Out-of-sync Owls fall to Austin in narrow defeate

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For The Tribune

Right now, the Seymour girls basketball team has their sights on a share of the Hoosier Hills Conference title.

But on Saturday the Owls didn’t play in sync against visiting Austin on senior night as they fell 73-71.

The Owls led the first quarter 13-12 but were outscored in the second and third quarters combined 38-29.

In the fourth quarter, the Owls found new life.

With an effective full-court press, the Owls outscored Austin 30-23.

“Defensively, we were a step or two slow,” Seymour coach Jason Longmeier said. “We’ve had a couple of games like that this year. Our kids never got into a rhythm and we missed a lot of shots. We had early foul trouble and a lot of injuries, but you have to give Austin credit, they came in and battled and gave us our best shot.”

The Owls started their full-court press in the third quarter, and continued to pressure for the remainder of the game.

Trailing 50-41 entering the final eight minutes, Seymour started clawing their way back.

At the 2:19 mark, the Owls’ Kayla Griffin fouled out.

With 1:40 remaining in the game, Emilee Pollmann stole the ball and was fouled. She hits both free throws to bring the Owls within reach at 68-64.

Seymour’s Lindsey Hume hit a 3-pointer to make it 70-67 with 55 seconds on the clock.

Austin led by a single point when Mikayla Fee scores a basket and brings the Owls within 70-69.

After the Eagles hit a free throw, Fee was fouled with 27.2 seconds left in the game. She hit the front end of a one-and-one but missed the second to make it 71-70 Austin.

The Owls got the ball back within seconds and had another opportunity after a foul on Pollmann.

She hit the first free throw and missed the second for a 71-71 tie.

With 0.9 on the scoreboard, the Owls committed a foul, and the Eagles’ Holli Reynolds hit both free throws to end the game.

Pollmann led the Owls with a career-high 29 points.

Austin was led by Addie Brasher and Holli Reynolds, who each ended with 21 points.

“We can’t let this game define us, we have a lot of confidence in our kids,” Longmeier said. “We dealt with injury, we dealt with foul trouble and adversity, but came within a shot.”

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