No need to tinker with a formula that works.
For the third straight game, Center Grove rode the combination of hot early shooting and airtight defense to victory, building a big first-half lead and holding it the rest of the way for a 52-39 win over host Whiteland in the championship game of the Johnson County girls basketball tournament on Saturday night.
The Trojans (4-3) claimed their fifth consecutive tourney title.
"We did a heck of a job all week of setting the tone to start games," Center Grove coach Kevin Stuckmeyer said.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryQuality looks were hard to come by in the early going for the Whiteland offense, which didn’t convert a field goal attempt until Emma Piercy came off the bench and knocked down a corner 3-pointer with 5:18 left in the second quarter. The Trojans had already built a 16-3 lead by that point, with Wilson hitting 3s to start and finish the first period and Aubrie Booker and Emily McWilliams also connecting from deep.
The Warriors (2-3) got as close as 16-9 when Kylee Marlin followed up Piercy’s 3 with a three-point play, but Center Grove responded by closing out the half with 14 unanswered points. The visitors continued to do the bulk of their damage from outside, with Wilson hitting two more 3-pointers and Audrey Annee and Kaho Takeda each adding one.
Center Grove hit eight first-half treys on the way to a 30-9 lead, four of those coming from Wilson.
"Our big focal point as a team is just to get a lot of outside stuff, so when they were on that zone, we were able to get a lot of good looks out of that," Wilson said. "A big focal point in practice was working off that zone and getting looks like we did tonight."
"Credit our girls for attacking the gaps against their pressure," Stuckmeyer added. "We were able to get it from one side quickly to the other side and punch that gap; that really put them in a bind, and our girls did a good job of reading that and getting it to Mary out in that corner when she was open."
Whiteland got its offense untracked somewhat in the third quarter, when Braylyn Clendenen knocked down a pair of 3s and scored eight of her team-high 15 points. But the Warriors were unable to cut into the deficit because the Trojans continued to get baskets at the other end. McWilliams and Aili Lothamer asserted themselves in the paint, combining for 10 of the team’s first 16 second-half points.
Wilson finished with 17 points to pace the Trojans, who also got a solid all-around game from Hobson (10 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals). Lothamer and McWilliams scored nine and seven, respectively.
For the Warriors, Piercy had eight points and Marlin and Eliza Unsworth wound up with seven apiece.
"I have to applaud my bench for giving me some energy on defense and coming down and knocking down shots for me at the same time," Whiteland coach Ashley Fouch said of Piercy and Unsworth. "They were definitely the MVPs for the night."
Center Grove had coasted into the final by way of double-digit victories over Indian Creek and Greenwood Christian. The Warriors had an even clearer path, drawing a first-round bye and then getting another when Franklin’s team went into quarantine and had to pull out of the tournament.
Regardless of the circumstances, being able to claim a trophy early in the season will provide a confidence boost to what is still a young Trojans team with several players who are in major roles for the first time.
"I think it will give us a lot of confidence," Hobson said. "Especially these last three games, we’ve gotten off to really good starts, and I think if we do that for the rest of the season we have a really good chance of going pretty far."
