Week of ups and downs for GHV girls

It was a week of ups and downs for the Garner-Hayfield/Ventura girls basketball team.  The girls picked up a big win against North Union, but fell hard to North Butler.

GHV 43, North Union 27

An explosive third quarter was the key to the Cardinals’ 43-27 victory over North Union on Tuesday, Dec. 3.

The first half was a tight battle the whole way.  GHV trailed by one point at the end of the first quarter, 8-7.  The Cardinals made up some ground in the second quarter, going on a 8-2 run in the last two minutes of the half for a 21-18 lead. 

GHV rode that momentum into the third quarter, outscoring the Warriors 17-1 for a 38-19 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“I wasn’t real excited with how we finished the game, as I felt we relaxed with the big lead and lost some focus, allowing North Union to hang around,” said Coach Matt Erpelding.

North Union outscored the Cardinals 8-5 in the fourth quarter.  

“I was much happier with our defensive performance, although it still needs vast improvement to get where we want to be.  Our full court pressure was very effective, due in large part to the play of the back end of that pressure,” said Erpelding.

Maddie Tusha had an outstanding game for the Cardinals with 14 points, 16 rebounds, one assist and six steals.  Emily Spilman and Shelby Rayhons also had good games with eight points apiece.  Spilman also had three steals.

Rounding out the scoring was Mackenzie Van Gerpen with six points. Tiara Van Gerpen had four points, Mackenzie Haag had two and Sydney Younge had one point.

Haag did a good job on defense, with five rebounds and three steals.  Grace Tusha had four rebounds and one steal.

North Butler 74, GHV 32

The GHV girls hit a buzz saw when they traveled to North Butler on Saturday, Dec. 7.

“North Butler had 33 points off turnovers…enough said,” said Coach Matt Erpelding.

With 31 turnovers and 33 shot attempts, it is no wonder the Cardinals struggled.

North Butller, who is 2-0, came out of the gates fast and shot the ball extremely well from the floor at 59 percent.  By halftime the Bearcats had a 41-18 lead.  The second half was more of the same, as North Butler cruised to an easy, 74-32 victory.

“To North Butler’s credit, they knew our weaknesses and they exploited every one of them,” said Erpelding.  

According to Coach Erpelding, the Cardinals did do something right.  The team had to find a way to shut down North Butler’s leading scorer, so they switched to a defense that they had just implemented a couple of days prior.

“I thought we executed the defense pretty well.  The problem is when you spend the entire night on the defensive end of the floor, you are going to get mentally fatigued and start to break down more times than you would like,” said Erpelding.

Maddie Tusha again led the team with 12 points.  Shelby Rayhons and Mackenzie Haag added six and five points respectively.  Tiara Van Gerpen had four points and Kim Dornbier and Emily Spilman had two points apiece.  Grace Tusha had one point.

Van Gerpen had five rebounds, while Rayhons hauled in four.  Tusha had seven rebounds and two steals, while Haag and Van Gerpen had one steal apiece.

The Cardinals travel to Belmond-Klemme on Friday, Dec. 13.  Game time is 6:15 p.m.