Having watched his team get outscored by Mooresville 26-7 in the second quarter, Center Grove girls basketball coach Shawn Sanders opted not to say anything to his team at halftime.
The Trojans managed to figure it out for themselves.
Val Clark and Emma Utterback provided a much-needed spark off the bench, helping Center Grove put together a late 16-2 run that sealed a 58-53 win in the third-place game of the Columbus North Invitational on Friday evening.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“If we play like that, I think we’re going to be successful the whole second half of the year,” Sanders said of his team’s finish.
Center Grove (12-3) had fallen to Class 4A No. 4 Zionsville 67-55 in a semifinal earlier in the day.
With the Trojans trailing 49-42 with 5:22 to go in the game against Mooresville, Utterback drove and dished to Clark for the basket that began the pivotal spurt. Cassidy Hardin followed with a 3-pointer, and then Utterback found Clark open again, this time behind the arc, to put Center Grove up 52-49 with 3:24 left after a foul on Clark’s 3 led to a Hardin free throw.
Utterback finished the game with six points and seven assists. Clark had 14 points and seven rebounds, collecting 10 points and five boards in the fourth period alone.
“Me and Emma are really close this year, and every time we come in together off the bench we always tell each other we need to bring energy,” Clark said. “I was glad we were able to do that tonight so we could pull out a win.”
Milking the clock down the stretch and forcing Mooresville to foul, the Trojans scored their final eight points at the free-throw line.
The rally was necessary after a second quarter completely dominated by the Pioneers (10-6), who hit five 3-pointers and controlled the paint in turning an early eight-point deficit to a 31-20 halftime lead. The Trojans still were down 10 after the third quarter before back-to-back baskets by Hardin and Amy Davis to open the fourth got the margin to a more manageable 45-39.
Hardin finished with 15 points for Center Grove, nine of those in the fourth quarter, while Allison Utterback chipped in 11 points.
Against Zionsville, Hardin scored 21 points in defeat while Emma LeMasters contributed 12.
Center Grove is off until Jan. 3, when it travels to Whiteland.
“Coming in here, your dream is to be 3-0 and win the championship, but it is a loaded tournament,” Sanders said. “So our goal was, honestly, to be 2-1, so to walk out of here with a quality win with Elkhart Central and especially Mooresville, we’re walking out of here with our heads high.”
