GIRLS' BASKETBALL: Braves blitz No. 7 Scottsburg, advance to final

Dec. 27—SCOTTSBURG — The Class 1A No. 3 Borden Braves advanced to Thursday night's Cheatham Classic championship after a 64-51 victory over the host Class 3A No. 7 Scottsburg Warriorettes.

Borden (13-1) faces Class 4A Franklin Central (6-7) for a 7:45 p.m. tip while Scottsburg (12-2) faces Columbus North (9-6) at 2:30 p.m. for third place.

"I'm so excited to get the win against Scottsburg," said Borden sophomore AJ Mallad. "We lost to them last year which motivated us to beat them this year. It helped that Riley Rarick, Reagan Loy and I knocked down our shots when we needed them. It was a big team effort."

Borden's sophomore Rarick made a floater to bring the Braves' largest lead to 33-15 in the second quarter in Wednesday's game. Rarick finished off a 7-0 streak for the Braves before Scottsburg's junior Ellie Richardson made a layup with 3:45 left in the first half.

The Braves outpointed the Warriorettes 19-10 in the second frame and totaled eight shots. Mallad caught fire from behind the arc with three trifectas in the second frame for a 40-23 halftime lead.

"We told the players they were going to come out more aggressive," said Borden coach Matt Vick. "They're going to make shots and they did to cut it to single digits."

Scottsburg cut the lead down to nine points with Richardson making a layup to finish an 8-0 run. But the lead was too much for the Warriorettes to come back.

Borden sophomore Ava Wheeler led with a team-high 19 points, Mallad contributed 18, Rarick finished with 15 while Loy and sophomore Emma Hart added six apiece.

Scottsburg's junior Ellie Richardson led all scorers with 26, senior Carrie Hiler contributed 16, junior Lola Fouts finished with 10 and senior Taneisha Griffin made one.

"Carrie made some big shots for us and she had a tough assignment in guarding Wheeler on defense," said Scottsburg head coach Carrie Daniels said. "We know she's capable of knocking down the shots and we needed that offensive threat. Hopefully, we can learn from this game. We're going face teams that have the caliber like Borden down the stretch and we have to be ready from the tip. We have to be ready to match their level of intensity."

3-POINT SHOOTING

Borden made seven trifectas compared to zero in its first game against Kokomo.

Mallad led the way from behind the arch with four trifectas while Loy knocked down two and Rarick made one.

"I thought our ball movement was a lot much better especially when they went zone against us," Vick said. "We did a much better job of finding the open person and kudos to AJ for making four 3-pointers. Reagan hit some huge momentum switching 3-pointers, one to start in the first quarter and one in the fourth. I looked at our coaches and it was humongous for us."

Meanwhile, Scottsburg made eight trifectas with Hiler leading with four.

FIRST ROUND GAMES

Scottsburg advanced to the semifinal after a 55-51 triumph against the Batesville Bulldogs.

The Warriorettes overpowered the Bulldogs in the second quarter, 14-5, after leading 17-15. Scottsburg led 31-20 into the locker rooms.

Scottsburg outpointed Batesville 16-12 in the third frame. But the Bulldogs managed to outscore the Warriorettes, 19-8, in the final frame.

Fouts led all scorers with 17 points while Richardson finished with 15. The remaining scorers for Scottsburg were Haley Thomas with seven while Hiler and Eulalia Powell contributed six apiece.

Borden advanced to the semifinal game after a 46-29 triumph against Class 4A Kokomo. The Braves went on a 12-0 run in the first quarter to help with the win.

Wheeler led all scorers with 22 points while Hart contributed 11 for the Braves.

CHARLESTOWN FALLS TO FRANKLIN CENTRAL

The Charlestown Pirates came up short in the second half after a 38-31 loss to Class 4A Franklin Central Flashes in Wednesday's first-round contest.

The Pirates were down 20-19 going into the locker rooms.

"I was pleased at halftime and I told the players to hang in there," said Charlestown head coach Scott Matthews.

Charlestown senior Maddie Nipper made a trifecta to give the Pirates a 22-20 lead. The Flashes missed seven straight shots and trailed 24-21 after freshman Chesney Jackson made a layup for the Pirates.

But blocked shots by Franklin Central's Payton DuVall kept the Flashes within reach. Franklin Central went on a 5-0 run to take a 26-24 lead after the third frame.

Franklin Central bested Charlestown, 12-7, in the final frame. Charlestown only made three shots — including Nipper making a trey.

"I thought DuVall controlled the whole game on the defensive end," Matthews said. "I thought that was the difference in the game with her ability to move and block shots."

Nipper led the Pirates with 17 points while freshman Kendra Higdon contributed eight points.

Lily Graves and DuVall led the Flashes with 10 points apiece.

Charlestown (7-5) plays at 12:45 p.m. Thursday afternoon against Eastern (Pekin) in the consolations. The winner advances to play at 6 p.m. against Kokomo or Batesville.

.

SEMIFINAL CONTEST

BORDEN 64 SCOTTSBURG 51

BHS 21 19 9 15 — 64

SHS 13 10 15 13 — 51

Borden (13-1): Ava Wheeler 19, AJ Mallad 18, Riley Rarick 15, Reagan Loy 6, Emma Hart 6.

Scottsburg (13-2): Ellie Richardson 24, Carrie Hiler 16, Lola Fouts 10, Taneisha Griffin 1.

3-point field goals: Borden 7 (Mallad 4, Loy 2, Rarick 1); SHS 8 (Hiler 4, Richardson 2, Fouts 2).

Free throws: BHS 5-11, SHS 9-10.

BORDEN 1ST ROUND

BORDEN 46, KOKOMO 29

KHS 11 6 8 4 — 29

BHS 16 10 12 8 — 46

Kokomo (7-6): Aijia Elliott 15, Satyra Scott 8, Ma'Kaela Drake 7.

Borden (12-1): Ava Wheeler 22, Emma Hart 11, Riley Rarick 5, AJ Mallad 4, Paityn Fisk 4.

3-point field goals: Kokomo 3 (Scott 2, Drake 1); Borden 0.

Free throws: KHS 4-12, BHS 8-14.

SCOTTSBURG 1ST ROUND

SCOTTSBURG 55, BATESVILLE 51

BHS 15 5 12 19 — 51

SHS 17 14 16 8 — 55

Batesville (8-7): Kaylin Kathmann 15, Alyson Peters 10, Claire Saner 8, Lydia Haskamp 6, Sydney Campbell 4, Madelyn Haskamp 4, Sophie Gessell 4.

Scottsburg (13-1): Lola Fouts 17, Ellie Richardson 15, Haley Thomas 7, Carrie Hiler 6, Eulalia Powell 6, Taneisha Griffin 6.

CHARLESTOWN 1ST ROUND

FRANKLIN CENTRAL 38, CHARLESTOWN 31

FC 11 9 6 12 — 38

CH 11 8 5 7 — 31

Franklin Central (5-7): Lily Graves 10, Payton DuVall 10, Corys Wilson 7, Emma McVey 6, Carly Holmes 3, Kaylee Rohrman 2.

Charlestown (7-5): Maddie Nipper 17, Kendra Higdon 8, Chesney Jackson 4, Natalie Gagnon 2.

3-point field goals: Franklin Central 5 (McVey 2, Wilson 1, Graves 1, Holmes 1); Charlestown 3 (Nipper 3).

Free throws: FC 5-8, CHS 4-7.