The saying goes, "Shooting is contagious."
If that's the case, the Shelbyville girls' basketball team caught something deadly in the second half Friday of a 68-46 win over Edinburgh in head coach Jason West's debut.
The Golden Bears shot 54 percent from the field in the second half, including a perfect 7-for-7 from beyond the 3-point arc, in turning a 27-26 lead at halftime into a 22-point victory.
"I think the biggest thing was we weathered the storm," West said. "We didn't fold. We didn't lower our heads. We didn't lose confidence in what we were doing. Eventually those shots were going to fall. We got good looks in the first half and in the second half, they fell. Once one goes in, another goes in and it seems like everyone's hitting at that point."
Senior Morgan Parker, who led all scorers with 26 points, including seven made 3-pointers, made all four of her 3-point attempts in the second half. It was her highest scoring output since last November, when she scored 24 at Indianapolis Crispus Attucks.
"Everything she shot tonight were wide open shots," West said. "A few of them were out of rhythm, as far as for her feet set and all that, but they were open shots. I think as the second half came along, she passed up a couple, got the ball back in rhythm, and buried them. She did a good job of being patient and continuing to shoot. Good shooters shoot, and she didn't take a bad shot tonight."
But she didn't do it alone.
Juniors Cora Reinhart and Alexis Tackett opened the half with baskets in the first two minutes before Parker made her first 3-pointer of the half and fourth of the game with 5:27 remaining in the third.
Those eight points were the start of an 18-2 run to open the quarter before Edinburgh junior Brianna Howard scored on a drive with 1:37 remaining.
Senior Taylor Perry added a three during the run and senior Abby Smith knocked down a 15-footer to give the Golden Bears a 45-28 lead with 2:50 remaining in the third.
It certainly helped that Edinburgh turned the ball over 12 times in the second half and 25 times in the game. Shelbyville picked up six steals in both halves.
Shelbyville led by as many as 28 in the fourth before Edinburgh scored 14 of the next 19 points.
The first half was a dogfight for a program still making adjustments with a new coach. The Golden Bears shot 31 percent from the field to the Lancers' 36 percent. The result was a one-point lead at halftime.
Edinburgh took a 5-0 lead in the first minute but Shelbyville went on a 10-0 run and led 13-8 by the end of the quarter. The Lancers tied it up on a drive by Howard and a layup and free throw by senior Mariah Weddle 70 seconds into the second quarter.
Shelbyville led the rest of the game, taking the lead for good on a pull-up jumper from 15 feet out by Reinhart, who then added a free throw 23 seconds later for a 16-13 lead.
Sophomore Makenzie Hill's 3-pointer at the buzzer left the Lancers behind by one heading to the locker room.
West has been around the program enough to know that the Golden Bears have grown accustomed to close games.
"You can take all 32 minutes," he said. "as long as we're up one at the end of the game, that's a great thing."
