GIRLS’ HOOPS: Red Devils crush Silver Creek 61-10

By GREG BURTON

Special to Southern Indiana Preps

SELLERSBURG — Jeffersonville was a buzzsaw Friday night against host Silver Creek.
The Class 4A No. 6 Red Devils opened the game with an 11-0 blitz, forcing their hosts to call two timeouts in the first 2 ½ minutes. The intensity seldom let up the entire game, and Jeffersonville emerged as a 61-10 winner.

“We set out with the mindset of pressuring them and trying to speed them up a little bit and see how they reacted,” said Jeffersonville coach Mike Warren. “We had a lot of kids doing good things.”

The Red Devils (2-0) pressured relentlessly, and Silver Creek coughed up the ball 12 times in the first quarter and 10 more times in the second. The Dragons took only four shots in the first period, connecting on one.

Jeffersonville, meanwhile, was 10-of-19 from the field in the opening frame, and it led 23-2 after one quarter.

“When you compete against a team like this, you cannot turn the ball over, and we did,” said Silver Creek coach Scott Schoen, whose team dropped its fourth straight game and fell to 2-4 overall. “We usually compete better than this against Jeff. It was a tough matchup for us, and we didn’t play well.”

About the only negative for Jeffersonville was when senior Jacinta Gibson took a blow to the head early and did not return for the rest of the game.

Taking up any slack, though, was sophomore Nan Garcia. She led the Red Devils in scoring with 21 points on 8-of-15 field goal shooting and 5-of-7 from the free-throw line. Garcia also pulled down five rebounds.

“I thought Nan did a good job,” said Warren. “She’s playing better each game. But really, overall we had a balanced effort. If we can do that night in and night out and put 60 points on the board, we’re going to be all right.”

The defensive barrage continued the entire night for Jeffersonville. It led 35-4 at the half, once again limiting Silver Creek to two points in the quarter. The Dragons hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter for their six points, but then Jeffersonville shut them out in the final period.

The Red Devils had a stellar game from Jaylynn Brown as well, as she had eight steals and dished out seven assists while scoring six points.

Every player who saw action for Jeffersonville scored, and the defense stayed focused for most of the second half. Silver Creek committed 36 turnovers for the entire game.

For Warren, the season is exceptionally young for his team, this being just its second game.

“This was only our second game of the year,” he said. “A lot of teams are ahead of us, and so we’re just trying to get some experience. Defensively, we need to make sure we’re in our right spots. I thought we did a nice job in the press and defensively in the half court, and that led to a lot of easy baskets.”

Jeffersonville will open Hoosier Hills Conference play on Saturday at Class 4A No. 8 Bedford North Lawrence. Silver Creek’s road will not get any easier as it travels to Class 4A No. 13 North Harrison on Wednesday.

JEFFERSONVILLE 61, SILVER CREEK 10
Jeffersonville    23   12   9   17 – 61
Silver Creek       2     2   6     0 – 10
Jeff (2-0): Jacinta Gibson 1-1 0-0 2, Tori Handley 2-8 0-0 5, Kelsie James 3-6 0-0 7, Nan Garcia 8-15 5-7 21, Britney Epperson 3-6 1-2 7, Jaylynn Brown 1-3 4-5 6, Jasmine Lilly 2-5 0-0 4, Diamond Taylor 1-5 1-2 3, Kiersten Poor 2-3 0-1 4, Aaleiah Winford 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 24-54 11-17 61.
Silver Creek (2-4): Kylie Wilkinson 0-2 0-0 0, Jordan Balz 1-1 0-1 2, Jaclyn Emly 1-5 0-0 3, Alyssa Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Savannah Kirchgessner 0-2 0-2 0, Jordan Leddon 0-1 0-0 0, Lauren Hall 0-2 0-0 0, Katie Emly 1-5 0-0 2, Megan Ekart 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor Scott 1-3 0-0 3, Anna Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Katlin Berg 0-1 0-0 0, Bella Hinton 0-0 0-0 0, Vic Hutchings 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 4-26 0-3 10.
3-point field goals: Jeff 2-14 (James 1-3, Handley 1-5, Epperson 0-1, Winford 0-1, Garcia 0-2, Lilly 0-2); Silver Creek 2-16 (Scott 1-2, J. Emly 1-3, Wilkinson 0-1, Kirchgessner 0-1, Ekart 0-1, Berg 0-1, Hutchings 0-1, Hall 0-2, K. Emly 0-4).
Rebounds: Jeff 21 (Garcia 5); Silver Creek 15 (Kirchgessner 4).
Assists: Jeff 13 (Brown 7); Silver Creek 1 (Balz 1).
Steals: Jeff 31 (Brown 8); Silver Creek 2 (Balz 1, J. Emly 1).
Blocked shots: Jeff 3 (Garcia 1, Brown 1, Lilly 1); Silver Creek 2 (Wilkinson 1, An. Wright 1).
Turnovers: Jeff 14, Silver Creek 36.
Total fouls: Jeff 13, Silver Creek 15.
Fouled out: none.
Junior varsity: Jeff 40, Silver Creek 26.