INDIANAPOLIS — Sooner or later Saturday afternoon, Columbus East’s pressure was bound to pay dividends.
Trailing 13-12 after one quarter, the Olympians pressure got to Franklin Central in the second and third quarters. East outscored the Flashes 49-17 over those 16 minutes and rolled to a 71-48 girls basketball victory to remain unbeaten.
“They only had seven players, and we knew we had to put pressure on them,” East coach Danny Brown said. “The press started working. Our defense created a lot of offense for us today.”
Four Olympians scored in double figures. Addy Galarno led the way with 16 points, while Whitley Rankin scored 13 and Britney Ballard and Kristen Lyons each added 12.
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East led by as big as 63-30 with 5 minutes left in the game before Brown emptied his bench.
“We pushed the tempo quite a bit,” Brown said. “We knew they were playing back-to-back games.”
Katelyn Larson scored 13 points to lead the Flashes (1-5), who had lost to Columbus North 54-39 on Friday night on the same floor.
Both teams finished with 30 rebounds. Lyons led the Olympians with six rebounds, and Claire Cunningham added five. Ballard dished out five assists, and Rankin collected six steals.
“Everybody played well,” Brown said. “We executed very well on offense and shared the basketball and came out with a very big win.”
East is now 4-0 for the first time since starting 8-0 in the 2011-12 season.
“After the experience we gained from last year and the summer we had, I feel it’s where we should be,” Brown said.
