BROWNSBURG
His team down 23 points Tuesday night, Center Grove coach Kevin Stuckmeyer wasn’t sure what the final seven minutes had in store.
Then the Trojans reeled off 16 consecutive points to add drama to a girls basketball game that to that point had contained none.
Center Grove gamely battled to within three points, but it was too little, too late. Class 4A No. 10 Brownsburg, coached by former Greenwood mentor Debbie Guckenberg, held on for a 54-48 victory.
“It was lopsided. I think everyone in the gym thought it was over, including maybe our girls a little bit,” said Stuckmeyer, Center Grove’s second-year coach. “I told them they need to be the type of team and the type of player that you put all this work into it that you at least compete and you at least do it the right way.
“You just don’t worry about making that 20-point play because it’s not out there. You’ve got to chip away. It would’ve been fun to see if we would’ve done that earlier.”
Brownsburg’s long-range accuracy didn’t allow that to happen.
The Bulldogs knocked down five 3-pointers in the third quarter alone to go from a nine-point halftime lead to 45-21 at the end of three. Sparked by senior guard Ella Thompson, Center Grove began its furious rally that nearly amounted to a miraculous comeback.
Thompson scored 11 of her team-high 16 points over the final eight minutes, including three triples of her own. Junior Claire Rake’s 3 from the left wing made it 49-46 with 1:10 remaining, but the ensuing sequence sealed the win for Brownsburg (3-0).
With 38.5 seconds left, Bulldogs guard Ally Becki hit the first of two free throws. She missed the second, but the ball wound up in the possession of backup forward Naomi Hege, who converted a layup.
Senior guard Emma Utterback was in foul trouble most the game, but still finished with 13 points for Center Grove. Brownsburg made a total of nine 3-pointers, including four by junior guard Allison Bosse, who led all scorers with 20.
The Bulldogs closed the second quarter with a 9-2 scoring run to hold a 23-14 advantage at halftime.
Center Grove led after one quarter, 6-5. Both squads shot 2 for 12 from the floor the first eight minutes, with Brownsburg turning the ball over seven times.
The Trojans were without Utterback much of the second stanza. She picked up her second personal foul 18 seconds into the quarter, sat down and later returned at the 3:49 mark. At 1:01, the senior committed her third foul attempting to take a charge from Hege.
“Simply our mindset and our willingness to play together and play with some resolve,” Stuckmeyer said of his team fighting back. “A big area for us is going to be battling through adversity. We didn’t do a very good job of that early, and we grew up a little bit at the end. Hopefully we can grow from that.”
