Shelbyville Lady Golden Bears Basketball

YORKTOWN — The first song played in the Yorktown High School gymnasium Friday during warm-ups for the Shelbyville-Yorktown girls’ basketball game was “Eye of the Tiger.” There couldn’t have been a more appropriate theme song for the decidedly underdog Yorktown squad than that “Rocky” tune. Yorktown — with nine freshmen and sophomores dotting its varsity roster — came into the game with a 0-11 record. They faced the Class 3A, No. 5-ranked team in Shelbyville, owner of a 9-1 overall record. Unlike the Italian Stallion, the Tigers couldn’t pull off a “Yo Adrian!” miracle and lost 106-33. That’s not a misprint. The Golden Bears led 26-11 after the first period as Gretchen Haehl and Katie Douglas combined to score all of Shelbyville’s points. Things got ugly for Yorktown in the second period. The Trojans were outscored 37-8, made 12 turnovers and stood helpless as the Golden Bears made 15 of 22 shots from the field. The only suspense in the second half was whether the sparse Yorktown crowd would be treated to a 100-point game. Shelbyville coach John Fair emptied his bench early in the second half — all 11 varsity Golden Bears saw action — but the Yorktown starters were still overmatched. Shelbyville led 82-25 after three periods and 98-31 with 35 seconds to play. Golden Bears forward Susan Kolls found teammate Haley Wise eight feet from the basket and sent a bounce pass her way. Wise, a 5-foot-11 sophomore, caught the pass, dribbled, and took two steps to the basket for the easy lay-in. It’s appropriate that Wise was the Golden Bear to put the club over the century mark, as Fair was particularly impressed with her performance. “She did a great job, she’s starting to really be aggressive,” Fair said. Wise finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Haehl led all scorers with 24 points. Douglas had 21 points on 10 of 10 shooting from the field. Also contributing for the Golden Bears were Gwen Haehl (13 points, five assists), Kolls (seven points, eight assists), Allison Berger (eight points, five rebounds) and Jessica Horner (six points, four assists, four steals). What makes Shelbyville’s point total even more impressive is that the team scored their points without relying on the 3-pointer. The Golden Bears were just 3 of 10 from behind the arc. The win marked the final tune-up in the Golden Bears’ march toward, not one, but two heavyweight battles next week in New Castle. Shelbyville is a first-time participant in the Hall of Fame Classic, held Friday at the Chrsyler Fieldhouse in New Castle, adjacent to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. Shelbyville will face Jennings County in the second morning game of the four-team event, while Frankfort and Wawasee battle in the other semifinal. The two winners and two losers square off in the evening consolation and championship matches. Regardless of which two teams the Golden Bears face, they’re sure to be tested. Class 4A Jennings County posts a 10-1 record and features Indiana Junior All-Star Jenny Pfeiffer (19.4 ppg). Wawasee, ranked No. 4 in Class 4A has a perfect season (12-0) in the works and is led by the University of Tennessee bound Shanna Zolman (33.4 ppg). Class 3A Frankfort owns a more modest 7-4 record, but features four double-figure scorers. Fair isn’t concerned that his team might suffer from the lack of recent competition heading into such a strong Hall of Fame field. Shelbyville’s last four wins have each come by at least 15 points, including a 67-38 win over Richmond last Saturday. “I think our kids are intelligent enough that they know that we’re not going to be playing Richmond or Yorktown. We’re going to be in for some stiff competition.”

Reporting live from the Strip in Vegas: The Histoplasmosis plagued Bears cover the spread and exterminate Yorktown 106-33. Gretchen Haehl leads the team with 24 and Katie Douglas chips in with 21. Haley Wise adds 16 and Gwen Haehl 13.

