Announcement
Lady Golden Bears nearly upset No. 9 Olympians
Posted by Ronald Williams on
Dec 09 2011
at
04:00PM PST
Shelbyville hits 11 3-pointers in 67-55 loss at Columbus East
By Jeff Brown
Sports editor
COLUMBUS — With its best post player dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt and relegated to the bench, Shelbyville launched a long-range offensive on the ninth-ranked team in the state.
It nearly worked. One little breakdown by the Lady Golden Bears allowed Columbus East to go on a 9-2 over the second half of the third quarter and that resulted in a 67-55 win for the Lady Olympians Thursday night at the Orange Pit in Columbus.
Coming into the matchup between potential sectional opponents, Shelbyville hit a total of 15 three-pointers through its first six games. And against Greenfield-Central just nine days earlier, the collective effort produced an 0-for-15 performance.
So you could understand the frustration building in Columbus East head coach Danny Brown when Shelbyville continued to knock down wide open looks from outside the arc. At one point Brown called timeout just to let his team know how frustrated he was with their defensive effort.
Shelbyville hit eight 3s in the first half to stay close. And another pair of 3s midway through the fourth quarter cut Columbus East’s lead to five.
In the end, the Lady Olympians, now 5-0, had too much team depth for a short-handed Shelbyville squad that played without Ashley Bush, its second-leading scorer and top rebounder, due to a leg injury that needs time to heal.
Not even Amanda Norris saw this kind of performance coming.
“It was a phenomenal game. It really truly was,” said Norris, who’s career record falls to 9-40 over the last 21⁄3 seasons at Shelbyville but has the program playing competitive games against quality opponents – something that hasn’t happened much in recent years. “Our girls played so well together for three out of the four quarters. It was amazing. I think we just had a mental lapse in the third quarter when they started making a little bit of a run and we had a hard time weathering it.”
In fact, it should have been Shelbyville (3-4) that was ready to make the push when Columbus East’s Allyson Bunch picked up her fourth foul early in the third quarter. Through that point, Bunch had 13 points, eight rebounds and two steals, but her team only led 36-33.
Shelbyville kept it so close for so long by working together. Without Bush to provide a consistent scoring presence in the low post, the guards created space by penetrating the lane and kicking a pass out to the open shooter. Suddenly, Shelbyville’s girls’ program started to look like it just graduated from Shelbyville’s boys’ coach Tom Beach’s School of Offense.
“That might be more 3s than we’ve hit all season,” said Norris after hearing her team hit 11 of 20 3-pointers. “We tell the girls not to settle for the silly shots. Kick out shots or good reversal shots are the shots we knock down everyday in practice. Those are the shots we weren’t getting until tonight. We’ve challenged the girls to attack the basket and look at the post.”
That offense went cold in the third quarter when the pace of the game picked up with Bunch on the bench.
Chelsey Skipton hit a jumper from 15 feet with 5:58 to go in the third quarter to cut Columbus East’s lead to 36-33. Bunch got whistled for her fourth foul 55 seconds later and went to the bench.
Without their power forward on the floor, team leader Courtney Ogle turned to Katie Christman and Kailey Smith to pick up production. And they did.
The pair scored the Lady Olympians’ final seven points of the quarter to push the lead to 45-35.
Smith was especially damaging to the Lady Golden Bears. The 5-foot-11 junior forward came off the bench and delivered 12 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots.
When Bunch finally returned to the floor early in the fourth quarter, her team had pushed the lead to 13 points. Bunch would add a free throw with 6:10 to go and Columbus East led 53-39.
Riley Achenbach wasn’t done putting on a shooting clinic. The sophomore guard hit her fourth 3 of the game to cut the lead to 11.
Smith answered with a pair of free throws, but Shelbyville found a burst of energy that resulted in an 8-0 run that was capped off by Achenbach’s fifth trifecta.
But Columbus East scored the next six points to push the lead back to double digits, but in no way did it feel like a comfortable victory.
Bunch finished with a game-high 20 points. She also had 11 rebounds and two assists. Ogle hit three 3s on the way to 17 points. She also had a game-high seven assists. Christman also reached double digits with 10 points.
Columbus East also played without a starter. Junior forward Mikala Lomax (11 points per game) was out of the lineup.
Skipton led Shelbyville with 18 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. Achenbach was 5-of-6 from the 3-point line and finished with 16 points. Raven Hibbard had nine points (all on 3s), five rebounds and four assists.
Columbus East outscored Shelbyville 28-16 in the second half to take a 40-36 win in the junior varsity game.
Kay Brokering led Shelbyville (2-5) with seven points. Megan Fix, Allyson Conner and Taylor Pierce each had six points.
