By RYAN WALKER
The Bluffton Tigers (0-1) girls’ basketball team lost their home opener to Bishop Dwenger (3-0) 38-29 Thursday night at the Tiger Den.
A solid start and lead at the half for the Tigers was overshadowed by a dominant second half from the Saints, outscoring the Tigers 23-8 in both quarters.
Head coach Eric Mounsey was happy with his team in the first game of the year despite the loss.
“We’re young, and we played Bishop Dwenger last year at their place, and it was a much different game,” he said after the game. “Going into this, we just wanted to compete better and put ourselves in better positions to execute our stuff and take away what they do.”
Mounsey’s squad last season lost by 24 on the road to Dwenger. This year, the Saints even had a two-game advantage coming into the night, posting a 2-0 record.
“Overall, I can’t be more proud of how we grew from last year. That’s what we wanted to see,” he continued.
Even with the rust and jitters of playing the first game of the year, it looked as if Bluffton had two games under its belt. They handled a full-court press, and senior Lily King hit the first two shots of the season to start 5-0.
The Saints turned the ball over in their first four possessions. Junior Taylor Aselage finally stopped the drought for two, and Josie Wharton quickly then tied the game with a three-ball.
They would only add a free throw for the rest of the quarter, as they tried to get the ball down in the post to six-foot-two-inch forward junior Giselle Eke — but the Tigers defense had an answer.
Eke, on the season, has averaged a double-double, according to Mounsey, and that’s what they wanted to prevent.
“We knew that their main focus is that they wanted to get it into the post. So we needed to defend the post as a team and just get our hands on anything that we could,” he said.
The game plan worked well, tipping entry passes and forcing tough shots. Eke went 0-4 on the night and had one free throw.
As a team, Bluffton forced 11 turnovers in the first quarter alone and 23 for the game.
The only blemish at the break was foul trouble, which allowed Dwenger to keep the score close at the free-throw line.
The Saints’ defense tightened up coming out of the locker room in the third quarter, allowing just three points. The Tigers couldn’t get many shots off and went 1-6 on the ones they did take.
Late in the third, Vanessa Cook started to heat up with a three at the 2:25 mark to make it a one-point game, and a couple of free throws took the lead — and chef cook wasn’t done cooking yet.
She extended the lead with another deep ball, then another, and a jump shot helped carry the game away before finally putting it away with a layup.
Bluffton was able to put up shots in the fourth but couldn’t get them to fall. The Tigers went 1-17 in the final quarter of play.
What went wrong in the second half? Was it an adjustment? Self-inflicting?
“A little bit of both, but I mean, we had some shots. There were some really good high-quality shots, and they didn’t go in. That was kind of the difference.”
Even with the loss, Mounsey said his team got better and executed the game plan well, giving him more confidence for the season, and he was happy they finally got onto the court after canceling the only scrimmage of the season.
“We’ve literally just been practicing with just ourselves for the last three weeks,” he said. “Bumping into someone and actually playing a game is just different. For the girls to come out in that first half and play how they played, the coaches and I were just extremely pumped how well we executed.”
Mounsey’s Tigers will have a quick turnaround as they travel to Hagerstown at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11.
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DWENGER 38 , BLUFFTON 29
At Bluffton High School
DWENGER (3-0): Taylor Aselage 2-6 3-5 8, Josie Wharton 1-5 0-0 2, Vanessa Cook 6-11 4-4 19, Mary O’Brien 0-4 3-4 3, Giselle Eke 0-4 1-2 1, Anna Ponder 0-5 0-0 0, Clara Burns 0-2 0-0 0, Grace Barfield 0-2 0-0 0, Maggie Pieper 0-0 0-0 0, Samantha Gadomski 1-1 0-0 3. TOTALS: 10-38 11-18 38.
BLUFFTON (0-1): Isabella Stout 2-7 5-6 9, Lily King 2-6 0-0 5, Marly Drayer 0-6 0-0 0, Maryn Schreiber 2-4 3-8 7, Haley Gibson 2-15 0-2, 4, Tressa Renner 1-1 0-0 2, Konley Ault 2-10 0-0 4. TOTALS: 11-39 8-16 29.
Dwenger 6 9 9 14 –– 38
Bluffton 11 10 3 5 –– 29
Three-point Goals: Dwenger 6-15 (Cook 3-4, Aselage 1-4, Gadomski 1-1, Wharton 1-4, Ponder 0-3), Bluffton 1-16 (King 1-2, Stout 0-1, Drayer 0-2, Gibson 0-8, Ault 0-3). Rebounds: Dwenger 26 (Cook 8, Eke 5, Aselage 5, Ponder 4, O’Brien 4, Wharton 1, Gadomski 1), Bluffton 31 (Stout 9, Ault 8, Schreiber 6, Renner 3, King 1, Gibson). Fouls: Dwenger 16, Bluffton 17. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
