FISHERS
Struggling midway through the second quarter, the Center Grove girls basketball team finally listened to their coach and settled down.
“We needed to slow down, just relax and settle into the game, especially with it being our second game with a whole new system because of the new coach,” Trojans senior guard Cassidy Hardin said. “It’s a lot of adjustment. We’re slowly getting it. Obviously in the second half we played a whole lot better. We just played Center Grove basketball, which is what we need to do.”
The Trojans broke out of an 18-8 hole by scoring the final 11 points of the half, and the Trojans never trailed again in a 43-30 victory against Fishers.
Center Grove (2-0) scored the first four points of the second half to extend the lead to 23-18.
Hardin led the way with 23 points. She twisted her ankle late in the game but wanted to go back in keep moving.
“My teammates were good about finding me,” Hardin said. “As we play more and practice more, we are starting to read each other better and know where we are going to be and when we are going to be there, who to hit when. A lot of things are started to click as we get more and more reps.”
First-year Trojans coach Kevin Stuckmeyer said the Tigers (0-1) are very athletic.
“They hit us early with a lot of ball pressure and sped us up,” Stuckmeyer said. “We were on our heels a little bit. We really struggled offensively there. We just had to click in to what we needed to do. Fortunately there, give credit to the girls for responding. Once we went on that little run, we slowed our paced down and become much more efficient passing and catching. Each girl understood what they do well and put themselves in position to score. We attacked the basket a little more and we attacked it with a purpose. We weren’t just flipping it up there so we were able to make some shots.”
Stuckmeyer said the team began to have the right mindset and was looking to find its best shooter, Hardin.
“That opened all the other girls up and got (Hardin) a couple of layups,” Stuckmeyer said. “Ella (Thompson) and Emma (Utterback) found Cassidy in transition and made the easy play. They got her a couple of nice looks and got her going.”
