The 17th annual Girls Sugar Creek Classic will take front and center stage on Thursday and Friday at North Montgomery. For Southmont they will take the Western Boone Stars in the opening round. WeBo has been the thorn in the Mounties side the last few seasons with the Stars being able to best South in last season’s championship game (37-21) and then beating them again later in the regular season (37-30). Dating back two years, the Stars have won the last three matchups against the Mounties.
With a much improved team and some depth off the bench, this is the season that Southmont and head coach Dan Burkman hope that his team is able to re-claim the Sugar Creek Classic title as they did three years ago.
“I think we’re going to be in a lot better position physically with the time that we’ve had off,” Burkman said of the Mounties nine day lay off. “It’s really allowed to us to focus solely on Western Boone and what they like to do while also allowing us to work the deficits that I’ve seen in our game through the first four games. As much as I’m concerned about WeBo, I’m also more concerned and focused on ourselves. We have to shoot the ball just more and more efficiently.”
The Mounties come in with a 2-2 record on the season. They have wins over Greencastle (59-37) and a thrilling OT win over North Vermillion (55-50). They’ve dropped games to SAC foe Tri-West (51-25) and Clinton Central (47-42). Senior DeLorean Mason is the leader for South with averaging 14 points per game with 5.5 steals per game. Freshman Layla Gomez in that Mountie win over North Vermillion had a sensational game with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Add in post player Chloe Jenkins, Cheyenne Shaw, and Olivia Gray with a plenty of bench depth and this Mountie team has players left and right who Burkman can turn to.
“Western Boone has been that thorn in our side the last few seasons and I’m expecting it to be a physical game. We’re hoping to rectify our recent struggles against them. I really like the Classic because it gives you an early look at three conference teams that you’re going to play later in the season. We’ll get to sit and watch North/Crawfordsville afterwards.”
The Stars come in also with a 2-2 record. Their two wins include a 61-45 victory over Rossville and a come from behind 44-43 win this past Tuesday against Covington. Their two losses are to power house teams in West Lafayette (63-16) and Monrovia (80-37). WeBo is led by freshman Ally Lewis who is averaging 13.3 points per game with 6.3 rebounds. Senior Ki’erra Koch scores nine a game with five rebounds while junior Olivia Reagan scores seven points while grabbing 8.8 rebounds.
The winner between the Mounties and the Stars will play the winner of Crawfordsville and North Montgomery Friday night for the championship at 7:30. The two losers of Thursday’s games will play in the consolation game which will begin at 6 pm on Friday.
Cash will not be accepted for ticket purchases at North Montgomery. Tickets may be purchases on-line at gofan.co/app/school/IN1689 or at the gate with a credit card. Regular season passes are not valid for the two-day event.
