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.

The Bears were in control most of the way leading 37-32 at half and stretching the lead to 14 in the third. Katie Douglas scored at will in the post and ended up with 18. Gretchen Haehl gets 13 points and 10 players see action.

The Shelbyville girls’ basketball team suffered its first of two losses this season on Dec. 17 to Columbus North, 60-57. So, when Shelbyville coach John Fair learned that Southport — the team scheduled to play the Golden Bears Tuesday — beat Columbus North this weekend, he knew his squad would be in for a battle. He was right. The Cardinals traveled to Shelbyville and, despite their 6-6 record, gave Shelbyville all it could handle. The Golden Bears survived, however, and won 55-43. “I knew they were better than their record,” Fair said after watching his own club improve to 13-2 on the year. “I knew that they had some kids who had been sick with pneumonia and when I saw that the Stevens kid and Bowling kid both played at Columbus North, I knew it was going to be tough.” Fair was referring to Elizabeth Stevens and Sarah Bowling, who combined for 31 points in the Cardinals’ 68-66 win over Columbus North. Those two players, along with Starr Jackson, made for a tall (all 5-foot-10), physical presence that gave the Golden Bears fits Tuesday. Shelbyville, usually a man-to-man defensive team, was forced to switch a 2-3 zone early in the first period after it had trouble keeping up with the athletic Cardinals. Southport knifed its way through the Shelbyville defense early on, but was unable to convert several easy scoring opportunities. The Golden Bears’ zone forced the Cardinals to make the outside shot and the visitors continued to struggle on the offensive end. The Cardinals were 4-of-14 from the field in the first period and shot just 30 percent (17 for 56) in the game. “Their athleticism was what really got us,” Fair said. “You could tell that they were a little bit quicker than us, a little bit stronger. And that if we stayed in man-to-man, they were going to beat us.” The Golden Bears led 20-14 after the first period and 33-25 at halftime, despite committing 11 turnovers. For much of the contest, Gretchen Haehl, Shelbyville’s 5-5 point guard was guarded by Stevens or Jamie Mason (6-0) and the Golden Bears’ leading scorer had trouble converting on the offensive end. She was also on the receiving end of some of the most blatantly physical defense the Golden Bears’ standout has seen this year. “It was a physical game, but our team has to get used to that,” Fair said. “Teams are going to grab and hold and deny Gretchen. They’re going to be as physical as they need to be to frustrate her ... teams are going to start hitting her, and that’s what Southport did.” Haehl (18.7 ppg) missed 8 of 11 field goal attempts and finished with 10 points, nine of which came in the first half. “They came in and manhandled her in the third and fourth quarter,” Fair added. “And our team has to know that we’re going to need someone other than Gretchen to dribble the ball. The refs aren’t always going to give us the call.” The officials on hand Tuesday weren’t calling much of anything. Despite the aggressive nature of the game, just six fouls were called in the first half. Before the fourth period, when Southport began to foul in an attempt to keep Shelbyville close, the teams had been whistled for just 14 fouls combined. Stevens went down late in the second period after being undercut below the Shelbyville basket and was ineffective the rest of the way. She shot 0-for-5 from the field in the first half and didn’t take another shot in the game after that. Late in the contest, Jackson was whistled for an intentional foul after taking Susan Kolls to the floor by grabbing her waist and not letting go until Kolls hit the ground. Shelbyville was never able to break away from the Cardinals, but consistent play from Katie Douglas helped the Golden Bears maintain a decent lead. Douglas sank 9 of 10 field goal attempts in the game and finished with a game-high 18 points. Shelbyville led 44-33 after the third period and the Cardinals never got within seven points the rest of the way. Douglas (seven rebounds) and Haley Wise (eight rebounds) controlled the boards for Shelbyville, while Ashley Matney added 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting. Bowling finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinals. Jackson added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Shelbyville (5-0 in Hoosier Heritage Conference play) travels to Mount Vernon (6-8 overall, 3-1 HHC) Saturday (Scouting Report, B1). A win over the Marauders will clinch at least a share of Shelbyville’s first-ever HHC title. Back to search results....

In a "game" trashed with 48 fouls, Bears prevail to get a share of the HCC conference title with a win at Mt Vernon. Bears were down four in the fourth when three consecutive threes, two by Sr. Ashley Matney and one by So. Katie Jackson, put them ahead for good. Double digit scorers for the Bears include Gretchen Haehl 14 and Allison Berger 10

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.