ATTICA — Southmont girls basketball has competed very well in their last two games, but had just come up short in their losses to North Putnam (46-45) and Parke Heritage (56-52). Thursday evening the Mounties traveled to Attica to take on an improved Red Ramblers team and had no problems getting back in the win column as from start to finish South dominated Attica 52-22 to get back in the win column.
“Our defense as it has a lot this year, got us going,” Southmont coach Dan Burkman said. “Offensively we were able to execute great in the half court and that was great to see. Both Chelsea (Veatch) and DeLo (DeLorean Mason), who was feeling a lot better than Tuesday, showed up and when they both play like that for us. Usually good things happen. The last two games were really close and we felt like we should’ve won the North Putnam game. It was nice to see us put a complete game together again and play well on both ends of the floor.”
The Mounties were led by Mason in the game who ended with a game high 19 points. The junior who entering the game was ranked 6th in the state in steals per game (6.0) added 10 more to her total as she ended with a rare points and steals double-double. Veatch added 13 points for the Mounties and Chloe Jenkins also scored in double figures with 10.
Mason is tasked with running point for the Mountie offense and then is also tasked with manning their stout defense. Burkman asks a lot of his junior but it’s only because he knows she’s capable of performing like she did Thursday.
“She has great instincts for the ball and where it’s going to be,” he said of Mason. “You combine those two things along with her athletic ability and she’s very tough to deal with on a nightly basis.”
With the victory the Mounties improve to 5-6 on the season. They now will have a week off before returning to the court next Friday when they travel to Sagamore Conference foe Danville for a girl/boy double-header. The Warriors are the projected favorites to bring home the SAC title and Burkman knows his team will have their hands full.
“First and foremost it’ll be nice to have a full week of practice just so we can get better,” he said. “Danville is going to be a very tough challenge for us. We’ll need the practice time to prepare for them and hopefully we can stay competitive.”
