressure on the Patriots in the second half, the worm turned. North had 12 of its 19 turnovers in the second half and also began to struggle from the field, making just 3 of 21 from the field after halftime, including no field goals in the fourth quarter.

Northview twice cut its deficit to seven — a Megan Seeley bucket with 2:23 left made it 43-36 — but the Knights couldn’t break through. North made 7 of 10 free throws in the final 1:47 to seal its victory.

North’s inside duo of Nicole Anderson and Mary Kate Etling paid big dividends for North. Anderson led the Patriots with 14 points and also had nine rebounds. Etling had 12 rebounds and three blocks. Between them, they outrebounded Northview’s individual rebounders combined.

“It’s nice to have two big girls, it’s a luxury we haven’t had since Molly Martin and Samantha Meissel played [both graduated in 2007]. We kind of challenged them today about rebounding. We thought Turkey Run hurt us on the boards [in North’s 40-38 win on Tuesday], they probably shouldn’t have. They took the challenge and stepped up,” Allen said.

Lauren Webster paced Northview with nine points. Emily Phillips had nine rebounds.