MEDORA — The size, quickness and experience from the Rising Sun girls basketball team proved to be too much against Medora on Monday night.
The Shiners were able to jump out to a 18-2 advantage after the first quarter and never looked back as they went on to defeat the Hornets 60-15.
“We’re a fairly short team and they were long and quick,” Medora head coach Roger Bane said. “Our blocking out, Rising Sun just had so much more experience. Our kids just have not played much.”
The Hornets were paced in scoring by Jenna Bowers, who had nine points, going 3-of-4 from the charity stripe. Aaralyn Hackney scored four and Madison Reece scored two.
Bowers and Hackney have been leading the way for Medora all season.
“They played together since junior high, so they know each other and work well together,” Bane said. “They’re in a leadership position. They’re both captains on the team, and I think the girls look up to them and respect them.”
Coming into Monday night’s contest, Medora was fresh off its first victory of the season against Madison Christian on Dec. 1.
The Hornets won that game 39-33. Bane said Madison Christian was a lot like Medora in terms of youth and inexperience.
“They were very young,” Bane said. “Our advantage there was having Jenna and Aaralyn. Having that first game, I’m hoping will give us some momentum for some other games on our schedule. I think we can win some of these games.”
Against Rising Sun, Medora had primarily played zone defense all season, but in the second half, Bane decided to go to man-to-man to switch things up. He saw some bright spots with that defensive approach and it could be something he goes back to in certain games.
Medora has only played five games this season but have a busy stretch coming up. They will play tonight at Washington Catholic, then Thursday against Seven Oaks Classical, then have another back-to-back early next week against Christian Academy and Rock Creek Academy.
“If these girls keep working — I have four freshmen, a sophomore, two juniors, so we can hopefully be better next year,” Bane said. “It’s just for us about playing and improving. We got to play.”