By Just two weeks into the season and the Bloomington South girls basketball team has vanquished it's two county rivals.
The annual meeting with Bloomington North was pushed up a month earlier than in the past, with the Cougars needing to adjust their schedule as new members of the Mid-State Conference. So it was a great early-season introduction to a sectional-like atmosphere for both teams in front of a vocal crowd at South on Thursday, Nov. 12.
Offense was hard to come by as the Panthers held off a second-half rally by North, getting a huge 3-pointer from freshman Quinn Wurtzman with 2:10 left in a five-point game to pull out a 48-37 win. It followed a much less rowdy 62-20 rout of Edgewood on Tuesday.
"We knew it was going to be a great crowd," North coach Kiley Jarrett said. "That's what we wanted. We wanted to simulate a playoff atmosphere and that's what it was.
"I just think we just got in too big of a hole in the first half. We fought like hell to get it back within five points and a just a couple possessions here and there that made the difference."
Emotions were also running high with South junior transfer Kate Lehr playing her first game against her old mates. She came out fiery to score eight of her 12 points in the first period. From there, the offense spread out among the top eight, with six scoring with five points or more.
"Playing them this early, I kind of figured it would be like that," South coach Larry Winters said. "I say it often, if they'd play with the same energy against us against other teams, they'd come out with the win. They came out, 1, because Kate's here but 2, because they always play us that way.
"And tonight they did a really good job because they kept our two scorers from scoring."
South finished 15-of-48 shooting, hitting 5 of 16 3-pointers but also going 13-of-15 at the line.
"We were trying to score more than in any other game," Winters said. "We talked about that, let the shots find you, don't try to find the shots. Tonight, we tried to find the shots. But everybody wants to show out in front of every one, so that's what happens."
Winters is confident the offense will get back on track since so many have been contributing so far.
"They can all score and if you're sharing the ball, that's going to happen," Winters said. "Annika (Smith) was 1-for-10 and Tatum (DeVries) took three shots. There's going to be nights like that gives an opportunity for somebody else to step up and do something.
"If teams want to concentrate on a couple players when you have as many as we do, then somebody just has to step up."
North digs hole in first half
South (2-1) will always lean on its defense, and forcing 11 turnovers in the first half led to some easy buckets and a 29-16 lead at the break. North had some key players in early foul trouble and the physical affects of the South press led to some 'tired' errors.
"It was just mistakes on our part," Jarrett said. "Foul trouble didn't help us at all, it got us out of our typical rotation."
But the Panthers' offensive struggles peaked in the third, going 2-of-11, forcing up some tough shots in the lane all night. That allowed the Cougars (0-2), who had just five more turnovers and played strong half-court defense most of the night, to chip away at the deficit.
"We know that when we play them that if we can keep them in the half-court and not turn the ball over, then we're going to be in good shape," Jarrett said.
North got within 33-27 at the end of three, but South wouldn't let them get any closer. A jump hook by Quinnly Fife and a banked in 3 by Avery Schwartzman from the top of the key while being fouled made it 38-29 with 6:26 to go.
But a 3 from Rilynn Williams, who had a game high 13 points, made it 40-35 with 2:40 left.
"She definitely is a more assertive player this year," Jarrett said. "And she stepped up tonight and made some huge plays for us. That 3 from the corner was absolutely huge. And I thought she did a good job defensively on Lehr."
But that's when Wurtzman took the next big shot of the night, knocking home a 3 from 22 feet to start an 8-0 run that put the game away.
"Knowing Quinn, she was ready for that shot and she'll be ready for that again," Jarrett said "It may say she's a freshman but she doesn't play like it and we knew that coming in.
"Credit to her. That was a momentum changer because I definitely felt like momentum was on our side before that."
All the same, Winters is looking at the big picture with his younger players.
"That was a big 3 but there were three layups she missed," Winters said. "If you're going to make the long one, make the short one. But that's the pressure of playing in your first North-South game."
Growing pains for Edgewood
South started the week with a 62-20 win at Edgewood, a game that got away quickly after the young Mustangs tied it at 8-8 with 1:40 left in the first quarter.
