GREENFIELD — With the game all but decided late in the fourth quarter on Tuesday night, Greenfield-Central senior Brooke Herrell could care less what the scoreboard read.
As her Cougars trailed visiting Yorktown 51-24, Herrell tracked down the ball with 2 minutes, 40 seconds remaining as if the it was a one-possession dogfight.
A quick steal and a foul drawn, led to a pair of free throws. Herrell converted the first before the second rimmed out. Either way, she wasn’t giving up.
Only her second game back on the court since missing five over a month’s time, Herrell was maximizing her opportunity.
“For volleyball we were pretty lucky. We only had one girl that was quarantined for three games,” said Herrell, who is committed to Hanover College for volleyball. “I’ve only been back for two games.”
Her first was a loss at Hoosier Heritage Conference rival Mt. Vernon, 46-19, this past Friday. Against HHC foe Yorktown on Tuesday, the Cougars once again lost, 53-29, but the results haven’t been due to a lack of effort.
Consistency has been the issue, and it stems from contact-tracing quarantines. As one player returns, another seems to disappear in, at times, alternating two-week blocks or overlapping stretches.
“It’s just crazy because like coach said, it’s as if we have a new lineup each week. You never know who is going to be in the starting five,” Herrell said. “You just have to roll with it, I guess.”
The Cougars have done their best this season despite dropping to 5-12 on the season and 3-4 in the HHC.
Against Yorktown, the Cougars led early 4-3 and were behind 10-9 by the conclusion of the first quarter.
Herrell, who has posted 10 points or more in eight of her 13 games played, scored a team-high 10 points with five rebounds by the final horn.
However, first-half foul trouble slowed her production as the Yorktown Tigers (14-5, 4-3 HHC) pulled away.
“It is a challenge. She’s a game changer, and once she had her second foul, we had to pull her out, and that hurt, but that’s part of the game because we don’t have someone to replace her,” Greenfield-Central head coach Bradley Key said.
“Without (some key players) it’s hard. With Brooke coming back, it’s like a breath of fresh air, but then (other players) are gone, so it’s been tough. But every coach has had to deal with it, so it’s not just us.”
It still makes an impact, and the Cougars have felt it from top to bottom.
A promising 27-19 victory over Class 4A Greenwood on Nov. 5 to open the season inspired the program, but a five-game losing streak that followed and quarantines made winning difficult.
The 4A Cougars went 4-7 from Dec. 3 through late January.
“It’s been hard to get into a rhythm,” Key said. “I was telling some other coaches, some of my best teams, when you start in November I had the same lineup until February. But with this group, every week there’s a different team at practice, or so it feels like. So it’s hard to get into a rhythm for them. It’s hard to get in a rhythm for us.”
For the first eight minutes on Tuesday, the Cougars found their stride turning a 7-4 deficit into a 10-9 lead behind a 6-2 run.
In the second quarter, however, the Tigers took advantage of Greenfield-Central’s miscues, going on a 10-2 run to build a 21-12 halftime lead.
The Cougars recorded 12 turnovers in the first half and had 18 in the second half, which opened the door for the Tigers.
Carley Culberson poured in a game-high 23 points and four rebounds for Yorktown, while Elizabeth Reece had nine points and five rebounds. Amari Wright added six points, and Jenna Sylvester had five.
“We kind of lost our rhythm (in the second quarter), but all we focus on is competing. Effort for 32 minutes and try the best we can every game,” Herrell said.
Down by 16 points in the third quarter, the Cougars chipped the deficit to 13 points after an and-one play by senior Zoe Solis to make it 33-20.
Solis finished with four points, and senior Caroline Gibson had nine points with six rebounds. Junior Annan Tiede had three points and sophomore Schulyer Sparks added three with five rebounds.
“Yorktown is a good basketball team. I thought we came out and played well. Brooke getting into foul trouble hurt us, but we didn’t rebound well in the first half,” Key said. “I thought we got better in the second half, but we turned the ball over a bunch.
“That was the seniors’ last game on that court, so it was fun to watch Zoe out there, and Caroline had a good game, along with Brooke.”
Though, it marked the Cougars’ final home game, it is not their last with a road contest at Avon on Thursday to conclude the regular-season and the opening round of Sectional 9 on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at host Muncie Central.
“We’re already watching film on Muncie Central. We’re already focusing on what we need to do to beat them and get to the next round to play either Anderson or New Pal,” Herrell said.
Herrell, like her teammates, want nothing more than to get in as many games as they can before the end.
“Those are two good challenges going into sectional (with Yorktown and Avon). Muncie Central has some size that we’re going to have to deal with, so if we didn’t rebound well tonight, we have to focus on it for next week,” Key said. “It’s a good thing because now we can talk about it and improve.”
