Roncalli proved too much for Greenwood, jumping out to a huge lead early and then continuing to control the game to defeat the Woodmen 61-35 in girls basketball action Wednesday night.
In a way, both teams played the visitors.
The game was originally scheduled for Greenwood Community High School, but because of a water pipe burst at Greenwood Elementary School — which connects to the high school — the game, instead of being postponed to a later date, was moved to Greenwood Middle School, across the street.
Greenwood’s inability to hit the basket was more of a concern than the location of the game for coach Debbie Guckenberger.
“We were getting our shots, but they weren’t falling,” said Guckenberger. “We weren’t finishing them.”
The Rebels (14-4), who cruised to their fourth straight victory, used height, speed and outside shooting to dominate both ends of the court and never surrendered the lead.
After racing out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, the Rebels, whose four losses have all come to ranked opponents, were never really headed, but they were far from perfect after that perfect start.
For one thing, Greenwood’s zone defense kept the taller, more physical Rebels from penetrating the lane near the basket.
The Woodmen cut the lead to 18-11 at one point in the second quarter, but that was as close as they got despite Roncalli giving them chances to come back.
Roncalli also didn’t do a good job at times with the ball, committing several turnovers, but more importantly, the Rebels shot poorly from the free-throw line.
While it didn’t hurt them against the Woodmen, that might be a problem for them against another ranked opponent — and they won’t have long to wait as they play Center Grove on Saturday night.
The Rebels were 18 for 31 from the line.
Greenwood tried a little bit of everything to get back in the game, but the Woodmen weren’t totally effective.
One good thing for Greenwood was the play of junior guard Holly Hoopingarner on Roncalli’s 6-0 guard Lindsey Corsaro.
Hoopingarner, who had 16 points for the Woodmen, kept Corsaro to a single field goal and 11 points total.
“Holly did a heck of a job on Corsaro,” Guckenberger said. “Her defense was great, and she had a great game even though they keyed on Holly the whole time.”
Leading Roncalli was Rachel Titzer with 18 points. Also getting double-figures for the Rebels was Daesjah Ely with 10.
Greenwood dropped to 6-10 with the loss.
“We battled hard against a good team,” Guckenberger said. “We need to play more of an offensive mindset and to take care of the ball. We struggled with that.”
Up next for Greenwood is a nonconference game at Southport on Tuesday.
