LAPEL — Several times during Thursday night’s game, Elwood coach Candice Williams implored her team to stop turning the ball over against the Anderson Indians.
“Take care of the ball, Blue,” she pleaded in the first quarter of Madison County Girls Basketball Tournament’s third-place game at Lapel.
Though Williams’ message was clear, Anderson had other plans.
The Indians pressured the Panthers into 44 turnovers and defeated Elwood 69-43 to take home third place.
“Turnovers ... we threw the ball away a lot, and we didn’t look at our open people,” Williams said. “Having 44 turnovers isn’t going to cut it at all.”
After every made basket or dead ball during the entire game, Anderson pressured Elwood with a full-court press. Elwood’s turnover problem peaked in the second quarter when the Panthers turned the ball over 14 times.
Despite the turnovers, Elwood outscored Anderson 14-13 in the second quarter and pulled to within five points at halftime. The close game made Anderson coach Randy Harrison challenge his girls to step up their defense even more in the second half.
“At halftime, we didn’t draw up much except for putting the second quarter score of 14-13 on the white board,” Harrison said. “We talked about how we needed to come out and play harder defense, get in the passing lanes and block out. They finally started to play like they were capable of.”
The Panthers came out of halftime and chipped the Anderson lead down to two points, but that was as close as they would get in the game. The Indians then went on a 21-5 run in the third quarter to put the game away.
Anderson was led in scoring by Janelle Davis with 19 points, and 11 of those points came during the Indians’ third-quarter run.
“Janelle is a junior that realizes that she needs to step up in Jasmine McGhee’s absence, and she is doing that well,” Harrison said, alluding to Anderson’s senior leader, McGhee, who is out with an injury right now.
Also scoring in double figures for the Indians were seniors Ci Ci Menifield and Bryesha McCullough with 18 and 11 points, respectively.
Elwood was led by senior forward Paige Hanlin. Hanlin scored 17 points on 7-for-18 from the field, grabbed 15 rebounds and had three blocks. Katie Huffman also had 12 points, and Marisol Salinas had nine rebounds.
Elwood’s loss to Anderson came after it scored only four points in Tuesday night’s loss to Pendleton Heights. However, any lingering feelings from that defeat only inspired the Panthers against Anderson.
“I think (Tuesday’s loss) was a motivator tonight,” Williams said. “They knew they weren’t a four-point team, so we came out and tried to do the things that we knew how to do tonight.”
Anderson (5-9) travels to New Castle on Saturday to challenge the Trojans’ nine-game win streak. Elwood (4-10) is at home Tuesday against Tri-Central.
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Anderson routs Elwood for third place
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