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Greencastle girls win with 2nd-half surge vs. Delone


GREENCASTLE - It was almost like Greencastle-Antrim's girls basketball team couldn't buy a bucket in the first half.

The Blue Devils were a mere 4-for-24 from the field and managed only 8 of 16 free-throw attempts.

But all that changed in the second half. Greencastle went 17-for-26 from the field in the second half and made its last eight 3-pointers en route to a non-league victory over Delone Catholic, 65-48, on Monday night.

"After halftime, Coach told us to just think that every shot you shoot will go in," Blue Devil senior Meghan Hirneisen said. "You have to have that confidence, so instead of getting down about things, we had the mentality that everything was going in."

After trailing 26-17 at halftime, Greencastle (13-1) came out of the gate immediately with a trey from Hannah Crist. Although the Blue Devils missed their next 3-point attempt, they drained their next eight in a row.

"We came out and that was supposed to be the three-point play for (Hannah's) 1,000th point," Greencastle coach Mike Rhine said. "They screwed it up Friday, but they nailed it this time. We used it again later, and she drilled it again. It was sensational. These guys answered the bell, and they didn't look like they were going to. That was quite a shooting display in the third quarter."

Greencastle finished with nine 3-pointers, three each from Crist, Hirneisen and Jenay Faulkner, and there was simply nothing the Squirettes (11-3) could do about it.

"I'm not unhappy with the way that anybody on our team played; we didn't play bad tonight," Delone coach Gerry Eckenrode said. "It's awful frustrating to watch threes raining on you the whole time. They're a very good shooting team, but when a team shoots (65.4%) from the field in the second half, that's ridiculous. I'm not sure who the hell could beat them in the second half."

A surge in rebounding was also a big factor in the Greencastle win. Delone out-rebounded the Blue Devils 10-2 in the first quarter, but held just a 29-27 advantage by the end of the game.

"They're a very tall team and pretty athletic, too," Hirneisen said. "We were boxing out more in the second half, so that allowed us to get a lot more rebounds."

NOTES: Hirneisen had a big day, scoring a career-high 17 points and capping it off with a double-double by pulling down 13 rebounds ... Crist led G-A's offense with 20 points, and Faulkner had 16 points, eight boards and four steals ... Delone was led by Ally Shipley and Elise Knobloch, who scored 15 and 14 points, respectively ... Riley Vingsen contributed 11 points for the Squirettes.

Greencastle 65, Delone 48

Delone (48)

Riley Vingsen 2 5-6 11, Lilly Singleton 0 0-0 0, Katie Laughman 1 2-2 4, Elise Knobloch 6 1-3 14, Ally Shipley 7 0-0 15, Colleen Anderson 1 0-0 2, Catie Apgar 1 0-0 2, Ashlyn Miller 0 0-0 0, Bradi Zumbrum 0 0-0 0. Totals — 18 8-11 48.

Greencastle (65)

Hannah Crist 7 3-8 20, Lydia Crist 1 1-2 3, Jenay Faulkner 4 5-8 16, Madison Sweitzer 1 0-0 2, Meghan Hirneisen 5 4-6 17, Morgan Wagaman 1 1-2 3, Ashley True 2 0-0 4. Totals — 21 14-26 65.

Delone Cath. _ 12 _ 14 _ 10 _ 12 _ — _ 48

Greencastle _ 4 _ 13 _ 26 _ 22 _ — _ 65

3-point goals — DC 4 (Vingsen 2, Knobloch, Shipley), GA 9 (H.Crist 3, Faulkner 3, Hirneisen 3).

JV score — Delone 53, Greencastle 10.