By ANDREW FEEBACK
GAS CITY— The Bluffton Lady Tiger basketball team picked up its first win of the season Tuesday night with a 50-48 win over the host Mississinewa Lady Indians.
At times, it resembled a classic early-season tilt between young teams, with 37 total fouls, 39 combined turnovers, and a lot of sophomores on the court.
One of those sophomores was Bluffton’s Maryn Schreiber, who scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Tigers.
Another was Mississinewa’s Jaci Crick, who led all scorers with 30, and scored all but six of her team’s points in the second half.
The Tigers took an early 19-10 lead, but fouls started catching up with them.
“It was our second game of having foul trouble,” coach Eric Mounsey said. “We’ve got to adjust to how officials are calling it and move our feet more on defense.”
The Indians got consecutive three-point plays from Crick to take their first lead at 22-21.
The Tigers got six straight from Schreiber to go back in front and took a 29-27 lead at halftime.
Lily King came off the bench to hit a pair of three-point shots, the second of which put Bluffton up 39-31.
A quick bucket from Schreiber to start the fourth quarter gave Bluffton its biggest lead of the night.
But the Tigers had some difficulty at times with the Indians’ full-court pressure, and one of those stretches came after they took that lead.
Two turnovers led to a 7-0 run, all from Crick, and the Tigers’ lead shrank to 43-40 with 3:50 to play.
Schreiber rebounded her own miss, scored, and was fouled to push the lead back up to five.
Four straight free throws from Brooklyn Nash brought the Indians within one.
Haley Gibson hit a floater in the lane to make it 47-44 with 2:10 remaining.
Sullivan scored underneath to cut it to one again, and the Tigers turned it over on the baseline. Crick missed, and a jump ball gave it back to the Tigers, but they turned it over in the backcourt again.
Sullivan missed a three from the corner but got her own rebound and found Crick for a layup that put the Indians in front 48-47 with 48 seconds left.
Gibson banked in a jumper from the wing with 28 seconds to play to put the Tigers back up by one.
Crick missed, but Schreiber missed a one-and-one free throw. The Indians took a timeout with four seconds to play.
With the Indians no doubt looking to find Crick for a potential game-winner, Marly Drayer made a great play by anticipating where the ball would be inbounded and stepping in front of the pass. She was immediately fouled by Crick, whose night ended on that play with her fifth foul.
“She’s a very instinctive player, and she read the quarterback’s eyes and took it,” Mounsey said.
Drayer made her first free throw before missing the second. Avery Wilson was called for traveling as the buzzer sounded.
Although there were frustrating moments, Mounsey was pleased with how his team kept its composure down the stretch.
“To have the mental toughness to come down and get a good shot from Haley…for us to do that, as a young group, it shows a lot of growth from last year to this year,” he said.
“I’m really impressed and proud of Maryn Schreiber,” he continued. “I thought she’d have a big night, and Coach Bowman and I talked to her about being aggressive. They were fouling her and hacking her, and she still would finish plays and go through it. Really proud of the work she did, and collectively, as a team, we just played well.”
Bluffton will host Madison-Grant Saturday night.
The JV game went to Mississinewa, 30-18. Savanna Hughett scored 16 points, and Cayah King added two.
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BLUFFTON 50, MISSISSINEWA 48
At Mississinewa High School
BLUFFTON (1-1): Isabella Stout 0-1 1-2 1, Lily King 2-5 2-2 8, Marly Drayer 0-1 1-3 1, Maryn Schreiber 11-21 3-5 25, Haley Gibson 4-7 0-0 8, Tressa Renner 2-4 1-1 5, Cayah King 0-0 0-0 0, Evie Schantz 0-0 0-0 0, Konley Ault 0-1 2-2 2, Kennedy Nash 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19-40 10-15 50.
MISSISSINEWA (1-3): Dani Sullivan 2-3 0-0 5, Brooklyn Nash 0-0 4-4 4, Avery Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Savannah Herrera 0-0 0-0 0, Abby Smith 1-8 0-0 2, Lilah Greer 0-0 0-0 0, Jaci Crick 11-20 8-9 30, Amiyaa Parr-Inman 2-3 0-0 4, Carsyn Yeakle 0-0 0-0 0, Trinity Haynes 0-0 0-0 0, Emma Wakeman 1-4 1-1 3. TOTALS: 17-39 13-14 48.
Bluffton 14 15 10 11 – 50
Mississinewa 10 17 4 17 – 48
Three-point Goals: Bluffton 2-4 (Lily King 2-2, Gibson 0-1, Ault 0-1), Mississinewa 1-12 (Sullivan 1-2, Smith 0-6, Crick 0-2, Wilson 0-2). Rebounds: Bluffton 21 (Schreiber 10, Gibson 3, Lily King 3, Ault 2, Renner 1, Drayer 1, Stout 1), Mississinewa 18 (Crick 6, Sullivan 3, Smith 3, Wakeman 2, Nash 2, Wilson 1, Parr-Inman 1). Turnovers: Bluffton 19, Mississinewa 20. Fouls: Bluffton 18, Mississinewa 19. Fouled out: Crick. Technicals: None.
JV: Mississinewa 30, Bluffton 18.
