By George Bremer, Herald Bulletin Sports Writer
ANDERSON — Hope and optimism always are in abundance on opening night.
Patience and perspective also are in order for the Anderson girls basketball team.
The Lady Tribe, featuring just two seniors on the roster, fell 58-44 to Indianapolis Arlington in Monday’s season opener.
The Golden Knights are coming off a 19-5 campaign, and they knocked off Anderson 85-56 in last year’s lid lifter.
“We’re not disappointed,” Indians coach Randy Harrison said. “We’re not going to cash it in. We know there are some little things we have to fix. Everything that went wrong tonight is fixable. We played well in spurts. We’ve just got to do that for 32 minutes.”
Senior captain Janelle Davis led Anderson with 17 points, including a 9-for-13 effort from the free-throw line.
With two freshmen and a sophomore in the starting lineup, Davis was pleasantly surprised by the Tribe’s effort.
“We played better than we thought we would do,” she said, “especially after only one week of practice.”
Anderson took its only lead at 7-6 with 3:26 remaining in the first quarter.
Arlington answered with a 13-6 run to close out the period, then scored the final nine points of the second quarter and took a 36-21 halftime advantage.
The Golden Knights built their lead to 20 points briefly in the third quarter and led by as many as 21 early in the fourth.
But the Indians finished the game with a 7-0 run.
Harrison cycled 12 players onto the court throughout the game. He said the objective was to counter Arlington’s size advantage with an up-tempo attack.
“That team’s bigger and more physical than we are,” he said. “We’re probably about the same athletically. As young as we are, I just wanted us to stay as fresh as possible.”
Davis, who scored 10 of her 17 points in the second half, liked the game plan.
“We have a lot of speed,” she said.
But the Indians couldn’t simulate Arlington’s height or strength in practice.
“They were shoving us and pushing us around,” Davis said.
Senior Mariesha Harris led the Golden Knights with 19 points, and juniors Dominique Hudson and Tierra Golightly added 10 points each.
Davis was Anderson’s lone scorer in double figures. Junior Ciedre McDonald had eight points and four rebounds, and freshman Sharice Jones finished with six points.
Harrison said the Indians will grow and learn as the season progresses.
“Right now,” he said, “we’re still searching for some kids to play as hard as Arlington did tonight.”
Davis has a simple plan for improvement.
“We just have to go out and practice,” she said. “Work harder.”
