Senior Belle Miller ever since coming back from the month-long quarantine hadn’t been the typical dominant post-player Mountie fans were used to seeing. Combine that with Miller getting quarantined individually for a second time, things were certainly not going to plan. That all was behind the Mounties and Miller as the Mounties got back on track with a 54-44 win over county rival Crawfordsville on Saturday. Miller led all scorers with 18 points and was back to dominating the glass with 18 rebounds as well.
“I have to continually remind Belle to go out there and score,” Southmont coach Dan Burkman said. “But tonight she dominated the glass and that’s where she really showed up to me.”
The Mounties held the lead the entire game but the Athenians never went down without a fight.
In the fourth quarter Crawfordsville scored the first six points to cut In the fourth quarter Crawfordsville scored the first six points to cut the Mountie lead to just 41-38. Southmont was able to respond with a 7-0 run of their own to build the lead back up to 48-38.
While the Burkman and the Mounties didn’t talk about the early season loss to Crawfordsville in the Sugar Creek Classic, it was still in the back of their minds as Southmont wanted to get that bad taste out of their mouths.
“We really didn’t talk much about it, but I think the girls still remember that, I know I did,” Burkman said. “I try to stay focused on us and tonight I saw a lot of improvement.”
To go along with Miller’s 18 points and 18 rebounds, DeLorean Mason scored 10 and Dori Frederick added eight. In total eight different Mounties scored in the win.
For Crawfordsville, the Athenians have had a combination of injury and sickness hit the team as of late. They played the game without senior Olivia Reed and in the second half, Elyse Widmer left the game with an ankle injury. Despite the loss, Crawfordsville coach Tyler Smith was nothing but proud of the way his team continued to fight.
“We have nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. “We’re probably about 60 percent right now with injuries and sickness. I’m incredibly proud of the effort and Shea (Williamson) had one of the guttiest performances I’ve seen to not practice all week and to come out here and give it her all. So many other girls stepped by playing close to the whole game and to give ourselves a chance shows a lot in itself.”
Williamson led the way with 12 points for Crawfordsville. Kearston Hutchens added 10 and before exiting with her injury, Widmer recorded eight. Both Liddy McCarty and Taylor Abston scored seven.
Crawfordsville falls to 6-14 (0-6 SAC) on the season and will have two final home games this week. The first coming on Tuesday against North Vermillion then they will celebrate senior night Friday night against Frankfort. The Athenians can still end their regular season on a high note and that’s what Smith and his team will be focused on.
“This week’s been tough,” Smith said. “We feel like we would’ve won both game this week if we were healthy, but that’s part of the game. We have to find a way to get over the hump with what we have.”
Southmont improves to 7-10 (1-5 SAC) on the year and with another three-game week in the last week of the season, Burkman hopes this will give his girls confidence heading into the finish line.
“I think this will help our mental approach more than anything,” he said. “It’s nice to get a win and it will boost their confidence too, but we’ve got to start preparing for another big week.”
The Mounties will travel to Covington Tuesday, travel to Sheridan on Wednesday, and host Lebanon in the regular season finale on Friday.
