Columbus East’s Koryn Greiwe drives to the basket against Brown County in the Orange Pit at Columbus East High School. Tommy Walker/For The Republic.
Columbus East’s senior girls basketball players still have several home games left to play, but Tuesday night, they were honored prior to the Olympians’ game against Brown County.
East’s five seniors made their special night a memorable one with an 80-34 victory.
“It was awesome to get a win on senior night and just play well as a team,” said senior point guard Koryn Greiwe, who led the Olympians with 18 points. “We were sharing the ball, and we were having a lot of fun. It was a great night, and it’s definitely one that I will remember forever.”
Greiwe was one of five East players in double figures. Maeleigh Roberts scored 13, Leah Bachmann had 12 and Saige Stahl and senior Harley Gant each added 10.
Two of the other seniors, Albany Speer and Kaitlyn Carothers, had eight and six points, respectively.
“Tonight was all about our seniors and how special a group it’s been,” East coach Danny Brown said. “We wanted to come out and continue to play well. We’ve been playing well at home, and we wanted to continue that and especially get a win for our seniors. This will be a night we’ll remember for awhile.”
Stahl grabbed nine rebounds to narrowly miss a second consecutive double-double. The Olympians (4-1) forced 32 Eagle turnovers.
“It’s always good when you get everybody in, and all the players contributed tonight,” Brown said. “When ypu get five in double figures, it’s something that doesn’t happen a lot. We were moving the ball well tonight and got everybody involved. I’m just happy for these seniors.”
Senior Jordan Sims joined her four classmates in the starting lineup on Tuesday.
“We all played together, and a lot of us who haven’t been able to play together on the court worked well together, especially us seniors,” Gant said. “It was just a good opportunity to work well, play together and win.”
Brown County (1-4) jumped out to a 7-2 lead and led 8-6 three minutes into the game. East then finished the first quarter on a 20-2 run to lead 26-10 and built the advantage to 45-23 at halftime.
Lexie Austin scored 11 points to lead the Eagles, who were playing without one of their top players in Savannah Oden. Maddie Huff added seven points, and Abigail Watson grabbed seven rebounds.
“We were able to come into this one with a lot more focus and a lot more intensity than we did at Bloomington North in a 67-24 loss on Saturday),” Brown County coach Emily Lewellyn said. “We learned from Bloomington North what we needed to do to come into this game to be able to perform at a better level. We’re a young team, and we’re continuing to grow and continuing to develop, and this is just one more step in that journey.”
After five consecutive home games to open the season, the Olympians will hit the road to East Central on Thursday. The Trojans are ranked No. 9 in this week’s IBCA all-class poll, while East is No. 18.
“We’ve done all this at home, and now we have to go on the road for the first time this year,” Brown said. “We’re both ranked. It’s going to be a tough game, and we’re looking forward to it.”
“I think this game prepared us really well for it,” Gant added. “We’re going to go to practice and work hard (today) and be ready for East Central on Thursday.”
