By Craig Pearson
The Tribune-Star
Marshall, Ind.
November 11, 2008 11:22 pm
—
Just two seasons ago Terre Haute North’s girls basketball team defeated Turkey Run 72-12.
Last year’s Turkey Run team closed the gap to 60-36.
This year, the Class A Warriors survived some unhinged final minutes in both teams’ season opener for a 46-43 victory against the Class 4A Patriots.
Shelby Davies knocked down a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left to put Turkey Run ahead by three, and Kelly Meggs’ step-back 3-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the front of the rim.
Meggs had 17 points, five steals, five assists and four rebounds, but the Patriots committed 21 turnovers and got beat 23-21 on the boards.
North committed 12 turnovers in the game’s first 10 minutes but still managed to have a 19-13 lead at halftime, partly due to Turkey Run’s 4-for-20 field goal shooting in the first half.
“We just didn’t play very smart,” North coach Mike Allen said. “We didn’t take care of the basketball. We were too impatient on offense. We didn’t give ourselves a chance to get some better looks. I knew they’d give us problems. Give them credit. We saw them play all summer. They beat us in the summer league. They beat us down at Vincennes.”
Turkey Run grabbed its first second-half lead when Chelsea Newnum hit 5-foot-2 senior point point guard Meghan Doss on a backcut for a layup and a 31-29 lead. Meggs answered with a 3 to put North ahead 32-31 heading into the final quarter.
But the Warriors continued to bring pressure defense to maintain the momentum. Five-foot-11 sophomore Adrianne Francis hit a pair of free throws and scored in the low post to tie the game at 37. Francis, who played sparingly throughout due to foul trouble, broke a 39-39 tie with another bucket, and then Doss made the clutch steal of the game, intercepting a pass at midcourt and gliding in for the layup to put the Warriors ahead 43-39.
“It was a little momentum changer, but we knew we had to keep working, get a few more points to think we could hang on,” Doss said.
Doss added 1 of 2 at the foul line, but Turkey Run would commit a couple turnovers and miss a layup that left the door open for North, which also missed a layup and several free throws in the final two minutes.
“Once we got out there and realized we could play with them, we all just calmed down and played our game,” Doss said.
Turkey Run coach Sam Karr wasn’t thrilled with his team’s play, but he’ll take the outcome.
“It almost felt like a loss,” he said. “I’m quick to point out the bad things, and we did a lot of them, but we did hang in there. We started getting the ball in the post late. Our defense was OK, maybe held us in there a little bit. “
Terre Haute North 43
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Meggs 6-13 2-5 3-4 4 5 2 17
Jones 1-3 0-1 8-10 3 0 2 10
Ketner 2-9 1-6 0-0 1 2 0 7
McCarthy 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0 5 2
Adams 2-4 0-0 0-1 5 1 1 4
Burkins 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2
Etling 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 0 1 0
Eilbracht 0-1 0-0 1-2 4 0 3 1
Totals 12-31 3-12 12-17 21 8 15 43
Turkey Run 46
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Doss 4-11 2-6 3-4 1 1 1 13
C.Francis 4-6 1-2 0-0 5 4 3 9
Newnum 1-5 0-1 0-2 6 2 3 2
Davies 2-3 0-0 2-3 2 3 4 6
A.Francis 3-9 0-0 3-6 6 2 5 9
Hunt 1-4 1-2 0-1 1 0 1 3
Cox 2-4 0-0 0-0 2 1 1 4
Totals 17-42 4-10 8-16 23 13 18 46
Terre Haute North 8 11 13 11 — 43
Turkey Run 3 10 18 15 — 46
FG Pct. — THN . .388, TR .401. 3-point FG Pct. — THN .250, TR .400. FT Pct. — THN .701, TR .500. Assists — THN 9 (Meggs 5, Jones 2), TR 7 (Doss 3). Blocks — THN 2 (Adams 2), TR 2 (Newnum, A.Francis).
JV — Turkey Run 39 (Kristin Weaver 14), North 24 (Hannah Bledsoe 8).
Next — North (0-1) plays tonight against South Vermillion in the WTHI Hi-99 Clabber Girl Classic at West Vigo. Turkey Run (1-0) plays in the Banks of the Wabash Classic this weekend.
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