MOORESVILLE — Columbus East girls basketball traveled to Mooresville just two days after sharing Thanksgiving dinner with their families, and the sluggish defense showed on Saturday.
Freshman Koryn Greiwe’s 27 points wasn’t enough to keep the Olympians from giving Mooresville its first win of the season with a 76-58 victory that snapped East’s three-game winning streak.
East coach Danny Brown said the Pioneers were the best 0-5 team he’s ever seen.
“They’ve played the toughest schedule in the state the first five games — No. 1 in the state,” Brown said. “I don’t know if we didn’t respond because of the record but this is definitely a very good basketball team, one of the best we’ve played.”
The Olympians (4-2) struggled shooting the ball, despite having a number of open 3-point shot opportunities early in the game. They didn’t knock down their first 3-point basket until Whitley Rankin, who finished with 12 points, drained back-to-back 3s midway through the second quarter.
The Pioneers (1-5) held a 34-23 halftime lead and pushed it to 51-38 by the start of the fourth. The offensive woes continued for East when Greiwe was the only Olympian to score a basket in the fourth quarter.
Grewie scored the first 15 points for East, while Rankin and Sarah Park ended the quarter by hitting a combined five free-throws. Park also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
Sending Mooresville to the free-throw line became a common trend for the Olympians. East finished with 25 team fouls, having four players called for at least four fouls, and post players Claire Cunningham and Beyonce Coleman-Turner fouled out. The Pioneers knocked down 22 of their 31 free-throws, and the Olympians shot 13 of 23 from the line.
Brown said the team took a giant leap back on Saturday, especially with its defense. The offense didn’t matter for East, he said, because the Olympians couldn’t force a stop on defense.
Mooresville had three players score 13 points or more, with Paige Gregory leading the team with 20.
“Sometimes it just comes down to effort, and that wasn’t there today,” Brown said. “Effort was poor, and I take the blame for it. I’m not blaming the players, I’m blaming myself. We’ve got to get some things corrected quickly.”
