BLANCHESTER — After giving up a 10-0 lead, Blanchester bounced back and pulled away from visiting Norwood 58-41 Thursday night in a non-league game at the BHS gym.
The Ladycats improve to 12-3 on the year while Norwood drops to 7-8.
“Norwood’s not a great team but they have a great player,” BHS coach Bennie Carroll said of the high-scoring Hannah Tubbs.
Tubbs, who is averaging 25 points per game, Carroll said, matched her average against Blanchester. But Carroll was more than happy with the his squad defended Tubbs, who was 6-for-20 from the field.
“She got 25 but she worked for them,” said Carroll. “We tried to keep somebody fresh on her. (Mckenzie) Miller, (Marissa) Doughman, (Asia) Baldwin they kind of rotated on her. We wore her down. She’s a good player. We took the challenge.”
Blanchester raced out to a 10-0 lead. The Ladycats pressure defense gave the Lady Indians problems in the opening period, with Tristan Culberson converting a few steals into baskets.
“We came after them,” said Carroll. “We brought some pressure. We made some mental mistakes early that kept them in the game. Other than that, we played a pretty solid game.”
Norwood grabbed a brief lead early in the second quarter, said Carroll, but then Sarah Burton hit the first of three 3-pointers to give Blanchester a lead it would not relinquish. Burton finished with a Blan-best 24 points.
In addition to Burton’s long-range artistry, Carroll said Elecia Patton came off the bench to play a key role in Blanchester’s 16-10 second quarter advantage. With Miller and Doughman both on the bench with foul trouble, Patton played nearly the entire quarter at point guard.
“She didn’t score but she handled the ball and played good defense,” said Carroll. “She played a clean game for us at the point guard spot when we had some people in foul trouble.”
Blanchester extended its lead in the third quarter, outscoring Norwood 14-6 with a strong effort in all phases of the game, Carroll said.
SUMMARY
Jan 14, 2016
@Blanchester High School
Blanchester 58 Norwood 41
B 15.16.14.13…..58
N 14.10.06.11…..41
(58) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Doyle 3-0-3/4-9 Culberson 3-1-1/2-8 Burton 8-4-4/9-24 E. Gundler 1-0-1/2-3 Miller 1-0-0-2 Baldwin 2-0-1/2-5 Dugger 3-0-1/3-7 Patton 0-0-0/0-0 Farrow 0-0-0/0-0 Greene 0-0-0/0-0 Lindsey 0-0-0/0-0. TOTALS 18-5-11/22-58
(41) NORWOOD (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Burling 0-0-0/2-0 Borgemenke 1-1-2/2-5 Melton 2-2-2/2-8 Wiles 0-0-2/2-2 Kinnear 0-0-1/2-1 Tubbs 6-2-11/16-25. TOTALS 9-5-18/26-41
