After a dominating win over county rival Crawfordsville on Friday night in the opening round of the 16th Sugar Creek Classic, Southmont looked to take home its second title in the last three seasons. However in order to do so the Mounties would have to prevent Western Boone from winning its 14th title as the Stars have dominated the tournament. Offensively the Mounties once again struggled to put any sort of rhythm together and it cost them as the Stars handily defeated the Mounties 36-21.
The 21 points is a season-low for the Mounties who shot just 8-37 (22%) for the game. Their patented back door cuts on the offensive end simply weren’t there and Mountie coach Dan Burkman knows when that isn’t there his team has to be willing to adjust.
“When you hold a team to 36 points, you should win most games,” he said. “We’re not going to get a back door every single play and have to be willing to take some outside shots. I think since it’s worked a lot for us, they’re starting to fall in love with it a little too much and are passing up a lot of wide open shots. We have to work on it but and learn from this.”
While six different Mounties scored, the problem was that no one scored enough. DeLorean Mason was Southmont’s leading scorer with just five points in the loss. Chloe Jenkins and Olivia Gray each scored four, Chelsea Veatch and Cheyenne Shaw three, and Saylor Woods rounded out the scoring with just two.
Jenkins battled foul trouble for most of the night and that allowed the Stars to use their physicality and crash the glass with authority. The duo of Emmy Roys and Carlie Pennington gave the Stars multiple chances on possessions with their offensive rebounds.
“They were a physical team, but we knew they were going to be,” Burkman said of the Stars. “I felt like when we secured the rebound we didn’t push the ball in transition and use our speed to our advantage. We just couldn’t match their physicality.”
WeBo had three in double figures led by Roys’s 11. Pennington added 10 and Lili Jones scored 10 as she knocked down three threes for the Stars. The win gives Western Boone its 14 Sugar Creek Classic title in the 16 year history of the tournament. Both Pennington and Roys were named to the All-Tournament team for their performances and Jones took home tournament MVP honors.
The win for WeBo makes them 5-1 on the season and sees them on a five-game winning streak.
Veatch also earned a spot on the All-Tourney team as against the Athenians on Friday she dropped a career high 20 points.
The Mounties fall to 3-4 with the loss and will have two games before they get some time off for Thanksgiving. Monday they’ll return home to take on a sectional opponent in the South Putnam Eagles. Then on Tuesday they’ll make the trip to Putnam County to take on North Putnam in a girl/boy double-header.
“We’ll be back at it this week and that’s all we can do is look forward,” Burkman said. “We’re disappointed with the result but I do love that no matter the score they continue to play hard and I’m proud of them for that.”
