Center Grove girls rally past Bloomington South

The mark of a good team is the ability to find a way to win when the game isn’t going your way.

Center Grove’s girls did just that on Thursday night.

Ella Thompson scored 14 of her game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter, including 12 from the foul line, as the Trojans overcame an off shooting night to gut out a 47-40 comeback win over Class 4A No. 10 Bloomington South.

"When you don’t have your ‘A’ game," Center Grove coach Kevin Stuckmeyer said, "things aren’t going well, first half, coach calls a timeout and rips you, isn’t super happy at halftime, that they’re just willing to stick with it, grind it out, and just find a way."

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Emma Utterback added 16 points for Center Grove (8-2), which took advantage of Bloomington South’s physical style and a more aggressive second-half approach to finish with a 24-9 advantage in made free throws.

The Trojans needed every one of them on a night that saw them make just 10 of 36 shots from the floor and endure a midgame stretch of 12 minutes and 35 seconds without a made field goal.

"Any time the shot’s not falling," Thompson said, I think the biggest thing is just get to the rim, get fouled and maybe get your rhythm at the line."

Down 31-21 late in the third, Center Grove began its slow crawl back when Ashley Eck got a putback bucket with 2:08 left in the quarter. Claire Rake added a 3 to help cut the gap to five heading into the fourth, at which point Thompson took over, making five of six free throws early in the final quarter to pull the Trojans even at 33-33 with 4:43 left.

Bloomington South (8-2) rebuilt a four-point edge on a pair of 3-pointers from Anya Friend, but Center Grove kept battling back, tying the game up with 2:30 to go on an Utterback drive and a steal and layup by Thompson, who also grabbed seven of her nine rebounds in the fourth.

Neither team another field goal, but the Trojans (12 of 19 from the line in the fourth quarter) didn’t need to.

"They hit them when it counts," Stuckmeyer said.

Center Grove jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead behind 3-pointers from Emma Utterback and Ella Thompson, and the Trojans led throughout the first quarter. But a combination of poor shooting, two early fouls on Thompson and a tenacious effort by the Panthers conspired to shift momentum in the other direction.

After Utterback fed a cutting Mary Wilson for a layup to make it 16-11 early in the second quarter, Bloomington South put together a 12-0 run over the next four-plus minutes to pull ahead, 23-16, with 2:38 left in the period.

The Trojans’ offensive woes continued well into the third quarter, but their defense kept them within striking distance.

"It just started on the defensive end," Thompson said. In the first half, we really didn’t do a good job of communicating — our help side, they got so many back-door, wide-open layups. In the second half, we did a good job up the line, making Addy (Blackwell) take tough shots, and we just ended up finishing plays."