Shelbyville Lady Golden Bears Basketball

Shelbyville News article: see link GREENSBURG — Gretchen Haehl scored 17 of her game-high 25 points in the third quarter Saturday as the Shelbyville girls’ basketball team routed Greensburg 65-31. .......................

Bears handle Franklin Co. with realative ease 59-34 by playing great team basketball. Katie Douglas leads the way with 18 and Gretchen Haehl 10 and Susan Kolls 10.

Add another milestone to the Shelbyville girls’ basketball season. The Golden Bears beat Rushville, 59-34, Tuesday in the first-round of the Shelbyville Sectional. The win marked Shelbyville’s first sectional victory over Rushville since 1977. In the 25 years since that loss, Rushville often had its way with area schools and prevented the Golden Bears from winning a sectional on more than one occasion. Shelbyville’s last sectional title came in 1979. Shelbyville will move one step closer to erasing that 23-year sectional deficit when it faces Franklin County (15-6) in a sectional semifinal Friday at 6 p.m. Franklin County got 31 points from Kara Feller to defeat Whiteland (10-11), 77-68, Tuesday. Megan Liffick scored 37 points in the losing effort. The winner of the Shelbyville-Franklin County game will play the winner of Friday’s South Dearborn-Greensburg contest (7:30 p.m.) for the sectional championship Saturday at 7:30 p.m. A Golden Bears sectional championship would put the finishing touch on a season full of accomplishments. Shelbyville won its first-ever Hoosier Heritage Conference title this year; it was a first-time participant in the Hall of Fame Classic; and Tuesday’s win improved its’ record to 20-3 — a school record for wins in a season. That luster mattered little to Rushville (5-16) in the early going Tuesday. The Lions — using a box-and-one defense on Shelbyville leading scorer Gretchen Haehl — jumped out to a 9-2 lead and trailed just 22-17 with three minutes to play in the first half. “We knew Rushville was going to start out with something different and it took us a little while to adjust to it,” said Shelbyville coach John Fair. “We missed some easy shots, but our kids fought through it and showed their true character.” Shelbyville sophomore Katie Jackson began Rushville’s demise with a 3-pointer that gave Shelbyville a 25-17 lead and the Golden Bears were ahead 26-17 at halftime. Shelbyville dominated the second half and outscored the Lions 33-17 to win going away. Haehl scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half. Shelbyville center Katie Douglas finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds — both game-highs. “I don’t know if anyone in the state of Indiana — and I mean this — in the state of Indiana has improved from one year to the next the way (Douglas) has,” said Fair of the 6-foot junior who averaged 6.6 points per game as a sophomore. “Her game is helped along in practice with Haley Wise. Those two get each other better.” Wise, a 5-11 sophomore, added 10 points for the Golden Bears and Susan Kolls registered seven assists, six rebounds and six points. Three players did all of the scoring for Rushville. Senior Melissa Ponsler had 12 points, while junior teammates Ashley Cameron and Ashley Spurlin added 11 points each. Looking ahead to Franklin County, Fair said his team will have its’ hands full. “They’re winners. That’s what stands out to me about (Franklin County),” he said. “They’re accustomed to winning and they enjoy it and they’ve got some good ball players.” Franklin County is a defending regional champion and is new to Shelbyville’s sectional. Class 3A Shelbyville lost to Franklin Community in the finals of the Greenfield-Central Sectional last year. Franklin Community moved up to Class 4A this year. “Our team has a lot of pressure put on it about winning the sectional,” Fair said. “That’s not only from me and the players ... it’s from everybody in the community. But, we’ve got talent. Talent wins ballgames and the cream rises to the top and that’s what happened tonight.” Notes: The Shelbyville and Rushville students were out in full force Tuesday. Dressed in typically outrageous sectional garb, the Rushville student section added one final piece to its’ collective ensemble — medical face masks. They apparently didn’t want to catch histoplasmosis. The Shelbyville faithful got the last laugh late in the third period with the game well under the Golden Bears’ control. Shelbyville sent Rushville home with a “Start the tractors!” chant. ... Rushville coach Melissa Marlow is now 10-32 in her two years at the school. She replaced Cinda Brown, Indiana’s all-time winningest girls’ basketball coach at the time of her retirement. ... Jessica Horner continues to see increased playing time for the Golden Bears. The 5-8 junior had three points and four rebounds Tuesday. Fair said he likes her athletic ability and recent performances in practice.

Bears run their season to a SHS "most wins in a regular season" record of 19-3 by beating a very athletic Arlington team. Katie Douglas sang the National Anthem in pre-game cerimonies then went on to score a career and game high 28 points. Gretchen Haehl adds 23 in the victory over Arlington.

For one quarter, The Shelbyville Lady Golden Bears looked like one of the premier teams in the state of indiana.