Shelbyville will try and end a 28-game losing streak in the Hoosier Heritage Conference at New Palestine (2-4, 1-0 HHC) Saturday night. There will not be a JV game. Varsity tipoff is still set for 7:30 p.m.
It nearly worked. One little breakdown by the Lady Golden Bears allowed Columbus East to go on a 9-2 over the second half of the third quarter and that resulted in a 67-55 win for the Lady Olympians Thursday night at the Orange Pit in Columbus.
Coming into the matchup between potential sectional opponents, Shelbyville hit a total of 15 three-pointers through its first six games. And against Greenfield-Central just nine days earlier, the collective effort produced an 0-for-15 performance.
So you could understand the frustration building in Columbus East head coach Danny Brown when Shelbyville continued to knock down wide open looks from outside the arc. At one point Brown called timeout just to let his team know how frustrated he was with their defensive effort.
In the end, the Lady Olympians, now 5-0, had too much team depth for a short-handed Shelbyville squad that played without Ashley Bush, its second-leading scorer and top rebounder, due to a leg injury that needs time to heal.
Not even Amanda Norris saw this kind of performance coming.
“It was a phenomenal game. It really truly was,” said Norris, who’s career record falls to 9-40 over the last 21⁄3 seasons at Shelbyville but has the program playing competitive games against quality opponents – something that hasn’t happened much in recent years. “Our girls played so well together for three out of the four quarters. It was amazing. I think we just had a mental lapse in the third quarter when they started making a little bit of a run and we had a hard time weathering it.”
In fact, it should have been Shelbyville (3-4) that was ready to make the push when Columbus East’s Allyson Bunch picked up her fourth foul early in the third quarter. Through that point, Bunch had 13 points, eight rebounds and two steals, but her team only led 36-33.
Shelbyville kept it so close for so long by working together. Without Bush to provide a consistent scoring presence in the low post, the guards created space by penetrating the lane and kicking a pass out to the open shooter. Suddenly, Shelbyville’s girls’ program started to look like it just graduated from Shelbyville’s boys’ coach Tom Beach’s School of Offense.
“That might be more 3s than we’ve hit all season,” said Norris after hearing her team hit 11 of 20 3-pointers. “We tell the girls not to settle for the silly shots. Kick out shots or good reversal shots are the shots we knock down everyday in practice. Those are the shots we weren’t getting until tonight. We’ve challenged the girls to attack the basket and look at the post.”
That offense went cold in the third quarter when the pace of the game picked up with Bunch on the bench.
Chelsey Skipton hit a jumper from 15 feet with 5:58 to go in the third quarter to cut Columbus East’s lead to 36-33. Bunch got whistled for her fourth foul 55 seconds later and went to the bench.
Without their power forward on the floor, team leader Courtney Ogle turned to Katie Christman and Kailey Smith to pick up production. And they did.
The pair scored the Lady Olympians’ final seven points of the quarter to push the lead to 45-35.
Smith was especially damaging to the Lady Golden Bears. The 5-foot-11 junior forward came off the bench and delivered 12 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots.
When Bunch finally returned to the floor early in the fourth quarter, her team had pushed the lead to 13 points. Bunch would add a free throw with 6:10 to go and Columbus East led 53-39.
Riley Achenbach wasn’t done putting on a shooting clinic. The sophomore guard hit her fourth 3 of the game to cut the lead to 11.
Smith answered with a pair of free throws, but Shelbyville found a burst of energy that resulted in an 8-0 run that was capped off by Achenbach’s fifth trifecta.
But Columbus East scored the next six points to push the lead back to double digits, but in no way did it feel like a comfortable victory.
Bunch finished with a game-high 20 points. She also had 11 rebounds and two assists. Ogle hit three 3s on the way to 17 points. She also had a game-high seven assists. Christman also reached double digits with 10 points.
Columbus East also played without a starter. Junior forward Mikala Lomax (11 points per game) was out of the lineup.
Skipton led Shelbyville with 18 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. Achenbach was 5-of-6 from the 3-point line and finished with 16 points. Raven Hibbard had nine points (all on 3s), five rebounds and four assists.
Columbus East outscored Shelbyville 28-16 in the second half to take a 40-36 win in the junior varsity game.
Kay Brokering led Shelbyville (2-5) with seven points. Megan Fix, Allyson Conner and Taylor Pierce each had six points.
Shelbyville will try and end a 28-game losing streak in the Hoosier Heritage Conference at New Palestine (2-4, 1-0 HHC) Saturday night. There will not be a JV game. Varsity tipoff is still set for 7:30 p.m.
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