In a matter of about 2½ minutes of the third quarter Monday night, Columbus East turned a 10-point deficit into a two-point lead.
Unfortunately for the Olympians, East Central answered with a 12-2 run to retake control and then held on to post a 53-49 girls basketball victory.
“We just talked at halftime about being more aggressive and running our offense correctly,” East coach Danny Brown said. “Sometimes, it’s as simple as executing. We weren’t coming off screens, we weren’t setting good screens, we weren’t making hard cuts. The first half, we were just passive. We started taking care of the ball, and it seemed like it was a sense of urgency, and all of a sudden, we’re back in the game. Koryn (Greiwe) hit some big shots there, and then defensively, we let up.”
Trailing 32-22 a minute into the second half, the Olympians (5-5) got a 3-pointer from Whitley Rankin and a four-point play and a three-point play from Greiwe to tie the game. A basket by Claire Cunningham gave Columbus East its only lead of the game at 34-32.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
The seven points by Greiwe in a matter of 21 seconds accounted for half of her scoring total for the night. The Trojans (7-4) face-guarded her for most of the game and tried to deny her the ball.
“Whenever you have somebody that’s averaging over 20 a game, you kind of expect that,” Brown said. “That’s an awful lot of respect for a freshman point guard. They double-teamed her tonight, and we knew that was going to happen coming in, and it’s probably going to happen going forward.”
Greiwe finished with 14 points.
“She’s been able to handle what we’ve thrown at her, and she’s a very mature player for a freshman guard,” Brown said. “She’s one of the top freshmen in the state, and that’s obviously getting around. But we have to have other people step up and handle the ball because when that happens, somebody is open.”
Claire Cunningham also scored 14 points for the Olympians and posted a game-high 12 rebounds. Cunningham also was instrumental in getting East Central post player Logan Cox, who scored a game-high 18 points, in foul trouble in the second half.
“Claire did a nice job,” Brown said. “Going against Logan Cox, who is 6-3 and tough in there, she got her in foul trouble. We were trying to get it to (Cunningham) more at the end. We just couldn’t get it in there. But she played a great game.”
