Mooresville pressure too much for Cougars

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Greenfield-Central’s Addison Hill (22) fight for a loose ball with two Mooresville defenders during their game at Mooresville High School on Jan. 3, 2020. (Rob Baker/Daily Reporter) By: Rich Torres | Daily Reporter

MOORESVILLE — Greenfield-Central was unable to take advantage of opportunities in the first half.

Mooresville made sure the Cougars didn’t have those same opportunities in the second.

The Pioneers scored the first 15 points of the third quarter — scoring often from their full court pressure — and pulled away after a tight first half to beat the Cougars 46-22 at the Curry Center Friday in both school’s first girls’ basketball game of 2020.

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Greenfield-Central, winners of three of its last five prior to the matchup with Mooresville, dropped to 5-9 on the season. Mooresville, which had lost two straight coming in after winning eight of nine, improved to 11-6.

“Their pressure bothered us and we didn’t take care of the ball very well,” Greenfield-Central head coach Bradley Key said. “The first half, we had opportunities, went 0 for 4 at the free-throw line, and missed countless point blank shots.

“I thought we did a good job defensively in the first half, but in the second half our effort wasn’t great. They put on pressure and we didn’t rise to the occasion. Give Mooresville credit. They turned it up and we did not turn it up.”

The Cougar defense helped hold the Pioneers to just 1 of 13 shooting (7.7 percent) in the first quarter and 4 of 24 (16.7 percent) at the half.

G-C led 7-4 after the opening period and much of the first half. Mooresville scored the final basket of the second quarter to take a two-point halftime lead.

The Pioneers found their range in the second half, thanks to some easy baskets off turnovers.

Mooresville helped force 25 Cougar miscues, 11 coming in the third quarter. A 3-pointer from Hannah Farrell with 30 seconds remaining in the third period was G-C’s only second-half field goal.

For the game, the Cougars were, unofficially, just 6 of 32 from the field for just 18.8 percent accuracy.

Farrell led Greenfield-Central in scoring with 11 points. She had seven in the first half. Crystal Peterson scored seven, including 5 of 6 at the free-throw line in the second half.

“They came in 10-6 with a great strength of schedule,” Key added. “If you want to compete with them you have to crank it up, too. We didn’t. We’re not quite there yet.

“It wasn’t a great night for us. …. We’re a better team than that. The scoreboard is what it is, but that’s not indicative of our two weeks of practice and our last two games. That second half was disappointing.”

Late in the first quarter, Greenfield-Central had a 7-2 lead. Farrell opened the game’s scoring with a three-pointer. Brooke Herrell added a bucket and when Farrell picked up her second field goal of the night, the Cougars led by five with 2:40 remaining in the opening period.

Farrell scored again to make it 9-4 early in the second, but the Pioneers began inching closer and took the lead, 13-11, on a bucket by Ally Graber with 11 second remaining until halftime.

Mooresville’s Paige Gregory led all scorers with 17 points.

Greenfield-Central is back in action at Connersville on Tuesday.