By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – The Sheridan girls basketball team won an all-county game at University Wednesday, 55-45 at the U Center.
The Blackhawks got off to a strong start in the first half, then weathered a comeback by the Trailblazers as the game entered the fourth quarter. It was a battle between two teams that could make some noise in the Class 2A post-season with the sectional tournament now only four weeks away.
“Definitely a learning experience,” said Sheridan coach Jaidlin Bradshaw. “Definitely a lot of takeaways. A lot of things that will give us ideas of what we need to work on the next couple weeks and coming up in case we see something like that again, for sure.”
The ‘Hawks dominated the first quarter, finishing it with a 20-8 lead. Kenzie Garner scored eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and her sister Brielle Garner threw in a couple 3s as well.
Brielle’s Garner second triple was the last basket of the quarter, and it started a 12-0 run that gave Sheridan a 29-8 advantage in the second period. Cecilia Timme was part of that run with four points, while Brielle Garner nailed her third triple of the game.
University got a couple baskets back towards halftime and was within 31-14 at the break. But Kenzie Garner got going again in the third period, pouring in nine points to help the Blackhawks lead 40-19.
After a 30-second timeout with 2:23 left in the third, the Trailblazers switched to a press defense and had instant success. University finished the quarter with a 12-0 run to cut Sheridan’s lead to 40-31. Leah Norvell scored five points with a 3 and a putback, and Taylor Seay threw in a triple as well.
“We thought, why not?” said ‘Blazers coach Lisa Pryor. She also said the team wanted to start preparing itself for future games as well.
“Obviously, we’re in the present and this game was important to us,” said Pryor. “But it was like, ‘Well, we had put ourselves in a position at that point, and we’re just like, ‘Okay, well, let’s see.’ And I think we had some success with it, and so I was really happy for our effort out of that.”
Sheridan began the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run, the first four points of which were scored by Shelby Eaton on two free throws and a basket. That extended the Blackhawks’ lead to 48-33, but a 7-0 spurt by University got the score back to 48-40. Seay scored four points and Sydney Culp hit a 3.
Mackenzie Smith made a layin to get Sheridan ahead by double digits again, and Brielle Garner hit her fourth 3 of the game soon after. The Blackhawks kept their lead above 10 points until the final buzzer.
“They’re just aggressive and they’re all over the place all the time, and that just really frazzled us,” said Bradshaw. “Definitely something for us to work on going forward, just staying composed.”
Kenzie Garner led the scoring with 19 points, while Brielle Garner’s four triples meant 12 points. All seven Sheridan players that took to the floor scored at least two points.
“We always love to see that,” said Bradshaw. “It makes us really hard to defend. It makes any team hard to defend when you have three or four kids, five kids that can come in and contribute, and not only contribute in scoring, but give us great defense and assists and all that good stuff.”
Seay led University with 13 points, followed by Gabby Culp with 10 points.
“We have seen good teams, we have competed with good teams, now it’s just going to be to go out and beat those teams that we know we can play with,” said Pryor. “Let’s turn the corner and let’s start winning.”
Sheridan is 13-1 and hosts Tri-Central Friday in a Hoosier Heartland Conference girls-boys doubleheader. The Trailblazers are 7-9 and host Covenant Christian Saturday evening.
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