Shelbyville Lady Golden Bears Basketball

SHS sweeps Roncalli, 61-45 By JEFF BROWN jbrown@shelbynews.com John Fair was an assistant at Ben Davis before accepting the head coaching position at Shelbyville four seasons ago. It’s taken him that long to bring a little Indianapolis flavor to the Lady Golden Bears schedule. For the second time in seven days, Class 3A No. 6-ranked Shelbyville beat a Marion County school —This time it was Roncalli on Tuesday, 61-45. Shelbyville beat Southport, 55-43, one week earlier. “It made our schedule a little bit tougher,” Fair admitted after the win. “You know when you play Marion County clubs that they typically have deep benches with physical kids who are very athletic. Roncalli just happens to be having a bit of a down year.” The Lady Rebels are now 6-9 this season. Shelbyville improves to 15-2 and have won six straight since losing to Jennings County in the Hall of Fame Classic in New Castle Dec. 28. With a Lindsey Roberson baseline jumper at the four minute, 33-second mark of the first quarter, Roncalli held a 10-9 lead. Shelbyville responded with an 8-0 run, six courtesy of senior Susan Kolls, and never relinquished the lead after that. Shelbyville pushed the lead to double digits in the second quarter but settled for a 37-32 halftime lead that left Fair disappointed in his team’s effort. The Lady Golden Bears aren’t cocky but they are confident and at times tend to relax on the floor. It’s one major flaw that has to be eliminated if they are to have a successful run in the state tournament beginning next month. “We lack a killer instinct at times,” Fair said. “The kids know they are pretty good and sometimes they coast but we’re getting better this year than we were last year. They have to remember that other teams are pumped to play us.” Shelbyville scored just nine third-quarter points on 3-of-10 shooting but limited Roncalli to just three points on a Sarah Caruthers 3-pointer at the 3:19 mark of the quarter. In the fourth, Roncalli made one last run trailing by 15. Kara Warner hit a pair of free throws followed by a Lisa Manley layin and a Roberson 3-pointer that made it 52-44 with 4:01 to go. Shelbyville went back to its workhorse — senior center Katie Douglas. Point guard Gretchen Haehl dropped Douglas a pass on the block in front of her own bench. Douglas faked and returned the ball to Haehl who immediately dumped it back to Douglas who pump-faked and scored in the lane. Haehl followed with a short jumper in the lane and the Lady Golden Bears were off into an 8-0 scoring run that ended the Rebels evening. Douglas finished with a game-high 18 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field. Haehl had 13 points. Kolls finished with 9 points. Ashley Matney scored 5 points, had five rebounds and eight assists. Roberson led the Lady Rebels with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Warner contributed 11 in the loss. Shelbyville will host Delta Saturday in what amounts to the Hoosier Heritage Conference championship game. At 6-0 in the conference, Shelbyville can do no worse than a tie for first place. With a win over the Lady Eagles, the HHC title will belong solely to the Lady Golden Bears.