New Castle steals HHC win in overtime at Garrett Gymnasium from Golden Bears

Kylie Weichman’s premonition came to fruition.

The Shelbyville girls basketball coach did not like the energy level with which her team warmed up for a Hoosier Heritage Conference clash with New Castle Friday night at Garrett Gymnasium.

Four quarters and four minutes later, the Golden Bears suffered a disappointing 63-59 overtime loss to the Trojans just three days after defeating Class 3A, No. 10 New Palestine in its conference opener.

“I didn’t feel like the same defensive effort and energy was there tonight,” said Weichman. “That was my biggest frustration with the first half and what we were talking about at halftime. We brought it a little bit in the third quarter and got an 8-point lead and then we started fouling.”

Back-to-back baskets from Jayla Ash and Savannah Collins increased Shelbyville’s lead to 45-37 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. The lead was still at seven with just over four minutes to go before Alana Orr hit a corner 3.

From there, New Castle hit 9 of 11 free throws, the last coming with 24 seconds left to tie the game at 54-all. Shelbyville missed a desperation 3 from Collins just ahead of the buzzer.

It was more of the same in overtime.

The Trojans made 7 of 10 free throw attempts in overtime and got the lead up to seven at 61-54. The Golden Bears’ only field goal of the extra session came in the final seconds.

After shooting just four free throws in the first half, New Castle took 28 in the second half and overtime. Meanwhile, Shelbyville, who made 10 trips to the free throw line in the third quarter when it regained control of the game, took just two free throws in each of the other quarters and overtime and finished just 9 of 18 overall.

“The foul line continues to be a problem for us. Missed wide open layups continue to be a problem for us,” said Weichman. “Five or six missed wide open layups that potentially changes the trajectory of the game.”

Megan Luce led the Trojans (4-5, 1-3 HHC) with 16 points – 10 came in the second quarter when her team flipped a 19-7 deficit into a 25-23 lead.

Emily Luce finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, and Piper Arthur had 12. New Castle’s leading scorer, Carlee Lanzer (15.6 ppg), had six points, six rebounds and two assists.

Hannah Baker led Shelbyville (5-4, 1-1 HHC) with 16 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Ash had 14 points and eight rebounds. Collins finished with 14 points and Reese Fortune had 10 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.

Shelbyville continues a three-game stretch against HHC foes Tuesday at Greenfield-Central (3-7, 0-2 HHC).

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