Midwest Sports Publishing Top 40 As released last night 1. Kokomo ---------------- 10-0 ------- 1 2. Bloomington South---- 9-0 ------ 2 3. Terre Haute South---- 10-1 ----- 3 4. Wawasee---------------- 10-0 ------ 4 5. Brebeuf Jesuit--------- 12-0 ------- 5 6. Cathedral---------------- 9-0 -------- 6 7. FW Concordia ------- 10-0 ------ 7 8. Lawrence North------- 6-1 ------- 8 9. South Bend Riley----- 9-1 -------12 10. Warsaw----------------- 8-1 -------10 11. Ben Davis-------------- 7-2 -------13 12. Castle------------------- 9-1 -------14 13. Shelbyville------------- 8-1 -------15 14. Gary Westside------- 6-1 ------- 9 15. Crown Point----------- 7-3 -------11 16. Noblesville------------- 9-2 -------19 17. NorthWood------------ 8-1 -------21 18. Alexandria----------- 11-0 -------22 19. North Judson--------- 8-0 -------24 20. Floyd Central-------- 8-0 -------25 21. Jeffersonville---------- 7-1 -------17 22. Beech Grove---------- 9-2 -------26 23. Center Grove--------- 5-3 -------17 24. Decatur Central------ 6-4 -------20 25. Jennings County----- 8-1 -------29 26. Huntington North----- 5-2 -------23 26. Valparaiso-------------- 8-1 -------37 27. Fort Wayne Luers--- 7-2 -------23 28. New Albany----------- 7-2 -------30 29. North Central (I) ----- 5-3 -------27 30. FW Northrop ---------- 6-3 -------18 31. McCutcheon----------- 7-3 -------28 32. Vincennes Linc. ---- 10-0 -------32 32. Lake Central --------- 9-1 -------NR 33. Northwestern ------- 10-0 -------33 34. Carroll-Allen Co----- 8-2 -------40 35. Jasper----------------- 7-1 -------34 36. FW Snider ---------- 7-1 -------38 37. Martinsville ---------- 6-4 -------36 38. Mooresville ---------- 7-2 -------31 39. Indianapolis Tech -- 7-3 -------40 39. North Knox----------- 8-1 -------39 40. Columbus North ---- 6-3 -------NR 40. Twin Lakes ---------- 6-3 -------NR

Richmond falls easily to Bears Saturday By JEFF BROWN jbrown@shelbynews.com RICHMOND — While the Lady Golden Bears can execute a full court press with the best teams in the state, working in the half court set after the smothering press breaks down has been a problem. So Shelbyville head coach John Fair has had the team working more in recent games on one of its most glaring weaknesses. There was one problem Saturday at the Tiernan Center in Richmond, the less-talented Red Devils were still hanging around at halftime, trailing by just five points. Fair challenged his team to turn up the defensive intensity in the third quarter. The Lady Golden Bears responded, outscoring Richmond 21-4, as Class 3A No. 5-ranked Shelbyville cruised to a 67-38 win, improving its overall record to 8-1. The third quarter in which the Lady Golden Bears hit 10 of 12 shots while the Red Devils (3-5) managed to take just 11 was one of the team’s best performances this season. “It’s the first time all year, and its taken us nine games, to actually go into deny mode,” Fair said after the win. “We usually just let teams get the ball and try to turn them (into a double team). We knew we were just so much better athletically and quicker and stronger that we decided to deny the ball to them.” It took Richmond six minutes and 25 seconds to get its first basket of the second half. By that time, Shelbyville ran off 16 straight points including four 15-foot plus jumpers. After Chelsea Caywood scored for Richmond, Shelbyville’s Jessica Horner responded with a 3-pointer that made the lead 44-22. Shelbyville kept the comfortable lead in the fourth quarter with solid free throw shooting. The Lady Golden Bears converted 13 of 16 free throws in the quarter and finished the game 20 of 25 (80 percent). From the field, Shelbyville shot 49 percent (22 of 45) and was 3 of 9 from 3-point range. Richmond hit 40 percent of its shots (19 of 48) but was 0 for 7 from the 3-point line and 0 for 8 from the free throw line. Shelbyville center Katie Douglas led all scorers with 13 points — 11 in the first half. Gretchen Haehl and Haley Wise added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Caywood scored 12 to lead Richmond. The Lady Golden Bears have won seven straight games since their Nov. 17 loss to Columbus North. The winning streak can improve to eight Friday at Hoosier Heritage Conference member Yorktown (0-10). Then Shelbyville will start preparing for Hall of Fame Classic in New Castle Dec. 28. The Lady Golden Bears open the four-team tournament against Jennings County. Wawasee, led by state scoring leader and University of Tennessee recruit Shanna Zolman, and Frankfort will also compete in the one-day tournament. A throwback to the more traditional one-class state tournament days, the Lady Golden Bears have to prepare to play twice in one day. Fair says the team won’t worry about its second opponent until after the opener with the Panthers and all-state candidate Jenny Pfeiffer. “We’re just preparing for Jennings County and then we’ll go from there,” Fair said. “We’ll try and win that ballgame and then see who we have.”

Haley turns a solid performance at the post with 10 points, good defense and several rebounds in route to her "star of the game" Good job.