From Coach Tyler Johnson
In a Saturday midday matinee, the Lady Cougars traveled to the east side of Indianapolis to take on the Scecina Memorial Crusaders.
The Lady Cougars jumped out to an early lead behind strong defensive pressure by sophomore Brayley Sundal. South amassed 20 deflections and 11 steals in the first half alone. Six Lady Cougars contributed with points in the first quarter, while the Lady Crusaders were held without a field goal through the first 8 minutes. It was 12-2 after one.
Scecina found more of a rhythm in the second period. Some early foul trouble on (Loryn) Pate and (Paige) McQueen caused South Decatur to drop back into a half court defense. Scecina outpaced SD 14-9 in the 2nd quarter to go into the halftime break trailing 21-16.
Timely baskets and handling any sort of pressure from Scecina, led the Lady Cougars to extend the lead further in the 3rd quarter. Makayla Somers dropped in six of team leading 13 points in the third while Kiley Best knocked down ¾ from the line while chipping in two nice drives to basket to finish with 7 in the period. After three, South held the advantage 37-25.
Pate, who missed the previous four games, came up huge in the 4th quarter with three quick layups to put the game on ice. Pate finished with 11 points. Scecina threw in a desperation heave at the buzzer that clanked in to cut the final score to 8 points: South Decatur 46, Scecina Memorial 38
South (3-9) will travel to Henryville (2-7) on Wednesday of next week for a varsity only contest. Scecina falls to (6-5) on the year and will do battle with former MHC conference foe Triton Central on Tuesday.
Scoring:
Makayla Somers 13
Loryn Pate 11
Kiley Best 10
Paige McQueen 5
Makayla Puckett 3
Kirsten Meece 2
Katie Gasper 1
Free Throws: SD 16/30, SC 9/17
Rebounding: SD 34, SC 19
The shorthanded Lady Cougar JV squad pulled out a close win against Scecina 21-18, improving their record to 9-2.