By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – The Guerin Catholic girls basketball team has established its defensive identity: Tough and persistent.
The Golden Eagles proved it in their 44-37 win over Bethesda Christian Thursday at the Eagles Nest. After falling way behind in the first quarter, Guerin worked back into the lead by halftime, then kept the Patriots at arm’s length in the second half.
Victory for the Golden Eagles seemed improbable after the first period, when GC found itself down 15-4. Bethesda was rolling, meanwhile, with eight points from Rachel Shafer and seven from Maddi Fulks.
But a sneak preview of things to come was shown by the Golden Eagles’ Nicole Cunningham, who scored her first two points of the game on a layin late in the first. Cunningham then took over the game in the second quarter. She scored 11 straight points for Guerin Catholic, turning its 16-9 deficit into a 20-17 lead. Cunningham started with another layin, then nailed three straight 3-pointers.
“That’s what Nicole brings,” said Golden Eagles coach Jeff Buckner. “Nicole is a shooter. She can get hot really quickly. As we’re making that run, we’re crawling back in, but then she hits a couple 3s and lets us get over that hump. That was huge.”
Sarah Holba started the second quarter by hitting her own 3-pointer for Guerin, and that helped spark the GC run. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles clamped down on defense, allowing Bethesda Christian just four points in the second period. As a result, Guerin Catholic lead 20-19 at halftime.
“We ended up playing man-to-man and our front half of the man-to-man, Claire Sawyer, Hanna Bills and Carly Wilson just really focused on No. 21 (Fulks) and tried to take her out of her rhythm,” said Buckner. “I thought they played extremely hard the whole game.”
The third quarter began with a Guerin 3-pointer, this one by Claire Sawyer. Bills then scored six more points for the Golden Eagles, putting them ahead 29-23 before Shafer hit a 3 to cut the lead to 29-26 at the end of the third.
A Fulks free throw got the Patriots within 29-27 at the start of the fourth, but Guerin’s defense had worn down Bethesda by then. Cunningham threw in her fourth 3-pointer of the night midway through the quarter, then Holba hit a 3 to put the Golden Eagles up 39-29. Guerin Catholic was able to hang on from there.
Cunningham finished the game with 19 points, while Bills scored 10.
The win puts the Golden Eagles at 2-1 for the season. Next up is a trip to Roncalli, which will begin Circle City Conference play. That will be followed by road games at Hamilton Heights on Tuesday and Heritage Christian next Saturday (Nov. 17), another conference game.
“We’re starting to open up the conference season and getting some positive momentum,” said Buckner. “I think the girls are excited to see where we’re at now in the conference. We’re going to get into the gym tomorrow and prepare for Roncalli.”
Guerin Catholic 44, Bethesda Christian 37
Guerin Catholic FG FT TP PF
Claire Sawyer 1 2-5 5 1
Carly Wilson 0 0-0 0 1
Hanna Bills 3 4-4 10 0
Sarah Holba 2 2-2 8 4
Nicole Cunningham 6 3-6 19 2
M.T. Ford 1 0-0 2 1
Kathryn Loso 0 0-0 0 1
Lauren Wagoner 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 13 11-17 44 10
Score by Quarters
Bethesda Christian 15 4 7 11 – 37
Guerin Catholic 4 16 9 15 – 44
Guerin Catholic 3-pointers (7) Cunningham 4, Holba 2, Sawyer 1.
Guerin Catholic’s Hanna Bills scored 10 points and played strong defense for the Golden Eagles during their 44-37 win over Bethesda Christian Thursday at the Eagles Nest. (Richie Hall)