By KEVIN HARRIS
fter a rough December where it started the season 0-10, the Christian Academy of Indiana boys’ basketball team began the month of January on a positive note Saturday night at home.
The Warriors outscored visiting Crothersville 11-6 in overtime to collect their first victory of the year, 55-50.
With three seconds left in regulation and CAI up 44-42, Crothersville hit a bucket to deadlock the game and send the game into overtime. But in the extra session, CAI (1-10) nailed 7-of-10 from the free-throw line to finally put a victory in the win column in the 2009-10 campaign.
“The hard work is beginning to pay off for this young team,” Warriors head coach Joshua Hutchinson said. “Hopefully, this good showing will start a good second half of the season for us.”
Junior guard Miller McCorkle led CAI with a game-high 18 points, while freshman Cody Bachman chipped in 14. Warrior senior Drew Mattingly scored 10.
For the game, CAI shot a sizzling 64 percent from the field, while holding the Tigers to 36 percent shooting. The Warriors were 17-of-28 from the stripe (61 percent).
CAI will travel to Baptist Academy in Indianapolis next Saturday.
• Hornets stay hot, beat Cougars: The Henryville boys’ basketball team’s hot streak continued on Saturday night at Furnish Gymnasium.
After trailing 21-10 after the first quarter, the host Hornets outscored Trinity Lutheran 62-40 the rest of the way for their fifth victory in a row, 72-61.
Senior guard Taylor Weeks paced Henryville (7-4) with 21 points and eight rebounds. Junior Dylan Wolf recorded another double-double with 16 points and 10 boards. Teammate Kaleb Robertson chipped in 14 points.
Henryville outscored the Cougars 21-12 in the second quarter to trail by only two points at halftime, 33-31. The Hornets took the lead for good in the middle of the third quarter.
Henryville head coach Perry Hunter was proud of his troops’ effort, especially with Hornet standout Steven Mayfield tallying only four points.
“It was nice to see us get a win with Mayfield scoring just four points. Believe me, he’s happy with the ‘W,’” Hunter said. “We started real slow. But we turned up our intensity on defense.”
The Hornets will host Rock Creek Christian on Tuesday.
• Fife sinks Pirates: Seymour’s Nolan Fife scored 33 points to help the Owls to a 70-52 victory over Charlestown.
Fife scored 29 of his point in the final three quarters for Seymour, who led 19-13 at the end of the first period.
In the second quarter, Charlestown outscored the Owls, 18-15 to cut their lead to 34-31. However, Pirate coach Sean Smith said the Pirates didn’t take advantage of the opportunities they had to take the lead at the break.
“We had opportunities to take the lead and we didn’t take advantage of it,” Smith said. “Fife really stepped up and hit big shots and we missed some (easy shots) around the rim that we usually make.”
Seymour outscored Charlestown, 36-21 in the second half behind Fife’s hot shooting.
Charlestown played the game without second-leading scorer Kyle Hayes, who is out with an ankle injury. Two freshmen — Aaron Daniel and Tyler Odle — played in his place. The freshman duo combined for 17 points.
“Nothing against Tyler and Aaron, but the injury to Kyle is really hurting us,” Smith said. “It’s tough to play well with freshmen at the point and neither one of them is a true point guard.”
Steven Coyne led the Pirates with 13 points.
GIRLS
• Cold shooting hurts Pirates: Charlestown recorded a season-low point total in a 39-24 loss at Mid-Southern Conference foe Brownstown Central.
The Pirates (8-6, 3-2 MSC) shot only 21 percent from the floor (6-of-28) and 50 percent from the free-throw line (12-of-24). The Braves also outscored Charlestown in fast-break points, 14-2.
No Charlestown player scored in double figures. The Pirates’ Amanda Miller and Brittany Bennison each tallied six points.
“We had cold shooting on a cold day,” Charlestown assistant coach Rick Myers said. “We tried to get up and down the floor and take decent shots. But we couldn’t take advantage of opportunities when we got the ball. We played an awesome defensive game, but they did a good job, too.”
The Pirates will travel to Pekin Eastern on Tuesday.
• Warriors fall to Washington Catholic: Christian Academy of Indiana shot 21 percent from the field and dropped a 30-24 decision to visiting Washington Catholic.
The Warriors went just 1-for-12 in the second half as the Cardinals turned a 9-8 deficit at the end of the first quarter into a 27-17 lead at the end of three periods.
Stephanie Combs led CAI (6-9) with 11 points. She also had three rebounds and had the Warriors’ only assist. Kelsey Biggs added seven points and had a co-team-high five rebounds, along with Rachel Boesing.
Rachel Wischman led Washington Catholic with 13 points and Katie Sellers scored 10.
The Warriors will host Cannelton on Monday.
• Warriors fall to Washington Catholic: Christian Academy of Indiana shot 21 percent from the field and dropped a 30-24 decision to visiting Washington Catholic.
The Warriors went just 1-for-12 in the second half as the Cardinals turned a 9-8 deficit at the end of the first quarter into a 27-17 lead at the end of three periods.
Stephanie Combs led CAI (6-9) with 11 points. She also had three rebounds and had the Warriors’ only assist. Kelsey Biggs added seven points and had a co-team-high five rebounds, along with Rachel Boesing.
Rachel Wischman led Washington Catholic with 13 points and Katie Sellers scored 10.
The Warriors will host Cannelton on Monday.
Staff writer Greg Mengelt contributed to this report.
