NEW MARKET — After securing a season opening road victory on Tuesday against Greencastle, Southmont girls basketball returned home for their home and Sagamore Conference opener as they hosted Tri-West. The Bruins have always seemed to have the Mounties number but on Thursday the Mounties made sure they weren’t going to back down. The final score ended up in favor of the visitors 51-45 but South made sure to give the Bruins a battle for a full 32 minutes.
The Mounties scored the final four points of the third and the first four points of the fourth in what was an 8-0 run to take a 38-37 lead. The two teams continued to stay close but five made free-throws and a bucket from Tri-West’s Zoie Bruner allowed the Bruins to score seven straight and time just wasn’t on the Mounties side.
Before the game Southmont knew his girls were going to be ready and he wanted to use this game as an early season test to see where his team was. Despite the loss the third-year Mountie coach had no complaints after the game.
“I’m really satisfied with how we played and there’s no question about the girls effort that they showed tonight,” Burkman said. “You can’t fault them in that and more than anything to me our girls proved that they are tough. Overall I was very impressed with them. We still do have to clean up a couple of things like our turnovers but in some ways we also improved off of Tuesday where we looked a little more sharp.”
Lauren Bear led all scorers in the game with 16 for the Bruins as Tri-West had eight different players score. Bruner added nine points and Regan Canada and Ava Sullivan each scored six.
DeLorean Mason led the Mounties with 14 points with 10 of those points coming at the free-throw line where the junior went 10-14 for the game. Chloe Jenkins recorded her second straight double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Chelsea Veatch rounded out the double-figure scoring as she scored 10. Olivia Gray added six while Cheyenne Shaw had two.
Despite not recording their first field goal of the game until the 50 second mark of the opening quarter, the Mounties still trailed just 11-7. The two teams entered the locker room at the half tied at 24-24 and then Bruins were up 37-34 after three quarters.
“As I said I thought this would be a good barometer for us and I’m happy with the reading,” Burkman said. “The best part is they know that I’m happy with how they’re playing right now. They also know themselves that they played a good game. We’re doing a good job of pushing the ball and using our athleticism to our ability, now it’s just a matter of being able to finish in transition when we get those chances.”
The Mounties fall to 1-1 (0-1 SAC) with the loss and they will be back in action on Saturday to conclude a three-game opening week when they travel to Clinton Central.
“I’m sure the girls are a little tired but we’re looking forward to Saturday,” Burkman said. “We’ll take it easy in practice and be ready to go on Saturday.”
Tip off at Clinton Central is scheduled for 1:30.
