VEEDERSBURG – Fountain Central’s girls basketball team might be young, but they have excellent memories as they defeated Clinton Prairie 35-33 to go 2-0 on the young season.
“This team beat us by a combined score of 116-26 the last two seasons,” FC coach Sam Karr said after his team did a bunch of the little things right late in the game to pick up the win. “There was no problem getting up to play these guys. This is the type of program we are striving to become; one that is good every year and wins every year.”
The Mustangs shot the ball just well enough, shot free throws really well, pulled down critical rebounds, got some big buckets on turnovers, and most importantly, took care of the ball, especially in the fourth quarter.
“These girls all played last year, except for the freshmen, and they have experience as well,” Karr said. “They have a level of maturity you might not expect since we played only one senior tonight. We made a lot of correctable mistakes, but we still did a lot of right things. The sky is the limit for these girls.”
The game was one you would expect of an early-in-the-season game.
Plenty of turnovers, both teams hit a few shots, missed a few early on.
The Gophers, who were 16-8 last season, jumped out to an early lead, only to see the Mustangs reply.
FC had a 21-17 lead in the third quarter when the visitors caught fire, ripping off nine straight points.
Down by five, it was reply time again for the Mustangs.
“To be honest, I don’t think we recover from a 9-0 run last year,” Karr noted. “The difference is the work these girls put in during the offseason. There was no panic, no fear.”
The biggest issue during the streak was that FC turned the ball over on four straight possessions, and the Gophers scored on three. The home team stopped turning it over, and the ship righted.
A 6-0 FC run ended the third and started the fourth quarters, and another 4-0 mini-run got FC back in the lead.
After traded hoops, it was 33-30 FC with 3:15 left and from that point, FC had only one turnover.
A pair of Henley Good free throws with 7.2 made it 35-30 and a three at the buzzer by CP set the final score.
Good earned her first game ball, as the freshman’s two freebies gave her a 5-for-5 night from the line, and her 13 from the field gave her team scoring honors with the 18.
Braily Hoagland added eight points and grabbed seven rebounds, including two offensive and one defensive in the fourth quarter.
Freshman Bella Bacon came off the bench to haul in a game-best eight rebounds, as the two teams finished with 30 each.
The Mustangs were 12-of-38 from the field and 2-of-7 from deep. Their 9-of-10 from the line speaks for itself.
The Gophers were led in scoring by Abbey Swan, as the junior scored 13 of her 20 in the second half. CP was 14-of-42 from the field, 3-of-13 from long range, and 2-of-5 from the line. They shot only one free throw in the second half. They had 22 turnovers to 20 for FC.
“I’m not surprised at all to be 2-0,” Karr said, after his squad opened the season with a win over always good Faith Christian. “This season is going to come down to how hard these girls work, and they are off to a good start. They are a scrappy bunch and they play hard. We have lots of things to fix and work on, but 2-0 is certainly fine.”
The Mustangs busy first week of the season finishes Saturday with a home game against Frankfort. They have upcoming games against all three Montgomery County teams.
