Photo by Keith Stewart
Emily Neuhauser eyes the basket from below Tuesday. Neuhauser finished with 25 points as did Brittin Boyer.

February 11, 2015

Will take on T-Town Thursday in Pana

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Tuesday night’s regional semi-final in Pana was never much of a contest as Sullivan defeated Shelbyville for the third time this year, 66-24. But the landslide victory did afford a little practice for both Sullivan’s bench and defense, should either need to get creative further into the post-season.
“We switched our defense up most of the night trying to kind of practice different things that we may have to use down the road,” said head coach Sheri McCain. “We were trying to keep them out of the paint. I thought we played pretty well.”
Sullivan switched between man, a 3-2, and a 2-3 zone most of the night, during almost all of which they kept Shelbyville outside the paint where the Lady Rams’ shots struggled to fall.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.

And that was only if Sullivan didn’t first either steal the ball or force a turnover. Sullivan tallied 10 steals on the night and helped create most of the Rams’ 23 turnovers. Emily Neuhauser led with six steals. Sullivan’s diligent defense also only committed eight fouls on the night, helping to keep the Rams away from the foul line.

Photo by Keith Stewart
Haley Rose looks to Emily Neuhauser Tuesday evening.

After Shelbyville’s Grace Schuler scored to give the Rams’ their second and final lead of the game early in the first, Sullivan responded by way of Neuhauser’s 3-pointer. It would be one of her four on the night and also be the first in the Redskins’ 20-0 run to close out the first ahead 24-4.
Sullivan held Shelbyville to single digit scoring in all four quarters and continued their push in the second to take a 39-10 lead into halftime.
If their was a weak point for Sullivan Tuesday, it came in the third where suddenly the Lady Red experienced trouble with getting buckets to fall. Sullivan shot just 3-of-13 for the quarter, scoring just nine points, though still more than the Rams’ 5.
“We’re usually a third quarter team, and we came out kind of stagnant,” said McCain. “I was not happy about that third quarter, but with everything else, I thought we did a good job. We crashed the boards hard. But we missed a ton. We probably left a good 12 to 16 points in the perimeter and that’s being generous. We have to finish those shots. When they give us a layup, we have to take it and make it. So we’ll work on that.”

Photo by Keith Stewart
Chloe Riley scrambles for a loose ball.

Sullivan’s entire bench got into the game at one point or another and not one of Sullivan’s starters remained in the game come 2:49 left.
“Abby Cravetta came in and may be the smallest player on the floor but just has so much heart. We always talk about playing bigger than what you are and she does,” said McCain. “She has very active hands and got some steals. Haley Rose got a steal and got her hands on it and then dove on the ground, and I got a timeout. I thought Laine Cameron also played a great game for us.”
Sullivan’s big three in Neuhauser, Brittin Boyer, and Elissa Stewart once again had the lion’s share of the scoring though with the latter two nabbing 25 a piece, while Sullivan’s point-guard finished with 10.
“That’s what I wrote on the board. I put 25 points each, and Stewart 25,” said the Sullivan coach. “In a perfect world I’d love to see them all make 25. Minus a three and a couple layups, she was 100 percent there for a while from the field. She took the shots when she needed to, and played great defense and came up with some good steals, but she did what she needed to do tonight. I told her she’s going to need to step it up a little bit with whoever we play this next game.”
Which brings us to Thursday evening.

Photo by Keith Stewart
Abby Cravetta concentrates during her free throw attempt Tuesday in Pana.

After a close first quarter in the other regional semi-final matchup between T-Town and Pana, the no. 2 seed Wooden Shoes exploded to win 63-23. Sullivan began the year hosting T-Town with a 49-43 win. But as every sport fan and coach knows, what happens in the regular season, often stays in the regular season.
“T-town, it’s one of those where we may have seen them early but they’re always good in the post-season,” said McCain.

The Wooden Shoes do have Anna Hartke back after an ACL injury, but the Shoes were without Danielle Repking and Chelsey Hardiek Tuesday. Nonetheless, for McCain and company, Thursday’s championship will be more about what they do, and not who T-Town has.
“We just have to go back tomorrow and get prepared for the championship game,” said McCain. “We have to do the little things. We know how to play. This stage, it’s not so much about what they have to do. We have to focus on what we need to do, and first and foremost is rebounding. We have to keep them off the boards. They can’t limit us to one shot, but we have to limit the other team to one shot.”
Thursday’s championship is at 7 p.m. in Pana.
Stats: E. Stewart 4-0-10, 7 assists; A. Marshall 2-0-4; T. Ellis 1-0-2; B. Boyer 9-7-25, 11 rebounds; E. Neuhauser 8-5-25, 6 steals.