SHELBYVILLE — For Royals coach Shari Doud, her team is an enigma at this point of the year.
The Eastern Hancock Royals fell to Southwestern 50-49 on Tuesday night, and for Doud, the disappointment comes from how well she knows the team can play.
“Quite honestly, we are playing like a Jekyll and Hyde team,” Doud said. “We can come out and beat one of the the best teams on our schedule (Shenandoah), and then come out the last two games and play like this.”
At halftime, it appeared as if the Royals were on their way to fending off a scrappy Southwestern team, as they took a 25-22 lead to halftime behind 14 first half points from Jocelyn Duncan. Even as Southwestern took the lead in the third quarter, the Royals were able to head into the fourth with the score tied, as Haley Best hit three of her five 3-pointers in the quarter.
“Those two had a great shooting game,” Doud said. “Honestly if it weren’t for them this one could have been ugly.”
The Spartans seemed to gain the upper hand on the Royals in the fourth quarter as their aggressiveness on the boards lead to numerous put-back opportunities and trips to the free throw line.
The Royals were out-rebounded 23-11, and the Spartans shot 26 free throws to the Royals’ six.
“We’ve absolutely got to get better at rebounding the basketball and being aggressive,” Doud said. “We will drill it over and over at practice but the girls are the ones who will need to do it on the floor.”
Despite all of this, the Royals appeared to force overtime, as Jocelyn Duncan stole the ball with 20 seconds left and raced down for a game tying layup. Unfortunately, the Spartans earned their last trip to the line with five seconds remaining and hit one of two free throws. The Royals were unable to score on the ensuing possession.
“We’ve got great shooting,” Doud said. “But the more we work on getting the ball inside and executing down there, the more it will open up for the shooters.”
The Royals will get a chance to rebound from this loss on Saturday afternoon as they host Hagerstown for a 1:30 p.m. tipoff.
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Southwestern 50, Eastern Hancock 49
EH;13;12;13;11;-;49
SW;14;8;16;12;-;50
Eastern Hancock (4-2) – Duncan 6 1-2 16, Best 5 0-0 15, Witte 4 0-0 8, J. Smith 2 1-2 5, S. Smith 1 0-0 2, Stapleton 1 0-0 2, Spaulding 0 1-2 1. Totals: 19 3-6 49.
Southwestern (4-3) – Wilkins 4 4-4 16, Ta. Tatlock 2 9-12 14, Van Gorden 3 1-1 8, Correll 2 0-0 5, Tr. Tatlock 0 4-6 4, Sipes 1 1-3 3. Totals: 12 19-26 50.
3-pointers: Eastern Hancock 8 (Best 5, Duncan 3), Southwestern 6 (Wilkins 4, Correll, Van Gorden 1). Rebounds: Eastern Hancock 12 (J. Smith 6, Spaulding 3, S. Smith, Spaulding, Witte 1), Southwestern 23 (Ta. Tatlock 11, Van Gorden 4, Kerber 3, Tr. Tatlock 2, Correll, Sipes, Wilkins 1).
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