The Panthers scored the next 22 points as Edgewood coughed it up 20 times in the first half. It was 31-10 at the break and South put the running clock in motion late in the third, up 49-13.
Edgewood was limited to four field goals, just one inside the arc. The frustration was evident, but South is also likely the best team the Mustangs will see all season.
"You just have to harp on the positive things that we did," Edgewood coach Noah Stuckey said. "I feel like, that first quarter, we competed as well as we possibly could. We handled their physicality and got to the free throw line and then we just kinds of wore down.
"We got punched and wilted a little bit and didn't bring the energy in the second half."
It was just the second varsity team for the entire lineup so the speed and strength it takes to succeed at that level was on display.
On either side of that loss against the best team on their schedule, the Mustangs opened with a win over Greencastle 42-32 and then topped South Putnam 40-31 on Thursday.
"It felt awkward," Stuckey said of the win over Greencastle. "We started very strong, we got in some foul trouble and they made a run at us. Then, the second half, Kaitlyn (Ripley) took over. She didn't play the second quarter and had 23 points.
"The way they've been playing maybe the last couple of years is just stand and watch her," Stuckey said. "And we just can't rely on her to do everything. We've got to help her out and we kind of got in that run in the second and third quarter (against South)."
BLOOMINGTON SOUTH 48, BLOOMINGTON NORTH 37
Bloomington North: Stegemoller f 1-2 0-0 2, Burton f 4-7 1-2 10, Bell g 0-1 0-0 0, R.Williams g 5-14 1-2 13, Frank g 2-4 4-4 8, Draughn 0-2 2-2 2, Spoonmore 0-0 0-0 0, Spencer 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 13-34 8-10 37.
Bloomington South: Stinson f 1-3 0-0 2, DeVries g 0-4 6-6 6, Swartzman g 2-5 0-1 5, Smith g 1-10 3-4 5, Lehr g 4-6 4-4 12, Wurtzman 3-10 0-0 8, Prall 3-8 0-0 8, Fife 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 15-48 13-15 48.
Bloomington North (0-2) 11 | 5 | 11 | 10 — 37
Bloomington South (2-1) 14 | 15 | 4 | 15 — 48
3-point goals: Bloomington North 3-12 (R.Williams 2-5, Burton 1-3, Stegemoller 0-1, Frank 0-1, Spencer 0-2), Bloomington South 5-16 (Wurtzman 2-4, Prall 2-5, Schwartzman 1-1, Smith 0-2, DeVries 0-4). Rebounds: Bloomington North 23 (Draughn 6), Bloomington South 32 (Wurtzman 8). Team fouls: Bloomington North 17, Bloomington South 13. Turnovers: Bloomington North 16, Bloomington South 12. JV: Bloomington South 49-22.
BLOOMINGTON SOUTH 62, EDGEWOOD 20
Bloomington South: Stinson f 2 0-0 4, DeVries g 2 0-0 5, Schwartzman g 3 1-2 8, Smith g 4 0-0 10, Lehr g 2 2-2 6, Prall 2 0-0 5, Wurtzman 2 0-0 5, Surdam 1 1-2 3, Fife 3 3-4 9, Marshall 2 0-0 5, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Huffman 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 7-10 62.
Edgewood: Robinson f 0 0-0 0, Wykoff f 1 0-0 3, Ripley g 1 6-10 9, Heckman g 2 0-0 5, Clark g 0 0-0 0, Bentley 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 3-4 3, Truax 0 0-0 0. Totals 4 9-14 20.
Bloomington South 11 | 20 | 18 | 13 — 62
Edgewood (1-1) 8 | 2 | 3 | 7 — 20
3-point goals: Bloomington South 7 (Smith 2, DeVries, Schwartzman, Wurtzman Prall, Marshall), Edgewood 3 (Ripley, Heckman, Wykoff). Team fouls: Bloomington South 16, Edgewood 8.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South girls basketball win over North completes county sweep
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bloomington-south-girls-basketball-win-090417316.html
