INDIANAPOLIS — One speed was all the Edinburgh girls basketball team used in its season-opening win against Indianapolis Metropolitan on Friday night.
Full speed.
That didn’t hurt the Lancers one bit, as they cruised to an easy 53-25 win against the host Pumas.
It was the second straight year the Lancers opened up the season with a win.
“This wasn’t a pretty game,” Edinburgh coach Amy Macy-Schilling said. “But I saw some things I liked, and we hustled and did some nice things. I do wish the girls would have been more patient; however, right now they only know one speed, and that’s fast.”
That quickness paid off against the undersized and inexperienced Pumas, as the Lancers raced out to a 16-4 first quarter lead thanks to some nice ball movement, good shot selection and a defense that went after every ball that was thrown or bounced.
In fact, Edinburgh’s defense seemed to know where the ball was going before the Pumas did.
The Lancers forced 10 first-quarter turnovers.
Edinburgh’s lead doubled at halftime, but then the Lancers hit a rut offensively, and soon they were guilty of committing several unforced turnovers and missing easy shots.
Macy-Schilling also noticed the Lancers were getting sloppy at times in other areas.
“We weren’t really staying out in front of (Metro) and we were forgetting to block out on rebounds,” Macy-Schilling said. “And we missed a lot of layups that might have gone in had we not been in such a hurry to get the shots off.”
Edinburgh ended up with 24 turnovers — typical for a season-opening game, but Macy-Schilling felt the tally could have been a lot less had the Lancers slowed down a bit.
The turnovers didn’t really hurt Edinburgh until the fourth quarter, but as the Lancers had built up a huge lead by then, it didn’t really matter.
Besides, Metro had a staggering 38 turnovers.
Senior Brianna Howard led the Lancers and all scorers with 13 points. Sophomore Sidney Beier came off the bench to score 10 points.
“Our bench really contributed (tonight),” Macy-Schilling said. “We’re going to be deep this year and I did like the leadership we showed.”
Edinburgh plays Indianapolis Lutheran Tuesday night in its home opener.
