By RICK SPRUNGER
CHURUBUSCO — Bluffton took care of business Tuesday night.
The Tigers breezed past a badly overmatched Churubusco squad 58-16 to improve to 12-1 on the season.
Churubusco, badly depleted by injuries to the point that it had to cancel the junior varsity game so it could move some players up, fell to 4-10.
But Bluffton is also banged up.
The Tigers, who have been making do without one starter in Konley Ault, played this game without a second one in Maryn Schreiber, who injured a wrist in Saturday’s game against Adams Central.
“We’re just waiting on an MRI report,” said Bluffton coach Doug Curtis concerning Schreiber. “We’re hoping to have her back for Thursday night (at Class 3A powerhouse Fairfield).”
But if playing without both Ault and Schreiber wasn’t bad enough, 5-10 freshman Sophie Eisenhut went down hard under the basket late in the first quarter. She immediately came out of the game and never returned.
“She was wobbly,” said Curtis while listing her as doubtful for the big game at Fairfield.
In truth, Bluffton didn’t need any of those players against Churubusco. The Tigers used a 16-0 run to open up a 21-2 lead less than two minutes into the second quarter and were never headed.
Bluffton limited Churubusco to 1-for-12 shooting in the first quarter while forcing four turnovers in that period and three more on the Eagles’ first three possessions of the second.
In fact, Churubusco managed just one field goal in each of the first three periods and two in the fourth as the score continued to mount.
The Bluffton lead reached 37-7 at halftime and 50-10 after three quarters and peaked at 58-12 midway through the fourth.
Bluffton was led in scoring by Isabella Stout with 23 points and Haley Gibson with 18.
Stout added 12 rebounds to her point total, and Gibson connected on four three-pointers.
“We played exactly the way we want to play in a game like this,” said Curtis. “We wanted to work on doing a better job on our matchups and work at improving our game regardless of who the opponent is or what the score is.”
Bluffton finished 21-for-57 from the field for a less-than-stellar .351 shooting percentage but made up for that by practically playing handball off the offensive glass.
The Tigers won the battle of the boards by a crippling 39-26 margin.
Churubusco, meanwhile, hit on just five of 34 shots for a .149 percentage while turning the ball over 22 times.
Bluffton achieved a running clock on a three-point play by Marly Drayer that upped the count to 45-10 with 4:24 left in the third quarter.
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BLUFFTON 58, CHURUBUSCO 16
at Churubusco
BLUFFTON (12-1): Isabella Stout 9-19 5-5 23, Marly Drayer 1-4 1-1 3, Haley Gibson 7-16 0-0 18, Tressa Renner 1-5 3-4 6, Sophie Eisenhut 0-2 0-0 0, Madyson Sonnigsen 3-7 0-0 8, Cayah King 0-0 0-0 0, Madelyn Funk 0-2 0-0 0, Addison Yates 0-0 0-0 0, Savanna Hughett 0-2 0-0 0, Isla Gibson 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 21-57 9-10 58.
CHURUBUSCO (4-10): Patty Wiggs 0-7 2-2 2, Alyssa Eby 0-2 0-0 0, Lilly Rinker 0-0 0-0 0, Bridget Timbrook 1-9 0-0 2, Jorja DeBolt 2-7 1-2 6, Mallory Schaefer 0-0 0-0 0, Jessica Price 0-2 0-2 0, Kailin Foote 1-5 1-3 4, Brooke Andis 0-1 0-0 0, Tessa Vernon 1-1 0-0 2, Nola Bianksi 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 5-34 4-11 16.
Bluffton 14 23 13 8 — 58
Churubusco 2 5 3 6 — 16
Three-point shooting: Bluffton 7-19 (Stout 0-1, Drayer 0-1, H. Gibson 4-8, Renner 1-2, Sonnigsen 2-6, Funk 0-1), Churubusco 2-18 (Wiggs 0-1, Eby 0-1, Timbrook 0-5, DeBolt 1-4, Price 0-1, Foote 1-5, Andis 0-1). Rebounds: Bluffton 39 (Stout 12, Sonnigsen 6), Churubusco 26). Turnovers: Bluffton 10, Churubusco 22. Personal fouls: Bluffton 13, Churubusco 7. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.
JV Score: No JV Game.
