BROWNSBURG — Southmont’s girls basketball team fell on a defensive sword Tuesday in a 65-35 loss to Bethesda Christian.
The Mounties, who fall to 6-4 on the season, were turned over all game long by the Patriots, who move to 6-1.
Pressure everywhere forced 30 turnovers, and BC utilized it into 39 points.
“We work on these things every day,” South coach Dustin Oakley said, “but it was just not a good situation. They are fast and quick, and they have an overall toughness. They just came at us in the first quarter.”
That first quarter won’t make any Mounties highlight reels, as they were forced into five turnovers before they got a shot.
It was 17-0 before Sidney Veatch finally got one to fall late in the period.
“We are not a grind it out, half-court team.” sixth-year coach Nate Cartledge said. “We need to use that quickness right from the start. We need to take it to teams before they take it to us. All six wins have had us with big first quarters. It helps us be successful. The key to our pressure is not to steal it from who has the ball, but to steal the pass before it gets to the next person,” he said of the press. “Our quickness makes that happen.””
Another part of the BC success is their five seniors in the starting lineup.
“Give the girls a lot of the credit,” Cartledge said. “We have one of our starters, Lena James, who has a Div I soccer scholarship. She is a natural defender and anchors our press. We have Maddi Fulks, who accepted a basketball scholarship to Cornerstone University, who passed the 1,000 point career scoring mark the first game this season. She sees the court and gets everyone involved. She is our leading scorer, but has had a game with 12 assists.”
Fulks was all over the floor, and moved past the 1,500 point career mark early in the game on her way to 25. She had four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
“She (Fulks) is a really confident player,” Oakley said. “She comes off screens ready to shoot. She drives, finds open shooters and has great vision.”
South righted things a bit after the rocky start. But a cold shooting night, along with the ongoing turnovers, never gave the visitors much of a chance.
“We just had a bad night of basketball,” Oakley continued. “The turnovers, then a lot of early misses, and a lot of missed free throws, just didn’t work. We had good play off the bench. Bailey Thompson took good care of the ball, and Makayla Oppy gave us good minutes.”
Veatch would notch another double-double in the young season, her sixth of the year, leading the Mounties with 14 points and 11 boards. Belle Miller had eight points and eight rebounds, but three of her buckets came on put-backs, as South was never able to get the inside game going.
Overall, the Mounties were 15-of-46 from the floor, missed all 10 3-pointers and were 5-of-14 from the line. They did win the rebound battle 45-28.
The Patriots got 18 points from Rachel Shafer and Genna Steffy led them with seven rebounds. They had 15 turnovers.
Bethesda Christian is back in action Dec. 12 when they host Tindley. They have games later in the season against both Tri-West and Lebanon.
The Mounties have a Sagamore Conference game at home against Danville Friday and then play host to Monrovia Saturday.
BETHESDA CHRISTIAN 65 SOUTHMONT 35
SOUTHMONT 4 10 12 9 — 35
BETHESDA CHRISTIAN 22 14 16 13 — 65
South (6-4): Ward 0-3 0-0 0, Veatch 6-14 2-2 14, Charles 0-5 0-0 0, Manion 2-7 1-4 5, Miller 4-6 0-2 8, , B.Thompson 0-2 2-4 2, H.Thompson 1-4 0-0 2, Remley 1-1 0-0 2, Craig 0-3 0-2 0, Oppy 0-1 0-0 0, Frederick 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 15-46 5-14 35.
Bethesda Christian (6-1): James 3-5 0-0 6, Dodson 2-6 0-0 4, Shafer 8-15 1- 18, Fulks 10-16 4-5 25, Steffy 2-6 0-0 5, Vawter 2-7 1-3 7, Geimer 0-0 0-0 0, Caes 0-0 0-0 0, Tabler 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-56 6-10 65.
3-Point Shooting: South 0-10 (Ward 0-2, B.Thompson 0-1, Veatch 0-1, H.Thompson 0-1, Charles 0-3, Manion 0-2); Bethesda Christian 5-19 (Shafer 1-5, Fulks 1-6, Vawter 1-5, Steffy 1-3).
Rebounds: South 45 (Veatch 11, Miller 8, Manion 5); Bethesda Christian 28 (Steffy 7, Shafer 4, Fulks 4).
Turnovers: South 30; Bethesda Christian 15.
