After upsetting Class 3A No. 6 Greensburg on Thursday night, the Columbus East girls came out a little sluggish to begin Saturday’s matinee against New Albany.
But as the game went on, the Olympians hit their stride. They used a 15-0 mid-game run to take the lead for good and went on to post a 64-43 Hoosier Hills Conference win.
“We need to not underestimate our opponent,” East sophomore Koryn Greiwe said. “We need to come out with more energy to get more wins before sectional.”
Greiwe scored a game-high 26 points. She also dished out seven assists.
“I knew we needed some energy and momentum, so I started trying to pass it to my teammates and have them drive in more and pass it out and get some open shots for my teammates, and they started hitting,” Greiwe said. “Then, I got the confidence to start hitting my shots.”
The Olympians (12-7, 3-2) led 13-9 early in the second quarter when the Bulldogs (6-12, 2-3) went on an 8-0 run to take their biggest lead at 17-13. New Albany still led 24-21 with two minutes left in the first half before 3-pointers by Greiwe and Whitley Rankin ignited a 15-0 run that carried over into the second half.
“We started out, and I don’t know if the focus was there, but once we started moving the ball a little bit better and sharing the basketball, about the second quarter on, we got better,” East coach Danny Brown said. “Koryn started attacking more, and I thought Whit and Katie (Dougherty), our seniors, played a really good game and knocked down some shots.”
Rankin and Dougherty each scored 10 points. Leah Bachmann grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Olympians to a 35-26 advantage on the boards.
“The key I thought was, Leah Bachmann and Emma Jenkins did a heck of a job inside,” Brown said. “They were steady on the defensive end and did some good things offensively. They came in off the bench, and both did a good job.”
The Bulldogs cut the lead to 44-35 late in the third quarter. But Greiwe hit two free throws with six-tenths of a second left in the period, and East outscored New Albany 18-8 in the final quarter to pull away.
“I liked the support of each other down the stretch,” Brown said. “They kids were supporting each other off the bench. We had a couple players who didn’t have their best games, but they didn’t hang their heads, and everybody’s supporting each other, especially there at the end. I like that. We’re progressing, and we’re getting better and better and this is a good time to do that.”
