Lady Owls hold off Cardinals for season-opening win

Sometimes it takes a little luck to win a basketball game, and coach Beth DeVinney said her Seymour Lady Owls needed a little something extra Tuesday night to defeat Southport 69-62 in the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium.

“I thought our focus was very poor coming out,” DeVinney said. “It took us a while to get into (the game mentally). We got into it, then it dropped off, and once it dropped off, we didn’t get it back. We were lucky to win. Southport played a great game. We need to have a better effort come Friday night.”

The Owls held a 48-40 lead entering the fourth period and stretched their advantage to 59-48 on a layup by Erin Murphy with 2:50 remaining.

Seymour committed turnovers on back-to-back possessions, and the Cardinals cut the Owls’ lead to 62-57 on a basket by Zoey Freese with 1:03 remaining.

Seymour maintained its lead by hitting seven free throws in the final minute.

The Owls won the game by making 30 of 45 free throws to 4 of 6 for the Cardinals. Seymour was called for 15 fouls and Southport was called for 24.

“We hit free throws down the stretch, and that’s really the game,” DeVinney said.

Other than the play of a few individuals in spots, DeVinney was not pleased with the Owls’ performance.

“Early, I thought we had a little bit of jitters, and then we kind of got things going,” DeVinney said. “I thought our press was working early, and then honestly, we just stopped working on defense. The rest of the game we did not work an ounce on defense.
“I’m really disappointed in our defensive effort. We gave up 62 points. We gave up eight 3-point shots. That can’t happen in a varsity game. You have to be more strong-minded than that.”

Amanda Moore had a hot hand early, as she made her first four free throws and her first three shots from the floor to give the Owls a 15-8 lead with 1:40 left in the quarter.

Southport had nine turnovers early, but did a good job of taking care of the ball in the final minute of the first period, and Ali Walker hit a pair of 3-pointers to bring the Cardinals back to a 15-15 tie at the end of the quarter.

Brianna Gillaspy and Murphy each scored eight points in the second period to help the Owls take a 34-32 lead at the half.

“Erin was able to get some shots off and get to the basket, Amanda was able to hit free throws at the end of the game, but overall we’ve got to play better defense,” DeVinney said. “I thought Meredith (Adams) came in and gave us some great minutes. She really battled on the boards. Our guards rebounded OK.”

Seymour held a 34-33 advantage on the boards, with Bridgette Jones and Adams both finishing with eight.

The Owls made 19 of 46 shots from the floor to 25 of 62 for the Cardinals. Seymour made only one 3-pointer.

“I thought our offense was a little jerky,” DeVinney said. “Nothing was really smooth. We didn’t get into our transition game at all during the entire game.”

Moore topped all players with 22 points, Murphy added 20 and Gillaspy 10.

Walker topped Southport with 17 points, Bria Wright 14 and Chelsea Brothers 10.

“We’re going to work on defense because the way we work on defense dictates how we play offense,” DeVinney said. “We’re going to work on transition, trying to get the ball down the floor.”

Seymour will be home to South Central on Friday. The junior varsity game will start at 6:30 p.m.

Box score

At Seymour
Southport 15 17 8   22—62
Seymour   15 19 14 21—69
Seymour (1-0): Amanda Moore 4-11 14-21 22, Erin Murphy 8-14 3-4 20, Brianna Gillaspy 3-7 4-6 10, Bridgette Jones 1-6 4-6 6, Sam Browning 0-0 0-0 0, Chelsea Reinhart 1-2 0-0 2, Meredith Adams 2-5 5-8 9, Nicole Hoene 0-1 0-0 0,  totals 19-46 30-45 69
Southport (1-1): Chelsea Brothers 5-9 0-0 10, Ali Walker 7-17 1-1 17, Bria Wright 5-8 0-0 14, Stephanie Shobe 0-4 0-0 0, Rachel Case 3-8 0-1 6, Sam Shobe 1-4 1-2 6, Valencia Williams 1-1 0-0 3, Zoey Freese 2-5 2-2 6, totals 25-62 4-6 62
3-point goals: Seymour (Murphy), Southport (Walker 2, Wright 4, Sam Shobe, Williams)
Rebounds: Seymour 34 (Jones 8, Adams 8), Southport 33 (Brothers 9, Wright 6)
Turnovers: Seymour 21, Southport 28
Fouls: Seymour 15, Southport 21
Junior varsity
Southport 2 6 6   13—27
Seymour   8 5 10 19—42
Seymour (1-0): Paige Tormoehlen 12, Logan Personett 12, Taylor Gossett 8, Leah Elsner 5, Shayna Abel 3, Sidney Carr 2