Alexis McGregor can’t pinpoint one reason for her blazing
shooting performance Wednesday night.
“I just found myself open and shot it,” the Indian Creek High School senior said. “I wasn’t thinking about my shot as much. I was pumped and the energy from the team got me going. They just found me open.”
McGregor scored 33 points to lead the host Braves to a 66-28 romp against Edinburgh in Mid-Hoosier Conference girls basketball action. The point total and her nine 3-pointers were career-highs.
“I’ve never had nine 3’s in one game at any level,” McGregor said.
McGregor, who was averaging about 12 points per game, sank 9 of 12 treys and was 11 of 15 overall from the field as the Braves improved to 10-3 overall and 5-0 in the conference.
“She definitely had the hot hand,” Indian Creek coach Dan Burkman said. “I think she hit her first six shots. She picked up last Saturday in the second game of our tournament, and she found her stroke. It’s good to see her keep it up (Wednesday).
“Alexis is one of our better shooters. She’s a senior, and for four years she has always started out slow, and then after Christmas she comes on.”
McGregor scored 14 points as Indian Creek outscored Edinburgh 24-9 in the opening quarter. The Braves led 41-15 at halftime.
Lancers coach Amy Macy said her team could have done a better job defensively on McGregor.
“We had to be more aware of where she is and not let her get the ball,” Macy said. “We even tried a box-and-one. We’ve got to know if there is a shooter there; we’ve got to cheat to that side and not let her have the ball.
“She had a heck of shooting night. Even with no one guarding you, shooting 75 percent from the 3-point line is pretty good.”
Junior Candace Danz added 12 points for the Braves
“I was happy to see our first group go in there and not have a letdown,” said Burkman, who used his bench liberally in the second half. “They came out and played hard. They took care of business early. That allowed us to get a lot of players in and try different things.”
Junior Mariah Weddle led the Lancers (1-12, 0-4) with 11 points. Indian Creek had topped Edinburgh 64-23 in the Johnson County tournament Nov. 22.
“We played hard the entire game,” Macy said. “We did a lot better job this time against 1-3-1 defense. Last time, they man-pressed us, and I think we did better against that. We keep learning.”
