PENDLETON — Fifteen seconds into the fourth quarter of Shelbyville’s 68-23 loss in its Hoosier Heritage Conference opener at Pendleton Heights, the Arabians’ Maggie Dooley missed the second of two free throws.
Trying to get positioning for the rebound, Shelbyville and Pendleton Heights swarmed to the ball but the Golden Bears ultimately knocked it out of bounds.
Pendleton Heights retained possession, and Dooley drove the lane for the layup and was fouled. She again missed the free throw, and the ball this time bounced off Shelbyville sophomore Alexis Tackett’s foot and out of bounds.
So the Arabians retained possession again and within the first minute of the quarter, scored a third time on a jumper by Morgan Landes.
That sequence exemplified the long night the Golden Bears experienced.
“It’s a long season,” said Shelbyville coach Scott Larrabee. “I try to not put too much emphasis on any one game. We just have to move on from this one.”
That six-point stretch in the first minute came in the midst of a second half in which the Arabians outscored the Golden Bears, 33-5.
Tackett scored with 5:33 remaining in the third, making it 38-20. The Golden Bears (3-3 overall, 0-1 HHC) wouldn’t score again until 1:27 remained in the game when junior Madalyn Toll knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
The scoring drought actually started midway through the second quarter.
Down 24-11, the Golden Bears scored five straight points on a layup and put back by Tackett and a free throw by junior Morgan Parker.
Shelbyville would go about 3-1/2 minutes before scoring again, allowing an 11-0 run by the Arabians that finally ended on a running jumper by junior Kimmie Griffin with 30 seconds remaining in the half.
“I thought we had some good looks in the first half. They just didn’t drop,” Larrabee said. “Anytime a margin got to what it was, obviously, it’s easy to make shots when you’re leading by the margin that it was. We just have to learn from this one and get ready to play (next) Friday night.”
The offensive struggles started early.
Pendleton Heights opened the game with a 10-1 run in large part because Shelbyville turned the ball over six times in the first quarter. The Golden Bears committed 22 turnovers in the game.
“Pendleton did a nice job with their length, really made it tough on us moving the basketball,” Larrabee said. “I thought they did a really good job in the first half knocking down some perimeter shots, which really opened things up for them in the paint as well.”
When Shelbyville wasn’t turning the ball over, it still had problems hitting shots.
Shelbyville, led by Tackett’s 14 points, shot 32 percent from the field in the first half, 12 percent in the second half and 24 percent for the game. The Golden Bears made 1-of-14 3-point attempts, with Parker missing all eight of her shots.
The Arabians, meanwhile, shot 51 percent in the first half in taking a 35-18 lead into halftime and 51 percent for the game. They had three players in double figures, led by senior Kelsee Wendling’s 14 points on 7-for-14 shooting.
Shelbyville will try to get back on track at 6 p.m. Friday at home against Class 3A Indianapolis Herron.
