Shelbyville Lady Golden Bears Basketball

It might have taken a year longer than John Fair expected, but the Shelbyville girls’ basketball team won its first ever Hoosier Heritage Conference title outright Saturday by beating Delta, 66-38. The Golden Bears finished conference play with a perfect 7-0 record, while Delta fell to 4-2 with one HHC game to play. Delta, now 14-3 overall, was the only HHC team with just one loss and a chance to grab a share of the title. Shelbyville, 16-2 on the year, had already clinched at least a share of its first HHC title with its win over Mount Vernon last week. Fair, in his fourth season, had hoped to see a conference title last year. “When I came in, we actually had a three-year plan and we’re a year off,” Fair said. “The first year we just needed to change some things. They didn’t know how to play basketball and they didn’t know how to play hard. The next year, we wanted to get them in the weight room and try to get them to play a little more physical. “And then we were hoping that when the Haehls got here we would be able to lift our program up and they certainly have done that, along with Haley (Wise) and Katie Douglas. We weren’t able to (win the HHC) last year, but we were able to do it this year. It’s an exciting time for Shelbyville girls’ basketball.” And it’s about to get more exciting for Shelbyville with Shelby County rival Triton Central up next. The Class 3A No. 6-ranked Golden Bears travel to Fairland Tuesday to face the Class 2A No. 2-ranked Tigers (16-1). Triton Central has lost to Shelbyville the last three seasons coinciding with Fair’s arrival at Shelbyville. The Tigers were the last thing on the Golden Bears’ minds Saturday, though. They were focused on paying back the visiting Eagles for the loss Delta pinned on Shelbyville last year, which essentially ended the Golden Bears’ hopes for a conference title. Sophomore point guard Gretchen Haehl seemed to be the most focused Golden Bear in the first half, as she consistently beat the Delta defense and finished the first half with 11 points. Shelbyville held a comfortable 25-18 lead at halftime but it was playing far from its best basketball. The Golden Bears made 12 turnovers and shot just 26 percent from the field in the first half. That all changed in the third period as Shelbyville center Katie Douglas took over the game. The junior scored 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting during Shelbyville’s 17-4 run to open the second half. Shelbyville led 42-22 with just less than five minutes to play in the third period and the Eagles never again threatened for the lead. Douglas finished with 14 points, one of four Shelbyville players in double figures. Haehl and senior Ashley Matney had 14 points. Senior Susan Kolls added 10 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Sophomores Gwen Haehl (three points) and Haley Wise (four rebounds, three steals) contributed to the winning effort. Matney, as one of just two Shelbyville seniors, said that winning the school’s first-ever HHC title was worth four years of effort. “I know I’ve worked hard all four years and Susan has too,” she said. “It’s just really rewarding winning the first-ever conference championship in school history your senior year. Everybody is going to remember that and it’s great being a part of it.” Content © The Shelbyville News, All Rights Reserved Software © 1998-2002 1up! Software, All Rights Reserved