For the Daily Journal
There were no tricks for the Greenwood girls basketball team. Only treats.
Fourth-quarter treats, in fact, as Greenwood broke open a close game with a 16-4 spurt to defeat Bloomington North 77-67 on a Halloween game Tuesday night.
“It feels good to win,” first-year Woodmen coach Bill Torgerson said. “We survived.”
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryJunior Alex Kincaid led Greenwood with 33 points.
After getting off to a fast start, the Woodmen started having issues early in the second quarter with foul trouble and turnovers. But despite its gaffes in the second quarter, Greenwood held a 35-33 lead in a half they could have easily led by more.
“Two things factored for us there, fouls and fatigue, which isn’t surprising in a first game,” Torgerson said.
Senior Leah Moore, the Woodmen’s power forward, had three fouls in the first half and had to sit most of the time, taking a big presence away on both ends of the court.
Greenwood jumped out to an eight-point advantage early in the third, but the Woodmen reverted to the same, error-prone game they did in the second quarter and frittered away the lead thanks to mental errors missed free throws.
Three key 3-pointers by the Cougars also did damage and again it was a slim advantage for the Woodmen, as they held a two-point lead going into the deciding quarter.
That’s when the Woodmen again found their touch with 3-point baskets each by Kincaid, junior Bailee Taft and sophomore Ashley Buster, putting the Woodmen ahead by 14.
Bloomington North cut the lead to six with 1:20 left, but Greenwood kept its composure and a key basket by senior center Maggie Smith took the momentum away from the Cougars.
Kincaid had an especially hot night, scoring 33 points. Taft added 13 and Smith 10 points.
The Cougars were led by Hannah Allen’s 21 points. Sophomore Ainsley Urbanski came off the bench to score 14 for North.
By scoring 77, Greenwood accomplished one thing they didn’t last year — hit 60 points.
“I didn’t know that,” a surprised Torgerson said. “Our shot selection wasn’t very good for almost two-and-half quarters, but we were more patient in the second half.”
