.png)
Scales, Zimpleman, Douglass all score in double figures as Lady Comets avenge sectional loss
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
MONON — Isabel Scales had this game circled on their schedule for awhile.
North White is the team that has knocked them out of the sectional each of the last two years, but Scales outscored the entire North White team by herself Friday, scoring a game-high 18 points and leading the Class 1A, No. 4 Caston girls basketball team to a 57-15 rout of the Lady Vikings.
Addison Zimpleman shook off first half foul trouble to score 14 points, and Madi Douglass added 11.
Meanwhile, Caston’s smothering pressure defense forced a senior-less North White team into 39 turnovers. Caston utilized both a 2-3 zone that got extended out to halfcourt and a fullcourt press.
North White’s only field goal in the final two-and-a-half quarters was Carter’s banked-in 3-pointer in the final minute of the first half.
Caston lost to North White 42-39 in overtime in last year’s sectional semifinals.
“You had a little bit more on your shoulders,” Scales said. “I mean, it’s very aggravating what they’ve done to us the last two years. … We’ve been focusing mainly on tomorrow. That’s a big first conference game against a good Winamac team on the road, but this game was on my calendar this season. I’m just glad that we came out and we performed.”
Autumn Reif scored 10 points, and Morgan Carter had five to account for North White’s scoring.
Caston improved to 4-0. North White fell to 0-2.
Caston has scored 57 or more points in all four of their games. They did it five times all of last season in which they went 20-3. This is believed to be the first time in at least 25 years that Caston has scored 57 or more points in four straight games.
The 57 points that Caston scored were the most they have scored in a game against North White since the Don King-coached Lady Comets beat North White 60-19 on Jan. 25, 2005.
North White’s 2-3 zone and other similar zones have frequently bedeviled Caston, but they would appear to have the necessary adjustments.
“Four games, three zones,” Caston coach Josh Douglass said, noting that Peru played a man-to-man against them in a 60-27 Caston win on Tuesday. “It’s always been our Achilles heel, right? Everybody knows that we struggle to shoot the ball or in the past struggled to shoot the ball. Peru manned us. This year, I feel very comfortable going against any type of defense somebody wants to throw against us. We have four shooters that can knock down the 3 at any given point that I feel very comfortable letting it fly, and the girls understand their roles really well, and they’re playing to each others’ strengths.”
Douglass banked in a 3-pointer and also hit a trey off a Scales assist as part of a game-opening 12-2 run. Scales later added a pair of 3s in the final 30 seconds off the first quarter, including one from the left corner at the buzzer to make it 20-4.
In the second quarter, Alexa Finke scored on a cut down the middle of the lane, and Douglass hit a 15-footer from the high post, split a pair of free throws and then scored in transition before Macee Hinderlider had a steal and fast break bucket.
After Reif split a pair of free throws, Scales had a steal in the backcourt and converted a layup and was fouled and completed the 3-point play to make it 34-9.
“We get after it,” Scales said when asked about the team’s defensive intensity. “We all want it for each other. We work well to get those steals. We look up the court, and somebody’s normally up there, and we get layups. That’s just aggressiveness and how bad we want to win.”
Harsh had the defensive assignment to guard Reif, a 5-10 post player, after Reif got off to a good start. Before Harsh started guarding her, Reif was used to alleviate pressure on North White’s guards.
“It was our 2-3, and sometimes our middles will sag too far off the middle girl,” coach Douglass said. “The key is when we’re in that trapping situation, we have got to take away that middle because that’s the relief, right? We want the ball to go to the sidelines so we can re-trap it. Annie did a very nice job of what I call bodying up on them without fouling, using your waist and lower midsection to move them around and get around and keep those hands wide. Sometimes, we just tend to lay off those girls, and that’s something we’re trying to work on of taking away that middle.”
Zimpleman picked up her third foul with 5:00 left in the half and her fourth with 5:25 left in the third quarter, but she also had time to hit a pair of 3s and score eight points in the first two minutes of the second half as the lead reached 42-12.
Annie Harsh and Kylee Logan each hit a trey, and Kaitie Hutsell and Autumn Miller had field goals in the second half.
Caston 57, North White 15
CASTON (57) (4-0)
Macee Hinderlider 1 0-0 2, Addison Zimpleman 5 2-2 14, Madi Douglass 4 1-2 11, Isabel Scales 7 2-2 18, Alexa Finke 1 0-0 2, Olivia Thomas 0 0-0 0, Kaitie Hutsell 1 0-0 2, Autumn Miller 1 0-0 2, Annie Harsh 1 0-0 3, Kylee Logan 1 0-0 3
TEAM: 22 5-6 57
NORTH WHITE (15) (0-2)
Morgan Carter 1 2-2 5, Kaylyn Applegate 0 0-0 0, Mady Westerhouse 0 0-0 0, Sable George 0 0-0 0, Autumn Reif 4 2-6 10, Chamille Spear 0 0-0 0, Abigail Tribbett 0 0-0 0, Katy Westerhouse 0 0-0 0, Brooklynn Woodcock 0 0-0 0, Melanie Crawford 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 5 4-8 15
Three-point field goals:
Caston 8 (Scales 2, Zimpleman 2, Douglass 2, Harsh, Logan),
North White 1 (Carter)
Total fouls: Caston 14, North White 6
Turnovers: Caston 14, North White 39
Score by quarters
Caston 20 14 18 5 – 57
North White 4 8 2 1 – 15
Comments