Kerrigan Neff
CAMBRIDGE CITY, Ind. – After a fast start, the Lincoln girls basketball team was able to hang on in the championship game on Wednesday night to claim the Healthy Hoopla Tournament Trophy.
Despite grabbing their early advantage, the Golden Eagles needed a lot of free throws in the fourth quarter to post a 52-47 victory over North Decatur.
“North Decatur is a great team and we knew they were going to bounce back,” Lincoln Head Coach Rob Bills said. “I was nervous near the end of the third quarter, but our kids hung in there. That’s one of the best wins we’ve had in a long time.”
“The hallmark of what we do is our kids really play hard,” Bills added of his 6-8 squad. “I was really proud of the kids.”
Kylei Klein scored at the 5:05 mark of the third quarter to give Lincoln a 39-21 lead and the Golden Eagles were in control.
“We played some screwy defense trying to keep them out of the paint,” Bills said of trying to keep the Chargers tall from line from being successful.
“We finally adjusted, I’m really happy about that,” he continued. “That’s growing up and maturity.”
At that point, the Chargers (9-5) increased their intensity and defensive pressure.
“The last minute or so of the third quarter was so important because we didn’t give up the lead,” Bills said.
But the Chargers got close as they cut Lincoln’s lead to 39-38 with 39 seconds left in the third. Kerrigan hit a pair of free throws with 3.7 seconds left to preserve the lead for the Golden Eagles as they went into the fourth quarter up 41-38.
North Decatur’s Mary Hughes hit a 3-pointer for the first basket of the final period to tie it at 41-41.
But Neff took over for Lincoln with four straight free throws to put the Golden Eagles in front 45-41 with 6:51 to go.
Neff finished the game with a 3-pointer and two more free throws.
“They were all clutch in the fourth quarter,” Bills said of Neff’s effort from the line.
North Decatur closed the gap again to 50-47 with 2:12 remaining, but the Chargers didn’t score the rest of the way.
Klein ended the game by hitting 2-of-4 tosses from the free throw line.
The Fast Start
Lincoln surprised the Chargers with some solid shooting in the first quarter to go on top 9-0 in the opening three minutes. By halftime, the Golden Eagles led 33-19.
“Everybody scored and (they) couldn’t find out who to guard,” Bills said of his team’s offense that had points from five different players in the first half.
Neff led Lincoln with 17 points with a 12-of-12 performance from the free throw line.
Ally Owens scored all 15 of her points in the first half to help Lincoln build its advantage.
“Ally Owens had a great game and Kerrigan carried us,” Bills said.
Klein finished with eight points and six rebounds, while Emmie Pugh tossed in five points and pulled down six rebounds.
Lincoln is back in action against Northeastern in the Wayne County Tournament at Hagerstown on Friday, Jan. 8.
Box Score
NORTH DECATUR (9-5) – Mary Hughes 6 0-0 12, Samantha Krieger 3 0-1 6, Sarah Bowman 2 4-11 8, Chelsea Hitchcock 0 0-0 0, Olivia Siefert 3 4-8 10, Jesse Closser 1 2-2 4, Ally Gauck 1 0-0 2, Addy Osting 0 0-0 0. Team – 16 10-22 47.
LINCOLN (6-8) – Allie Owens 6 1-2 15, Emmie Pugh 2 1-3 5, Kerrigan Neff 2 12-12 17, Kylei Klein 2 4-6 8, Olivia Davis 0 0-0 0, Laynie Russell 1 0-1 3, Hannah Hall 2 0-0 4, Jessica Harmer 0 0-0 0. Team – 15 18-23 52.
North Decatur 8 19 38 47
Lincoln 15 33 41 52
3-pointers – North Decatur 5 (Hughes 5), Lincoln 4 (Owens 2, Neff 1, Russell 1). Rebounds – North Decatur 35 (Siefert 11), Lincoln 34 (Pugh 6, Klein 6). Turnovers – North Decatur 16, Lincoln 16. Fouls – North Decatur 22, Lincoln 19.