Coach Jason Longmeier says his Seymour girls basketball team will have to bring its A game in order to defeat Jennings County in the New Albany Sectional tonight.
The Owls and Panthers will tip off at 5:30 p.m. Both teams enter the tournament coming off wins, as the Owls (10-9) defeated New Albany 43-33 last Thursday night, while the Panthers (14-6) topped Floyd Central 55-25 last Tuesday.
The Panthers defeated the Owls 57-39 in a Hoosier Hills Conference game on the Seymour floor Dec. 8.
“In looking back at that game, I’m not taking anything from Jennings County. They played a good game and shot the ball well. We did not play well in that game,” Longmeier said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well. We didn’t have a lot of turnovers in that game. I think that’s the game we had 12 turnovers, so it wasn’t the turnovers that really killed us. It was the shooting.”
Jennings held a 17-10 lead after the first quarter and a 26-16 advantage at the half.
“We had some opportunities there early that we needed to knock down some shots, and we didn’t,” Longmeier said. “We’ve got to make shots early and take them out of what they want to do. They’re going to run everything through (Juliann) Woodard and (Addison) Kent early. If we can make some of their other kids beat us, even if those kids are making some early shots, we’re going to have to live with that.”
The Panthers had a strong 1-2 scoring punch in Woodard and Kent with 22 and 20 points, respectively. Woodard averages 16.3 and Kent 14.2 points per game.
“We’ve got to do a much better job of making sure Woodard and Kent don’t beat us,” Longmeier said. “They combined for 42 points against us in Game 1. In order for us to beat them, it has to be closer to 25. There are a lot of good freshmen we’ve played against this year, and from the standpoint of the importance they bring to a team, Woodard is as important as any we’ve played.”
The Owls coach said rebounds are another key for his team.
“We’ve got to do a good job on the boards because Woodard is going to go after every rebound,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure she is not giving them some second-chance opportunities. We’ve got to keep 0 (Woodard) and 33 (Lucy Ernstes) off the boards early, and we’ve got to make some shots.”
Ernstes averages 10 points and five rebounds per game.
The Panthers outrebounded the Owls 33-21 in the earlier game. Kent had eight rebounds for the Panthers, while Kendall Sterling was high for the Owls with six.
Grace Meyer scored 10 points against the Panthers in the earlier game and leads the Owls with an average of 13.1, followed by Grace Schrader at 9.2 and Sterling at 9.1.
Schrader was high scorer for the Owls in the earlier game with 12.
Meyer leads the Owls in rebounding at 7.1 per game, and Schrader is next at 5.9.
Bedford North Lawrence (18-2) will open defense of its sectional title in the second game tonight against New Albany (6-15).
Floyd Central (7-14) will play the Seymour-Jennings winner at 5:30 p.m. Friday, and Jeffersonville (6-11) will face the BNL-New Albany winner in the second game. The championship game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday.
Seymour probable starters
(Player, year, scoring averages)
Grace Meyer, Sr. (13.1)
Alyssa Perry, Sr. (5.9)
Grace Schrader, Jr. (9.2)
Brooke Trinkle, So. (4.5)
Kendall Sterling, Fr. (9.1)
New Albany Sectional
Today
5:30 p.m. — Seymour (10-9) vs. Jennings County (14-6)
7:15 p.m. — Bedford North Lawrence (18-2) vs. New Albany (6-11)
Friday
5:30 p.m. — Floyd Central (7-14) vs. 5:30 Tuesday winner
7:15 p.m. — Jeffersonville (6-11) vs. 7:15 Tuesday winner
Saturday
6 p.m. — Championship