COVINGTON — Southmont’s girls rang a loud Belle in a 68-47 hoops win at Covington.
Specifically, it was Belle Miller, whose 23 points helped the Mounties to a season-high point total and their eighth win of the season.
The senior, along with her Mounties mates, ruined Senior night for the Trojans, as they fall to 7-12. Miller hit seven field goals and was a perfect 9-of-9 from the line.
“Belle and (Chloe) Jenkins were strong on the boards,” South coach Dan Burkman said. “They had a lot of put-back baskets.”
Between the field goals that the team put back in the basket, there were also many made free throws that count for the same second-chance point total.
The tally was 22 second-chance points for the game, and the Mounties were a plus-17 in that category.
“We kew the middle was going to be open for us,” Burkman said of the scouting report. “We wanted to get the ball to Miller first and run the offense from that. Our inside game was a huge difference.”
In addition to getting the ball to and through Miller, the entire team was in on the offense, as every player had at least one made field goal. Jenkins finished the game with four off the glass for eight points and her six rebouds, all offensive, were second-best as well.
The Mounties opened things up in the second half after leading by a dozen at halftime.
“We had a bit of a slow start,” Burkman noted, “so we extended our 1-3-1 defense in the second half and spread the game out. We made Covington play more of our speed and tempo.”
South scored the first 15 points of the third quarter, and that was that.
“Miller was tough for us to guard, and the second-chance points were big for them,” Trojans coach Travis Brown said. “That 1-3-1 in the second half was difficult too. We are starting to put some sectional plays in, and we saw some things we liked, and some things we need to work on. Tonight was really just one of those nights that we have to put behind us right away as we get ready for the sectional next week.”
The Trojans were led in scoring by one of the seniors honored before the game.
Therin Holland led her team with 18 points.
“She usually is our first player off the bench, “Brown said. “She is a good shooter, especially against the zone, and it was good to have her step up like that. One of the things we need to do more next week is be more aggressive and assertive on offense. I feel bad we couldn’t give the Seniors a better send-off.”
The Trojans were 16-of-48 from the field, 5-of-21 from long range and 10-of-18 from the line. They had 35 rebounds and 25 turnovers, that South turned into 25 points.
The Mounties were 25-of-64 from the field, 1-of-5 from deep and 17-of-22 from the stripe. They won the board battle 49-35 and had 19 turnovers.
Both teams have a short look to the sectionals.
Covington has a re-scheduled game Thursday at Rossville before heading to Attica for first-round sectional action next Tuesday against orth Vermillion.
The Mounties play Sheridan tonight and then finish the regular season Friday agaist Lebanon.
“We really bouced back well last Saturday (a win over Crawfordsville),” Burkman said, “and tonight I saw a lot of excitement and energy. We’d really like to get to .500 with two wins this week heading into the tourament. Eveybody played well tonight, but now our eyeballs have to start looking to next week.”
The Mounties host their 2A sectional, and will play the winner of Parke Heritage and South Putnam in the first game on Friday, Feb. 4.
