South girls basketball goes to great lengths to whip Edgewood in county clash

The Edgewood girls' basketball team was up in arms Tuesday night.

It seemed at times like the long-limbed 6-footers Bloomington South can put out on the floor were everywhere, stealing passes for quick scores and cleaning up missed shots for easy putbacks. The Panthers are a team built for defense and rebounding and they did both well to bury the Mustangs, 61-21.

South (2-0) had 18 steals and forced 24 turnovers, resulting in twice as many shot attempts and a running clock over the last five minutes.

"We're putting length out on the floor and not just length, it's athletic length," Winters said. "If we can get ourselves in the passing lanes and were able to switch all positions, we should be able to cause some deflections and come up with some steals.

"I think the big thing is we have some girls that can also shoot the basketball, so you can't just back up off of us, so when you get up on them, you see they can get to the basket. and if they miss, we've got enough length we've got a chance to get some offensive rebounds."

South had four score in double figures and do more than that.

Julia Lashley had 19 points, seven rebounds and five steals while Abbie Lucas had 12, five and six. Violet Hall poured in 15 points and had five boards while Audrey Craft had 10 points.

"I'm really happy that the biggest part of us are letting the game come to us," Winters said. "We're not trying to force the game. When you can do that, we're a little bit better team because we can run an offense."

South also won the glass, 34-22, with 12 offensive boards.

"It was on the board, we've got to block them out, they're going to crash the boards and we didn't," Edgewood coach Gary Sims said. "We didn't compete."

Edgewood ended up just 8-of-30 from the field and if not for a 4-of-6 night from the arc by reserve Ava Laroche, it would have been even more of a struggle. No other Mustang had more than three points.

"(Their length) was trouble, even as we're trying to bring the ball up the floor and their deflections," Sims said. "We knew we weren't going to get anything inside because their length is a problem. We didn't handle it very well.

"And we're not a great outside shooting team. So with that in mind, Ava hit some big shots for us. If we didn't have that, I don't know what we'd have."

Big runs carry South to victory

South used a couple of big runs to put it away, fueled by 16 Edgewood turnovers in the middle periods as Edgewood got just 12 shots off in the second half in a quiet finish.

The Panthers finished the first half on a 15-0 surge over the last 5:50 to go up 31-11.

Then after Edgewood scored the first seven points of the second half, the Panthers scored the next 25 points, keeping the Mustangs off the board for nine minutes. In all, South was a sizzling 13-of-23 in the second half.

"I just felt like we had a couple kids whose defensive effort wasn't what it was the first two games," Sims said. "And we can't have that."

Youth being served for both teams

Sophomores dominated both lineups, with South and Edgewood each starting three and giving plenty of minutes to two more. Edgewood is also still missing sophomore starting forward, Macey Crider, out for a while with an ankle injury.

"This is why I like to play this game early," Sims said. "Because whatever you don't do well, it's going to be exploited by someone. And we learn from it.

"There were some things in Games 1 and 2 we didn't do well and we got away with it. Now, there's no chance and you get beat up by 40."

While Edgewood continues its five-game road trip to open the season with rides to South Putnam and Linton on Friday and Saturday, South will head to Northview and then defending state champ Bedford North Lawrence to put itself through the test that Edgewood just did.

"We understand it's going to be a little bit of a work in progress," Winters said. "But I think they've all bought into each other so that makes it easier for us.

"The chemistry is there. The want-to is there. Now, we've just got to keep working on the skill part of it."

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on X (Twitter) @JimGordillo.

BLOOMINGTON SOUTH 61, EDGEWOOD 21

Edgewood (21): Yearby f 1-1 0-0 2, Whaley f 0-4 0-0 0, Holmes f 1-3 0-2 2, A.Bland g 0-6 0-0 0, M.Bland g 1-4 0-0 2, Burks 0-3 0-0 0, McElhinney 1-2 0-0 3, Laroche 4-6 0-0 12, Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Edgeman 0-0 0-0 0, Murphy 0-1 0-0 0, Austin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 8-30 0-2 21.

Bloomington South (61): Hall f 5-9 3-3 15, A.Lucas f 6-9 0-2 12, M.Lucas g 0-5 0-2 0, Craft g 4-12 1-2 10, Lashley g 9-14 0-0 19, Barada 1-5 0-0 3, Arnold 0-2 0-0 0, Maki 1-3 0-0 2, Racek 0-0 0-0 0, Smithers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 4-9 61.

Edgewood (2-1) 8 | 3 | 7 | 3 — 21

Bloomington South (2-0) 14 | 17 | 14 | 16 — 61

3-point goals: Edgewood 5-14 (Laroche 4-6, McElhinney 1-1, A.Bland 0-1, M.Bland 0-1, Murphy 0-1, Burks 0-3), Bloomington South 5-19 (Hall 2-5, Lashley 1-2, Barada 1-3, Craft 1-6, M.Lucas 0-1, Maki 0-2). Rebounds: Edgewood 22 (McElinney 6, A.Bland 4), Bloomington South 34 (Lashley 7, Arnold 6). Turnovers: Edgewood 24, Bloomington South 5. Team fouls: Edgewood 7, Bloomington South 11. JV: Edgewood, 31-27.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: South girls go to great lengths to whip Edgewood in county clash