Shelbyville Lady Golden Bears Basketball

Shelbyville senior Ashley Matney, right, looks for a teammate to pass to as the Whiteland defenders, Jennifer Patrick (24) and Megan Liffick, close in around her during their game Saturday at Paul Cross Gymnasium in Shelbyville. Photo for The NEWS by GREG BASTIN SHS teams perfect 3-0 in old gym By JEFF BROWN jbrown@shelbynews.com The ghosts of Shelbyville basketball past smiled and watched over the first girls’ basketball game played inside Paul Cross Gymnasium Saturday. The Class 3A No. 5-ranked Shelbyville Lady Golden Bears bolted out to a 9-0 lead and cruised to a 77-56 win over Whiteland (8-7). The gymnasium was last used regularly in 1967 years before girls’ basketball became a varsity sport. The inside-outside scoring threat of Katie Douglas and Gretchen Haehl combined to score 44 points on 19-of-25 shooting from the field on the court where recreational basketball is all that is played nowadays. With the final process of cleaning at Shelbyville High School being completed from the outbreak of the fungus histoplasmosis, the Lady Golden Bears moved the game to the facility that has served as both a high school and junior high school in its day. With the win, Shelbyville’s basketball teams were a perfect 3-0 at the old gym. Shelbyville’s boys’ team defeated both Yorktown and Pendleton Heights over the Christmas break inside Paul Cross Gym. With the win, the Lady Golden Bears improved to 12-2 but, more importantly, got a firsthand look at one of the teams that will stand in the way of a sectional championship. “We scouted Whiteland but not as extensive as we normally would,” Shelbyville coach John Fair said. “We knew their personnel pretty well since we played them twice last year.” Both those were wins including a 74-61 victory in the Greenfield Sectional. It wasn’t until late in the third quarter Saturday that the Lady Golden Bears finally had control of the game. Haehl had 13 first-half points but her team led by just six, 34-28. The offensive gameplan in the third quarter was simple — establish a low post presence with Douglas, who had four points at the half, but don’t lose site of their leading scorer, Haehl. “We needed to get Douglas going,” Fair said. “We got a little selfish in the second quarter and started settling for the outside jumper.” The duo combined to score 20 of Shelbyville’s 22 third-quarter points as the lead grew to 14. Douglas scored the Lady Golden Bears’ first six points of the fourth quarter pushing the lead to 16 with 5:30 to play. That left Whiteland’s Megan Liffick and Jennifer Patrick scrambling to keep their team close. Patrick hit a short jumper that made it 62-48 but Shelbyville scored the next five points to put the game out of reach. Liffick, who will play collegiately at the University of Evansville next season, scored a team-high 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting. The senior also had four rebounds and five assists. Patrick finished with 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting — mostly from close range. Haehl led the Lady Golden Bears with 25 points even without not scoring in the fourth quarter. Douglas scored 19 points and had a game-high seven rebounds. Shelbyville returns to Garrett Gymnasium Tuesday when Southport visits.