Greenwood Christian continued in its quest to earn respect in the annual Johnson County girls basketball tournament.
They earned Edinburgh’s.
Controlling the boards, tempo and the scoreboard, the Cougars beat the host Lancers, 68-31, to secure their first-ever win in the tournament.
Now the Class A No. 3 Cougars have an even bigger task as they take on Center Grove in a 6 p.m. semifinal Thursday evening at Whiteland.
While a daunting task, the Cougars (4-0) are relishing the chance to see how they measure up to the Trojans. And if they play a perfect game, they could emulate what the Greenwood Christian boys team did last year — win the tournament.
First things first, though, said Cougar coach Alan Weems.
“We got off to a really slow start, but I thought we recovered and played a decent second half,” he said. “We’re happy at getting our first (county) tournament win.”
So far, GCA has been impressive this season against bigger schools, blasting 3A Indianapolis Shortridge by 74 points, 2A No. 9 Triton Central by nine and 4A Decatur Central by 35.
It wasn’t the kind of start to the season that Edinburgh basketball coach Amy Schilling wanted after her team’s first three games of the season were postponed.
Coming off their best season in years at 17-6 and winning the Mid-Hoosier Conference championship, the Lancers were hoping last year’s success would carry over.
That still could happen, but it didn’t on Tuesday evening.
“We just got back from being in quarantine for two weeks,” Schilling said. “We had a shootaround practice before the game, but it was our first time touching the ball and we knew it was going to be tough.
“We’re kind of starting over and we’re behind the 8-ball.”
Edinburgh didn’t play horribly, keeping the score close in the first quarter, 13-9, but the Lancers missed several easy shots in the second quarter and were scoreless in the period until a 3-point basket by Gracie Crawhorn with less than a minute to go.
That long stretch without a point was pretty much the game.
GCA senior Izzy Reed, the Cougars’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder, again led the way with 24 points and 13 boards.
Senior Brooklyn Stubblefield added 16 points, all in the second half, while senior Savvanah Frye added 13 and junior Ellie Bigelow had 11 points.
“Izzy gets an incredible amount of attention, but we’ve got some talented kids and nice pieces around her,” Weems said. “(Brooklyn) had a tough first half, but she came in really focused in the second half.”
Crawhorn led the Lancers with 12 points.
Edinburgh has a chance to right the ship when it hosts Crothersville tonight.
