Shelbyville Lady Golden Bears Basketball

Sarah Laird leads the way with 29 points. Sports from Shelbyville News Thursday, February 08, 2001 Last Updated: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 at 12:38 PM SHS girls lethal at Morristown By BRIAN HARMON Wednesday, February 07, 2001 at 4:01 PM MORRISTOWN — Shelbyville Golden Bears 94, Indiana Pacers 89. Those are the respective point totals of the Shelbyville girls’ basketball team and the Pacers Tuesday night, and it should give you an idea of just how lethal the local girls’ basketball team can be. High school girls’ teams just aren’t supposed to score that many points, but the Shelbyville squad has made a season out of dismissing that notion. Tuesday night against Morristown (8-10), the Class 3A No. 8-ranked Golden Bears started slow, but found their groove in the second half and won going away, 94-54. Sarah Laird scored a career high 29 points for the Golden Bears (17-3), who registered their second-highest point total of the year, as well as their second largest margin of victory, in their final regular season game. Shelbyville defeated Oldenburg 99-20 on Nov. 21. The Golden Bears begin sectional play Tuesday at Greenfield-Central against the host Cougars. It was also Morristown’s worst defeat of the year, both in points allowed and margin of defeat. Along with scoring the highest point total in her four-year varsity career Tuesday, Laird set a school record for most 3-point shots made in a career. Laird hit four 3-pointers on the night, the second of which gave her 104 career 3-pointers, breaking the previous mark of 103 set by Charity Purcell in the early 1990s. “It felt pretty good,” Laird said of breaking the record. “I wanted to get it out of the way early (in the game) and not worry about it.” The record breaking 3-pointer came in the second period. Shelbyville, which scored 80 or more points for the sixth time this season Tuesday, found itself ahead by just four points at halftime against the Yellow Jackets, 38-34. Shelbyville coach John Fair wasn’t surprised at the good effort provided by the host Morristown squad, which was playing its final home game of the regular season. “Morristown always plays us hard,” Fair said. “Every year, it’s close at halftime, but I’ve never gotten on the kids (at halftime) before. Tonight, I decided that was enough. We ripped into the kids at halftime ... I don’t think there was a single player we didn’t get on about playing better (in the second half).” It worked. Shelbyville, behind its patented full-court press and balanced, deep-scoring attack, rolled the Yellow Jackets in the final two periods. Besides outscoring the Yellow Jackets 56-20 in the second half, Shelbyville forced 21 turnovers and made 20 of 36 field goal attempts. In the final period, when things really started to get out of hand, Laird and teammate Megan Eiler combined for 21 points, as the Golden Bears outscored Morristown 32-9 in the fourth period. Shelbyville led 62-45 going into the final period. Eleven players scored on the night for Shelbyville. Eiler finished with 12 points, as did Susan Kolls, who also registered six steals. Ashley Matney scored 10 points for Shelbyville, while teammates Gretchen Haehl (7 points, six steals, five assists), and Katie Douglas (seven points, 10 rebounds) also put in strong performances. Megan Lane (16 points, nine steals) and Kayla Tarrh (13 points, six rebounds) paced Morristown. Yellow Jacket senior Shari Nolen, likely playing in her final home game, summed up the evening best: “It’s kind of not fun playing Shelbyville on Senior Night.” Morristown travels to Edinburgh Thursday in its regular season finale, then plays the Lancers again Tuesday when sectional play begins at Southwestern.