For The Tribune

COLUMBUS

Seymour had a simple formula for its efforts to win Thursday night’s Hoosier Hills girls basketball game at Columbus East.

The Owls were at the top of their game at the defensive end of the floor. They held the Olympians to a season-low 35 points in a 49-35 victory.

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“We wanted to eliminate turnovers and play great defense,” sophomore Grace Meyer said. “It was a big win. We needed it for our conference for sure.”

Meyer was the star on offensive for Seymour (10-7, 3-2). She went 11 of 14 from the field and 1 of 2 from the free-throw line to lead the Owls with a career-high 23 points.

“Right now, she’s doing some things that we need to have her be doing,” Seymour coach Jason Longmeier said. “She’s really strong at the rim, she finishes at the basket, she’s rebounding well and she’s able to spread the defense because she can shoot the outside shot. So she’s turned into one heck of a player for us.”

The Owls never trailed in this one. The game was tied at 7-7 when Seymour went on a 9-2 run to open a 16-9 lead midway through the second quarter.

After East (7-7, 1-2) scored a basket, the Owls’ Makenna Fee answered at the other end, and Ashton Chase followed with back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the lead to 24-11. Seymour led 26-18 at the half.

The Olympians were within 32-25 with 3:45 left in the third quarter, but the Owls held them scoreless for more than nine minutes in building a 45-25 lead with 2:40 remaining.

Chase finished with 11 points for Seymour. Fee added seven points and 11 rebounds to lead the Owls to a 36-20 advantage on the boards.

Freshman Koryn Greiwe led East with 11 points, but Megan Ritz, Alyssa Perry and Aidan Heister combined to hold her in check for most of the night.

“I thought it was arguably our best defensive game of the year,” Longmeier said. “I thought we were able to take Greiwe out of what she wanted to do. Their offense runs awful heavy through her, and we were able to kind of frustrate her a little bit and keep the ball out of her hands. I’m not sure she got more than one or two quality shots tonight, so I think that was the key, and then we were able to keep (6-foot-1 Claire) Cunningham under wraps. Fee did a great job of keeping her from getting it in the post.”