“I was worried about the girls’ mentality playing a team three times,” Shawnee coach Kevin Schaeffer admitted. “The first two times we played them, it was almost too easy. We could do whatever we wanted. I told the girls, ‘You’re not going to have nights like that against that team all the time.’
“Tonight, we hit (three) 3s. I think in the first two games we probably hit 14 or 15 combined. This was easily our worst offensive performance of the year. But they did what they had to do defensively.
“I sound like I’m complaining a lot, but I count my blessings. I hope it’s the sign of a decent ball team when you can play not real good on one end of the floor and still get a win in the tournament.”
Nicole Sims scored 12 points for the seventh-seeded Arrows (13-10), while Brenna Woodard collected nine points and eight rebounds.
Shawnee will be back at Franklin Monroe for a 7:30 p.m. sectional semifinal on Thursday, facing No. 8 seed Anna (11-12). The Rockets defeated No. 4 Milton-Union 44-40.
Schaeffer’s crew never trailed against sixth-seeded Carlisle, which finished 11-12.
“We didn’t come out as strong as we hoped to, but we got the job done,” said Sims, a sophomore guard. “They came out harder than what they did last time. They didn’t care that they lost twice. They wanted to win, so we came out and showed them we wanted to win too.”
The Indians fell behind 11-2 in the first seven minutes and were never closer than seven the rest of the day. They did manage to cut a 13-point deficit to 31-24 midway through the fourth period.
“If you look at our first-quarter scores, that was not uncharacteristic of what we’ve done to ourselves lately,” Carlisle coach Randy Glover said. “You can’t just try to catch up all the time. We weren’t good enough to do that today because we missed a lot of shots and didn’t rebound the ball very well.”
Christa Harris marked nine points and Cami Glover had eight for the Indians. They both grabbed six boards, as did Miranda Weist.
Carlisle lost 10 of its last 13 games. Cassidy Whaley, Sydney Gilbert and Weist are the team’s seniors.
“Everybody wants to have that winning record because fans don’t see the successes of young kids growing and doing the things you’re working on in the gym. The only thing they see is your record,” Randy Glover said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get there this year. But we’re excited about the future.”
Shawnee is a young team on the rise. The Arrows start four sophomores and a junior, and they’ve recovered nicely from a 2-7 start.
“We got through some difficult stuff at the beginning of the year,” Schaeffer said. “We’re a few tiny pieces away from going into a game against a team like Anna and saying, ‘We’re just going to out there and win this ballgame.’ But we’re getting there. I think we’re on the right track.”
Said Sims, “Our goals are pretty high, and every year it’s going to get better.”
Preble Shawnee 11-11-9-6—37
Carlisle 4-8-9-7—28
PREBLE SHAWNEE (13-10): Nicole Sims 4 3 12, Brenna Woodard 3 2 9, Jenna Lovely 2 1 5, Abby Bulach 1 1 3, Kaylie Campbell 0 1 1, Logan Hollon 1 0 2, Riane Woodard 2 0 5. Totals: 13-8-37
CARLISLE (11-12): Savannah Parrish 1 1 3, Caitlyn Stewart 1 0 3, Miranda Weist 0 2 2, Christa Harris 3 3 9, Cassidy Whaley 1 1 3, Cami Glover 4 0 8. Totals: 10-7-28
3-pointers: P 3 (Sims, B. Woodard, R. Woodard), C 1 (Stewart)
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