For the Tribune
The Seymour girls basketball team had a 7-point lead against Rushville at the midway point of the third period Friday night when they came up with their best two-minute stretch of the game.
Maci Lubker converted a 3-point play, Morgan Ritz scored on a fastbreak layup off of a feed from Emilee Pollmann, and Kayla Griffin followed with another 3-point play.
That 8-0 run put the Owls in control, and they went on to a 52-42 win in the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium.
“At halftime, we really talked about taking care of the boards,” Owls coach Jason Longmeier said. “I think we were down 20-10 at the half on the boards. We really focused and made sure we took care of that, and then when we did that led to some transition and some easy basket opportunities.”
The Owls outscored the
Lions 14-7 in the third period when Griffin had five points and Ritz four points.
Seymour had a 40-28 lead going into the fourth quarter. The closest Rushville came in the fourth was 42-34 before Ritz hit a 3-pointer and the Owls regained the momentum.
Longmeier was pleased his team was able to open a 17-9 lead at the end of the first period.
“We came out again with a quick start, took early control of it and then went into a lull again and we’re going to have to figure out how to keep from going through those stretches.”
The Lions had a 9-8 lead before Mikayla Fee scored on an inside move, Lauren James hit a 3-pointer, and Pollmann scored two baskets for an 8-0 run and 17-9 lead.
Fee added a basket at the start of the second period before Rushville went on a 6-0 run to close to 19-15, and the Lions kept it close the remainder of the half, trailing 26-21.
Ritz topped the Owls with 12 points, Lubker added 11, and Griffin was high-rebounder with 8.
Ellie Sammons topped the Lions with 17 points and 7 rebounds.
The Owls shot 20-for-49 from the floor.
“I thought we got through some stretches where we did a lot of standing, but part of that had to do with we were a little bit tired late,” Longmeier said. “We went with our horses in the second half. I think late in the game we had some tired legs. I thought the ball movement was OK, I thought body movement was poor. That is something we have to fix because what they did, they strapped the defense way back and they weren’t going to let us drive.”
The Owls played both man-to-man and zone defenses,and limited the Lions to 14-for-57 shooting.
Longmeier said he felt like his team contested Rushville’s shots “pretty well until we got tired. We gave some open looks, and we didn’t get back in transition. I also thought the press was a good change of pace. We wanted to limit the possessions in the second half, and force them to get some quick shots up.
“They came in here and they battled. They were short a player or two with some injuries. That is a good basketball team that is 1-5 but has played a terrific schedule up to this point.
The Owls take a 4-0 record into Tuesday’s home game against Bloomington South.
“We have not put it all together yet, but we’re finding a way to win,” Longmeier said. “We’re going to have to play better on Tuesday, and we’re going to have to play better on Thursday against Brownstown. We’ve got a really tough stretch coming up.”