Turnovers prove costly to Lady Owls

Coach Beth DeVinney didn’t hesitate for one second when asked what the difference was in Friday night’s Seymour-Floyd Central basketball game.

“I think the turnovers, honestly,” the Lady Owls coach said after the Highlanders won the Hoosier Hills Conference battle 59-55 in the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium.

“We’ve been talking about it,” DeVinney said. “The first couple games we’ve been real sloppy with the ball and we’ve been able to win, and against a good team like Floyd, you can’t be sloppy with the ball. You’ve got to take care of the basketball, and my guards aren’t doing the job right now taking care of the basketball, and we’ve got to get better at it.”

The Owls had six turnovers in each of the first two periods, and that was a big reason Seymour only attempted 16 shots from the floor in the first half and 41 for the game.

Seymour finished with 19 turnovers and Floyd Central committed 13.

DeVinney said, “Nineteen turnovers is 38 points and we lose by four points, so you’ve got to start looking at those turnovers. A lot of them were unforced errors.”

Seymour held a 40-37 lead going into the fourth quarter and increased its lead to 43-37 on a 3-point shot by Amanda Moore with 7:22 remaining.

A layup by Erin Murphy gave Seymour a 51-49 lead with three minutes remaining before the Highlanders scored six straight points for a 55-51 lead, and the visitors stayed on top down the stretch.

The game was tied at 9 with two minutes left in the opening period when Mercades Bierman and Camry Hinton made back-to-back 3-pointers to give Floyd a 15-9 lead after one.

Floyd opened the second period on a 5-0 run to lead 20-9. The Highlanders held a 23-14 lead midway through the quarter before Seymour closed the half on an 8-0 run with Brianna Gillaspy’s 3-point play, followed by a layup by Murphy, closing the difference to 23-22 at the half.

Moore scored seven points and Murphy six in the third period when the Owls outscored the Highlanders 18-14.

“We were rotating some people around,” DeVinney said. “They were a little bigger, a more physical team, and we’ve been starting a three-guard rotation and it hasn’t been working for us because our guards aren’t playing any defense. Until they start playing defense, we’re going to keep starting a bigger rotation. We thought starting more of a veteran lineup would help us, but it does take away from our scoring a little bit.”

Moore topped the Owls with 17 points, Murphy scored 16 and Chelsea Reinhart had eight.
Meredith Adams grabbed eight rebounds and the Owls held a 25-22 advantage on the boards.

The Highlanders had a strong inside-outside attack with Jennifer Smith scoring 22 points inside, while Brigid Morrissey and Morgan Rookstool scored 11 each and Bierman scored eight. Morrissey, Rookstool and Bierman each made two 3-pointers.

“They had Smith on the inside, which presented a whole other series of problems,” DeVinney said. “She’s really gotten a lot better this year. I thought Meredith did a great job on her early in the game, and later when she got tired, we let (Smith) get away from us at times and put some stuff back up and in that we shouldn’t have.”

DeVinney said the Lady Owls need to lower their defensive average.

“We’re getting better on defense,” she said. “We’re a work in progress, and by the end of season, we’ll be right where we need to be.”

Seymour is 2-1 and will travel to Bloomington South on Tuesday and to Brownstown Central on Thursday.

Box score

At Seymour
Floyd Central 15 8   14 22—59
Seymour        9   13 18 15—55
Seymour (2-1): Amanda Moore 7-14 0-0 17, Erin Murphy 4-12 7-7 16, Meredith Adams 0-2 5-7 5, Chelsea Reinhart 1-3 6-7 8, Bridgette Jones 0-6 0-0 0, Brianna Gillaspy 3-3 1-1 7, Sam Browning 1-1 0-0 2, Nicole Hoene 0-0 0-0 0, totals 16-41 19-22 55
Floyd Central (2-0): Brigid Morrissey 3-9 3-6 11, Mercades Bierman 3-10 0-0 8, Morgan Rookstool 4-10 1-1 11, Erica Smith 1-4 2-5 4, Jennifer Smith 9-13 4-6 22, Camry Hinton 1-3 0-1 3, Emily Foster 0-1 0-0 0, totals 21-50 10-19 59
3-point goals: Seymour (Moore 3, Murphy), Floyd Central (Morrissey 2, Bierman 2, Rookstool 2, Hinton)
Rebounds: Seymour 25 (Adams 8, Moore 5, Murphy 5), Floyd Central 22 (J. Smith 5, Morrissey 4, Rookstool 4)
Fouls: Seymour 17, Floyd Central 20
Turnovers: Seymour 19, Floyd Central 17
Junior varsity
Floyd Central 0   4 6   2—12
Seymour        14 7 12 10—43
Seymour (3-0): Shayna Abel 9, Logan Personett 9, Taylor Gossett 8, Paige Tormoehlen 6, Hoene 6, Sidney Carr 2, Leah Elsner 2, Abby Thompson 1