Caston relies on Douglass, Colvin, strong 3rd quarter to beat Pioneer

McKaig leads Pioneer with 13 in loss

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Natalie Warner

ROYAL CENTER — The Caston girls basketball team played Pioneer twice last year.

They were outscored by a combined total of 33-1 in the third quarters of those games and came away with two losses, including a season-ending loss in the sectional quarterfinals.

They flipped the script during Tuesday’s rematch at Pioneer

Caston scored the first six points of the second half and outscored Pioneer 13-3 in the third quarter en route to a 38-27 win that keeps them in the middle of the chaotic six-team Hoosier North race.

Madi Douglass scored 13 points, and Grace Colvin added 12 for Caston, who improved to 7-4 overall and 4-1 in the Hoosier North.

Mia McKaig led Pioneer with 13 points. She had all seven of her team’s points in the second half.

But 26 turnovers troubled the Lady Panthers, who dropped to 2-8 overall and 0-3 in the Hoosier North.

“It’s partly our ballhandling ability also,” Pioneer coach David McWherter said when asked what makes Caston’s defense so hard to score on. “If we can handle pressure a little bit better, then we’re going to be in good shape. I’m not taking anything away from Caston. It’s just our ballhandling ability is limited on that and so forth. If we can get a little more confidence in our ballhandling ability, you don’t see 26 turnovers tonight.”

The game was a contrast between Caston’s man-to-man defense and Pioneer’s 2-3 zone.

With the game tied 20-20 at halftime, Caston got the ball to Allison Craig for a post layup on the first possession of the second half and never trailed again. A Colvin transition layup where she finished over a chasing Avery Haselby made it a four-point game, and Craig’s nifty reverse finish increased the lead to six.

“All night, we wanted to take advantage of (the) inside,” Caston coach Josh Douglass said. “We thought we could hit middle and then hit the back cuts like we’ve seen on film. In the first half, we just didn’t get there. We weren't cohesive enough as a unit. Finally there in the second half, we had some good ball movement. The girls sealed the right spots, and we looked to that baseline. Honestly, the biggest difference is we made our layups the second half.”

McKaig hit a layup after a weakside cut to cut the lead to 26-22 with 4:56 left in the third quarter, but Pioneer went on a 10-and-a-half minute field goal drought.

A Colvin 3-pointer from the right wing later in the quarter made it 29-23, and Douglass hit a pullup 13-footer and a runner with one second left in the quarter as the lead reached double figures for the first time at 33-23.

Pioneer got as close as eight in the fourth quarter on two McKaig free throws with 7:12 left. Pioneer held the Lady Comets without a field goal for the first 3:50 of the quarter, but they could not make one themselves. A Warner post banker that rolled around the rim before falling, a Douglass free throw and a Colvin midrange pullup from the right baseline extended the lead to 13.

Culver (4-0) and Triton (2-0) are the only remaining unbeaten teams in the Hoosier North. Caston, Winamac, North Miami and North Judson have one loss each.

Caston’s next three games – a game at Frontier Thursday and two Miami County Invitational games Dec. 29-30 – are nonconference games. Their next conference game is at Triton Jan. 3.

Douglass was asked if Caston will have to win all of their remaining conference games to have a chance. 

“Yes,” Douglass said. “I think one to two losses will get it. The conference is competitive as can be this year. You’ve got Culver right now undefeated. You’ve got Winamac that’s only got one loss. You’ve got North Miami with one loss. You’ve got us with one loss. There’s four or five teams that could probably win this thing.”

As for Pioneer, they have lost four straight since a win over Logansport in the first round of the Cass County Invitational. They are 0-3 against potential sectional opponents.

“We’re just fine,” McWherter said. “We’re fine. We don’t get down. We don’t let them get down. That’s one of our mottos: Lift up the downtrodden. Don’t blame each other. Play together. Play as a team. That’s three sectional opponents that we’ve gotten beat by, so that gives us fuel for the fire at the end of the season.”

Caston never led in the first quarter as a McKaig 3-pointer and a Leah Zeigler layup from the dunker’s spot helped Pioneer to a 10-8 lead. A Colvin 3 gave Caston their first lead of the game in the first minute of the second quarter, but Hasleby drilled a 3 from the left corner, and Liz Kennell scored off a McKaig assist to make it 15-11. Douglass hit a tough lefty banker in the paint, but Lois Layer restored the four-point lead at 17-13 when she hit a 10-footer from the right baseline.

Caston then went on a 7-0 run that included a Douglass feed to Craig for a layup and transition teardrop runner from Colvin after a hit-ahead pass from Colvin to make it 20-17. Haselby got an assist to McKaig for a 3 with 33 seconds left in the half to tie the game going into the half.

Caston also won the JV game 27-20. Jordyn Middleton scored nine points to lead Caston, and Adyson Steininger added six, Gigi Berry had five, Trinity Zimmerman had three, and Ellie Zartman and Lexie Field had two each.

Brooklyn Dillman topped Pioneer with eight points. Paytyn Dillman had four, Haylee Ortez and Tori Bingaman had three each, and Khloe Shedron had two.

Caston 38, Pioneer 27

CASTON (38) (7-4, 4-1)

Hadlie Coffing 0 0-2 0, Camila Hernandez-Rios 0 0-0 0, Grace Colvin 5 0-0 12, Madi Douglass 5 2-4 13, Allison Craig 3 0-0 6, Ellie Zartman 0 0-0 0, Natalie Warner 2 0-1 4, Adyson Steininger 1 1-1 3, Gigi Berry 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 16 3-8 38

PIONEER (27) (2-8, 0-3)

Lois Layer 1 3-4 5, Avery Haselby 1 0-0 3, Mia McKaig 4 3-4 13, Elizabeth Kennell 1 2-2 4, Hannah Zeigler 0 0-0 0, Mya Ott 0 0-0 0, Leah Zeigler 1 0-0 2

TEAM: 8 8-10 27

Three-point field goals:

Caston 3 (Colvin 2, Douglass),

Pioneer 3 (McKaig 2, Haselby)

Total fouls: Caston 11, Pioneer 13

Turnovers: Caston 16, Pioneer 26

Score by quarters

Caston 8 12 13 5 – 38

Pioneer 10 10 3 4 – 27

JV: Caston 27, Pioneer 20