NEW ALBANY — The New Albany girls’ basketball squad pounced on visiting Providence on Friday night at The Doghouse, burying its rivals with a 9-0 run to close the first quarter and an 11-0 run at the end of the second quarter en route to a 67-32 win.

The Bulldogs (2-0), who host Corydon Central tonight, forced the Pioneers into 20 first-half turnovers and were led in scoring by do-it-all senior guard Tanner Marcum, who led all scorers with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Marcum also added five steals, six assists and probably made the pork barbecue at the New Albany concession stand prior to taking the floor.

“She just does everything,” New Albany coach Tammy Geron said. “She’s not just a good player — she’s an outstanding person, too. As much as we need her to score, we also need her leadership on the floor ... her presence out there is just as important to our team as how much she scores.”

The Pioneers (3-2), who despite the loss are off to their best start since the 2002-03 season, were outmanned from the very beginning, and had difficulty matching up with New Albany’s length and athleticism.

Providence coach Brad Burden acknowledged he believed his squad was in for a challenging night, and said he was impressed with the Bulldogs. The Pioneers struggled against New Albany’s full-court pressure, and once they fell behind had a difficult time recovering.

“They’re just so long and athletic — that’s a good basketball team,” Burden said. “We couldn’t get into anything we really wanted to do. The turnovers just plagued us.

“To have a chance, we had to have less than 20 turnovers against them. We had that at halftime. You have to give them credit — they’re a very dangerous team.”

The stats showed New Albany domination in almost every area. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Pioneers 39-24, outscored them at the free-throw line 20-6 and had 11 fewer turnovers than Providence.

Marcum’s 25 points came on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line, and the All-State candidate was one of four double-digit Bulldog scorers. New Albany’s other three starting guards — Temple Ricke, Jenna Shine and Lauren Camm — scored 13, 10 and 10 points, respectively.

New Albany led 43-11 at the half, and Geron said the hot start was the result of good defense and solid, smart attacking offense on the part of her squad.

“Our defense is kind of our bread and butter,” Geron said. “We were very disciplined on that end of the floor, whether it was on the ball or on the weak side. We really defended well tonight.”

Guard Meredith Endris led Providence with 10 points. The Pioneers will host Eastern at 7:30 tonight at the Robert L. Larkin Center.



NEW ALBANY 67, PROVIDENCE 32

Providence       6  5 10 11—32

New Albany    20 23 15  9—67

    Providence (3-2): Meredith Endris 10, Nichole Tucker 8, Lillian Hughes 5, Taylor Smallwood 7, Michaela Hoke 2, Marlee Karem 0, Abby Hunt 0, Sara Gryboski 0, Claire Shannon 0.

    New Albany (2-0): Tanner Marcum 25, Temple Ricke 13, Brianne Nixon 4, Lauren Camm 10, Jenna Shine 10, Claire Hirsch 4, Stephanie Iglesias 0, Tiffany Langford 1, Caleigh McClean 0.

    3-point field goals: Providence 4 (Endris 2, Tucker 2); New Albany 3 (Marcum, Ricke, Shine).

    Rebounds: Providence 24 (Hughes 9); New Albany 39 (Marcum 11).

    Free throws: Providence 6-14, New Albany 20-31.

    Turnovers: Providence 33, New Albany 22.