Night number one of the 2022 Ripley County Girls Basketball Tournament is in the books. At the Eagles Nest in Osgood Tuesday, both South Ripley and Jac-Cen-Del won their first-round games to advance to Friday night’s 7:30 pm championship.
The Lady Raiders 34-27 win over the Lady Bulldogs had several similarities to their first meeting on November 20 in Versailles. That day, Ripley won 33-25, the two teams combined for only 21 percent shooting and the Raiders outscored the Bulldogs at the line by 10.
During Tuesday’s tourney rematch, the two teams combined for 25 percent shooting and Team Green outshot Team Blue at the stripe again by 10. Once again, free throws between these two teams were big.
The two major differences from game one is, Tuesday, Batesville completely reversed the rebounding spread by 11 after getting hammered by 14 in November. However, BHS committed 13 more turnovers in the rematch compared to just three in the first meeting.
In the tournament contest, Batesville held a 9-8 edge after four, first quarter lead changes. Three more lead swaps followed early in the second, then South Ripley went on a 7-0 run to go up 20-13. The Dogs scored the final four points of the half to trail 20-17.
Katelynn Samples of South Ripley and Calley Kaiser of Batesville both had six points at intermission.
The Bulldogs Alyson Peters scored the only two points during the first 7:10 of the third quarter. Then Ripley’s Gracie Gunter hit a trey and a deuce during the final 50 seconds to give the Green and White a 25-19 advantage with a quarter to go.
In the fourth, South Ripley stretched the margin to nine before Batesville battled back to within three, but Gunter and Emily Flood made four straight free throws late to help preserve the seven-point victory.
Gracie Gunter’s 10 points, all coming in the second half, led the Raiders. Emiliy Flood followed with seven. The duo combined to hit nine of 11 free throws during the final eight minutes. Teammates Katelynn Samples and Rachel Meyer followed with six and five points respectively.
For Batesville, Alyson Peters scored eight, Emma Weiler had seven and Calley Kaiser finished with six.
Game two was all Jac-Cen-Del as the Eagles cruised into Friday’s finals with a 66-11 victory over Milan.
JCD turned over the Indians 25 times under pressing defense in the first half. The Eagles did not press in the second half but still forced another 11 Milan miscues for 36 total.
Jac scored the game’s first 10 points and led 23-4 at the quarter stop. It was 43-7 at the break.
Through two quarters, Jac-Cen-Del’s Jalee Rider turned in 11 points while both Annabelle Williams and Aundrea Cullen collected nine each. Eight different Eagles contributed to the scoring.
For Milan, Riley Clark had five of the team’s seven points. Riley Schwipps owned the other two.
The host Nesters upped their lead to 59-10 after three and, in a light scoring fourth quarter, finished with a 55-point W.
Among the 10 Jac-Cen-Del players who put points on the board, Annabelle Williams led with 13. Aundrea Cullen and Jalee Rider tallied 11 each. Of their combined 22 points, 20 came in the first half. Reagan Hughes contributed eight and Olivia Neal added seven.
For Milan, Riley Clark’s six points were a team-high. Riley Schwipps and Rachel Holt hit for two each and Shelley Hoffroggee chipped in a free throw.
The Eagles knocked down 60 percent from two-point range, getting a lot of fast break points off turnovers. They shot 53 percent overall. The Indians offense was frustrated by Jac’s pressure and converted only 12 percent of their shot opportunities.
Milan will face Batesville in the 6 pm consolation game on Friday. Jac-Cen-Del will meet South Ripley in the championship to follow.
We thank Jac-Cen-Del AD Kate Todd for the accommodations and hospitality along with coaches Matt McNew, Bryan Helvie, Karisa Voss and Scott Smith for the information they supplied.