For The Tribune
BEDFORD
Maci Lubker and Kayla Griffin combined for 13 points, while Griffin and Mikayla Fee combined for 11 rebounds during the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s game against Providence in the Pete Pritchett Holiday Tournament at Bedford North Lawrence.
Those numbers were enough to spark the Owls to a 56-47 win and a 2-1 record in the tournament.
“I thought Maci in the middle of the zone created some problems for them by getting some penetration and creating some fouls,” Seymour coach Jason Longmeier said. “Griffin had a big game today. Those two really carried us through.”
Lubker finished with 18 points and Griffin netted 17.
Griffin had 12 rebounds and Fee added seven as the Owls controlled the boards by a margin of 38-22.
Seymour held a 39-30 lead going into the fourth quarter before Providence cut the difference to 42-35 on a basket by Hannah Wolford with 5:12 remaining.
Griffin came right back with a layup to boost the lead back to 9 points. Griffin made three baskets, both of her free throws, and had six rebounds in the period.
Lubker had a field goal and was 3 for 4 at the line, and Fee had five rebounds in the quarter.
“We did do a better job of trying to get to the basket and create opportunities for ourselves there. We didn’t shoot the ball well today, and when you don’t shoot the ball well you allow the other team to stay with what they’re doing,” Longmeier said. “They didn’t have to make very many adjustments because we didn’t knock down as many shots as we usually make.
“Against most zones, we expect to knock down seven or eight 3’s, and we hit two (both by Lubker). The 3-ball wasn’t there for us today. You can maybe attribute that to it being our third game in two days, with some time off, and maybe our legs weren’t underneath us.”
The Owls made 19-of-59 shots from the floor.
Providence committed 19 fouls, and the Owls made 16 for 24 at the line.
“We did a few things well, but I don’t think today was our best defensive effort,” Longmeier said as the Pioneers shot 16 of 40 from the floor. “We need to do little bit better job of defending the ball.”
“I think our depth played a little bit of a role,” Longmeier said. “Our bench came in and got some good things.”
Morgan Ritz scored the first two baskets of the game, and Griffin followed with a 3-point play at 6:39 to put the Owls on top 7-0 and they remained in front all the way as the Pioneers fell to 8-7.
Seymour held a 13-8 lead after the first period.
A free throw and 3-point basket by Lubker, and a rebound basket by Ritz enabled the Owls to go on a 6-0 run and take their first 10-point lead of the night at 19-9 at 4:30 of the second quarter, and the Owls were on top 25-17 at the break.
Claire Rauck topped the Pioneers with 17 points, and Wolford scored 15.
Providence had 17 turnovers; the Owls committed nine.
“We haven’t pressed much this year but we wanted to create some early energy.” Longmeier said. “With it being our third game in two days we didn’t want to come out flat, so we wanted to come out with a little bit of pressure and see if we couldn’t create some things early.”
The Owls are idle until Thursday, when they will play host to Columbus East for a Hoosier Hills Conference game.
“We’ll have to go back and take a look at some things and see what we did well and see what we need to correct going forward. We’re 12-3 at this point and we can’t be disappointed,” Longmeier said.
“We’ve got to be better defensively guarding the ball. That is what we’ve not done a good job of the last couple of weeks. When you can’t defend the ball and you’re giving up penetration that creates all kinds of problems, and I think that is why we’re coming up with so many fouls, and we’re giving up so many wide-open shots, so we’ve got to get better with on-ball defense for sure.”