SIMON KENTON HIGH SCHOOL PIONEER SPORTS BLOG: No Quit in Youngneers

Walton Verona stops in the Joe for a prime time match-up with SK. First an unusually serious meeting to start tonight’s post. Let me say, what a great crowd for tonight’s games. The student section was weak but thanks to a great band, cheerleaders, dance team and lots of folks from the Indy community. There were lots of former Lady Neers in the crowd and it was a just a nice night of hoops and support for the Lady Neers.

Now the warm and fuzzies are done, to the games. The Freshman game was the most exciting contest of the night. After trailing much of the second half, the Neers would get a couple of nice buckets from Ellie Smith to draw close. However, with 10 seconds to go, the frosh would still trail by 3. That was until Kelsey Blau drained a trey from the top of the key to tie. WV would call time-out with less than 10 seconds to go at mid-court. Big mistake; the speedy Anna Cully would lay low until the inbounds pass came in. Cully broke on the ball and she was delivering a lay-up for the winning basket and final score of 37-35.

The JV game featured two teams without a loss. After a close game early, the young SK would eventually stretch a double digit lead over the veteran WV JV club and would maintain and win by a final of 42-31. Freshman Rachael Figgins would lead the Neers with a ten-spot.

The varsity team would take to the Joe floor looking for the sweep. The tone of the game was set early on as SK had trouble hitting their first basket. They played hard as Coach Stowers’ teams always to but they just seemed tight. WV would jump out to a 18-14 point lead at the end of the first frame. SK would keep it that close until about the 4 minute mark of the second quarter when they once again had trouble scoring. WV would outscore SK 16-10 in the quarter and lead 34-24 at half.

SK’s nemesis tonight was somewhat of a two headed monster. First of all, the offensive rebounding success of WV; second, third, and fourth attempts were way too frequent. The other problem for SK tonight, poor shooting, especially from bunny range. Once the Neers got a close good look, they seemed to rush and rattle missing the shots that very well could have had them closer. The third quarter would find the Bearcats once again outscoring SK 16-10. The Pioneers continued to play hard throughout the game and would outscore WV 19-13 in the fourth. Senior Hannah Stephenson would lead the Neers with her season high of 20 points. SK ends up making 18 field goals while WV scores on 23. I guarantee you that SK missed 10+ point blank chances.

WV was definitely the stronger team tonight. However, I know that the SK coaching staff learned several things about their young team. A veteran SK coach tells his players year after year, the regular season is made up of practice games, the real season starts in March. I have a feeling this same coach will have his Young Neers ready come 3/12. Their schedule is brutal but they will continue to learn and get better.

NOTE: T Jacks told me after the game that this was the first regular season W that WV has had over SK since the Neers joined the 8th Region.

AC calmly jogs back to the defensive side of the floor after showing her jets and scoring the winning basket.