By RYAN WALKER
Bluffton improved to a perfect 3-0 record in a statement 63-36 victory over (3-2) Mississinewa Tuesday night.
The Tigers’ defense suffocated the Indians to a 30 percent field goal rate and forced a whopping 24 turnovers.
Conversely, Bluffton shot 44 percent from the field behind Maryn Schreiber’s 16 points and Konley Ault’s 13. The two also combined for 15 rebounds.
Head coach Doug Curtis’ plan was to stop Mississinewa’s top scorers, Jaci Crick and Dani Sullivan, using a few different defensive zone looks to throw them off. It worked like a charm, as Crick was held to just 16 points, seven below her average, and to 5-13 from the floor. Sullivan couldn’t find any good looks all night with five shots total shots in the game, going 2-5 with only one rebound.
“The key for tonight’s game was controlling (Crick) and making sure (Sullivan) didn’t get too many looks,” Curtis said after the game. “We tried some different things with moderate success and basically ended up playing our matchup zone most of the time. That worked the best.”
The Tigers got off to a hot start on both ends of the floor, creating three turnovers and cashing in to go up 8-0.
Ault drove to the cup on all four of her buckets in the first quarter alone to help take advantage of a 16-9 lead.
Crick and Avery Wilson’s threes gave the Indians some life in the second quarter. After Crick hit a pair of free throws, Mississinewa was at its closest point down 22-21 with 3:30 left in the period. But Bluffton got a spark from its leading scorer a year ago to take back a big lead.
Haley Gibson nailed back-to-back threes within 40 seconds of one another. Ault hit one of her own with under a minute to play, while Drayer added a bucket to close out the halftime lead at 33-21.
The Tigers’ zone pressure only allowed for six total shots in the first quarter. Head coach Laura Friday made an adjustment to shoot the ball more in the second quarter, but forced tougher looks as a result and posted a cold 4-16.
Curtis mentioned that defending other teams’ guards takes multiple players to make life difficult, but against the Indians, he had high praise for Marly Drayer in particular.
“I thought one of the big keys tonight was Marly Drayer. I think she did an outstanding job on the defensive end and kind of set the tempo. That zone that we play, we need our guards to really be active and do things. Usually, it’s a tandem up there doing that, but Marly kind of set the tone today and everybody fed off of that.”
That defense held the Indians to single digits again in the third and fourth quarters, while the Tigers cranked out 30 points.
In the second half, it was all Maryn Schreiber.
The forward made four buckets and converted a few free throws in the process. She missed the first game with a concussion according to Curtis, and he said that in the second game, she got into foul trouble and hadn’t found her touch yet. But Tuesday night gave her an opportunity, and she took it.
“This is the first time she was able to play extended minutes and I thought she got into a little bit of a rhythm,” Curtis said.
Isabella Stout, Bluffton’s leading scorer going into the night, picked up seven points in the fourth quarter after a rough first half from the floor. She is now tied with Ault at 12.7 points per game.
Bluffton won the junior varsity game 51-35. Sophie Eisenhut led the field with 18 points, Shakyriana Eskridge had seven, and Piper Morgan had six.
Bluffton will travel to Madison-Grant on Saturday starting at 7:30 p.m.
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BLUFFTON 63, MISSISSINEWA 36
At Bluffton
MISSISSINEWA (3-2): Dani Sullivan 2-5 0-0 5, Brooklyn Nash 0-2 0-2 0, Avery Wilson 1-4 0-0 3, Jaci Crick 5-13 5-9 16, Amiyaa Parr-Inmann 2-5 2-2 6, Emma Wakeman 0-0 0-0 0, Charleigh Baledge 1-8 0-2 3, Lilah Greer 0-0 0 0, Carsyn Yeakle 0-1 0-0 0 TOTALS: 13-43 7-15 36.
BLUFFTON (3-0): Maryn Schreiber 6-10 4-7 16, Konley Ault 6-12 0-0 13, Haley Gibson 4-7 0-0 11, Isabella Stout 4-12 3-4 12, Tressa Renner 1-3 4-4 6, Marly Drayer 2-3 2-4 6, Madyson Sonnigsen 0-1 0-0 0, Cayah King 0-1 0-0 0, Sophie Eisenhut 0-1 0-0 0, Madelyn Funk 0-0 0-0 0, Shakyriana Eskridge 0-0 0-0 0.TOTALS: 22-50 13-19 63.
Mississinewa 9 12 7 8 — 36
Bluffton 16 17 17 13 — 63
Three-point FG: Mississinewa 4-17 (Baledge 1-6, Sullivan 1-3, Wilson 1-2, Crick 1-3, Nash 0-1, Greer 0-2), Bluffton: 4-13 (Gibson 3-5, Stout 1-4, Ault 1-2, Renner 0-2, Sonnigsen 0-1). Rebounds: Mississinewa 22 (Crick 5, Parr-Inman 5, Baledge 4, Gree 3, Yeakle 2, Sullivan 1, Wilson 1, Wakeman 1), Bluffton 28 (Schreiber 9, Ault 6, Stout 3, Drayer 3, Gibson 3, Renner 2, Sonnigsen 2 ). Turnovers: Mississinewa 24, Bluffton 15. Fouls: Mississinewa 15 , Bluffton 13. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: 51-35 Bluffton.
