INDIANAPOLIS
A little over three minutes was all it took for Center Grove’s girls basketball team to be staring at a 13-0 deficit Saturday morning.
Hardly the start the Trojans were seeking against Class 4A No. 3 Carmel.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryEventually adjusting to the expansive interior of Bankers Life Fieldhouse and the competition it was playing, Center Grove scrapped back with a flurry of 3-pointers to pull as close as six points with 5:29 remaining in the final quarter.
The Greyhounds displayed impressive accuracy at the free throw line down the stretch to pull away for a 63-47 victory.
Coach Shawn Sanders’ squad dropped to 8-2 overall and 2-1 in the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference standings.
Carmel is 10-1 and 3-1.
“We talked about how we wanted to stay in a routine and keep things as normal as possible,” said Sanders, referring to being the road team in an unfamiliar venue. “We probably talked more about Carmel going into this game than any other opponent just because they are so outstanding.
“But early in the game we looked like we were a little timid. We’re good enough to play with teams like Carmel, but we just didn’t look like we had the confidence.”
The Greyhounds made their first five field goal tries — including a pair of baseline triples from junior Tomi Taiwo and another from guard Olivia Christy — to dominate early.
Carmel eventually built its lead as high as 19 points at 27-8 at 4:25 of the second quarter. However, Center Grove’s next four baskets were all behind the 3-point arc through the efforts of Ella Thompson, Amy Davis, Madelyn Bitterling and Cassidy Hardin.
This made the score 29-20 in favor of Carmel at halftime.
Center Grove delivered three more 3-pointers in the final 4:20 of the third period, and started the fourth with another trio of treys to make it a 49-43 game.
The momentum proved short-lived.
Seventeen seconds, to be exact.
Christy’s clutch 3-pointer from the left baseline at 5:12 started a 10-0 Greyhound scoring run. Seven of the points were from the charity stripe after Carmel began converting 1-and-1 chances with 3:25 left.
“That’s one of the things I like about this group is that it is resilient, and they don’t give up,” Sanders said. “They knew they got outplayed and they got outhustled (in the first half), so at some point the pride factor steps in.
“We started to play with some confidence and attacking them a little bit. I think we’re a good team trying to be a great team. I think Carmel right now is a great team. But we’re not going to let this be a season stopper for us. We’ve got to make this a positive somehow and learn from it.”
Seniors Bitterling and Allison Utterback scored 14 and 11 points, respectively, to lead Center Grove. Junior guard Amy Dilk’s triple-double of 10 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists proved to be the highlight for the Greyhounds, who placed four starters in double figures.
“It was fun as a senior to be able to play here. Just a fun team experience,” said Bitterling, who also contributed three rebounds and a steal. “At first we came out jittery. I don’t know if we were nervous, but we shouldn’t have been. We were not playing like we should have.
“The whole game we missed a bunch of layups. We’ve just got to keep improving and try to play better.”
