Southmont got one step closer to a Sugar Creek Classic Championship on Thursday night. The Mounties took on Western Boone in the opening round of the 17th annual Girls Sugar Creek Classic at North Montgomery and came away with a 61-47 win. Those 61 points are a season high for South as it tops their 59 points they scored vs Greencastle in their season opener.
WeBo jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the Mounties settled in. The two teams then traded buckets for the remainder of the first quarter which saw WeBo hold a 14-12 lead. The next eight minutes proved to be pretty much the same until the the final stretch of the first half. A pair of Layla Gomez buckets followed by a DeLorean Mason two saw South go on a mini 6-0 run to close the half. WeBo evened the score at 32-32 at the 3:05 mark of the third and then after that it was all Mounties. South ended the third on a 10-0 run to lead 42-32 and then in the final quarter South put the pedal to the metal to put the Stars away.
“This feels pretty awesome and the girls saved their best game of the season for tonight,” Southmont coach Dan Burkman said. “DeLo, Chloe, and Layla all played amazing and then I really thought Makinzie Wood came in and stepped up off the bencjh. She played her perfectly and I thought she changed the game in our favor in the third quarter after we brought her in. She’s an aggressive player who has no fear out there.”
For the second straight game Gomez was the one who led the Mounties in scoring. The freshman recorded her second straight double-double with a game-high 23 points and finished with 10 rebounds. Mason added in 19 points with Chloe Jenkins scoring 13. Both Makinzie Wood and Emily Link added in three points each for the Mounties. The Mounties shot 27-57 (47%) from the field with just one made three (1-3).
“Layla is really showing us the player that we all knew she could be these last few games,” Burkman said of his freshman. “She has great hands and finishes really well around the rim. She’s a great passer and I couldn’t ask anything more from her right now.”
Western Boone (2-3) was led in scoring by sophomore Ila Stokes who scored 15 including four made threes. Ki’erra Koch added 12, Ally Lewis eight, Amaya Westerfield four and Rebecca Keyes two. The Mountie defense as it typically does, forced plenty of turnovers as the Stars ended with 26 for the game. WeBo shot 16-44 (36%) on 4-15 (27%) from three and just 11-22 (50%) from the foul line.
With the win Southmont improves to 3-2 on the season and punches their ticket to the Championship game where they’ll take on county rival North Montgomery who bested Crawfordsville in a close 32-29 ball game in game two of the night. Western Boone will face the Athenians in the consolation game beginning at 6 on Friday night back at North Montgomery. South will go for their second title in the last four seasons, the first coming in back in 2020-21 in Burkman’s first season at the helm.
“I think our girls are really focused on bringing that trophy back to Southmont,” Burkman siad. “They’re not going to rest on this win tonight and celebrate too much because they know the job isn’t over. We’ll come ready to play against North tomorrow for sure.”
The championship game is slated to start roughly 20 minutes after the conclusion of the consolation game.
