Springs Valley Community High School

The Springs Valley girls’ basketball team has, at times, been a slow-starting bunch — on the offensive end at least. That was the case on Saturday as they took the floor at Jack Butcher Arena to battle new sectional rival Loogootee. It took the Blackhawks some time to get on the board and once they did, it was mostly Maddie Carnes doing the scoring. The freshman poured in 15 of Springs Valley’s 20 first-half points, putting the ‘Hawks ahead by three at the break. In the second half she would inevitably get some help with her teammates taking the load off her shoulders offensively and that would be enough to get the Blackhawks a 38-36 win. “I didn’t think we got off to the greatest of starts. It’s been worse some nights but it wasn’t great tonight. I thought we were a little bit out of sync, a little tired, and I know we have some kids who are hurting a little bit,” Springs Valley coach Marty Niehaus said. “We got it going enough to build up that lead, then Loogootee came storming back and put a good scare into us, but I thought the kids stayed poised down the stretch, took care of the ball when we needed to, and basically handled the pressure to be able to persevere and get the win.” Over the course of the season, the Blackhawks’ rebounding has gotten them into trouble. In certain games they’ve allowed too many offensive rebounds, for instance, and given their opponent’s too many second chances on that end of the floor. On Saturday though, offensive rebounding and rebounding as a whole proved to be Springs Valley’s saving grace. Though they only won the game by two points, the Blackhawks waxed Loogootee on the glass. They outrebounded the Lions 34-22 led by Carnes’ 11 boards. Their nine offensive rebounds were a boon to their struggling offense as well. “That was great. We haven’t been doing a great job of defensive rebounding, but I thought we did on Thursday night against Bloomfield and then again tonight we weren’t too shabby,” Niehaus said. “It was good to do a good job on the boards on both ends for sure.” The top two scorers for Springs Valley, Carnes with 17 points and classmate Maci Eckerty with nine, were no surprise. The youngsters have led the team in scoring over the course of the season. Throughout the year though the Blackhawks have seen a rotating cast of tertiary scorers — Brynne Buchanan, Macy Hall, and Tori McCormick have all played the role on a given night — but on Saturday, that job fell to Bella Nottger. The junior has been in and out of the lineup through the early portion of the season, but might have gotten a season-high in minutes against the Lions and delivered with a career-high in points. She put up seven points, all after halftime, to lead the Blackhawks in second-half scoring and did so efficiently. She hit two of the three shots she attempted from the field, then hit three of her four free-throw attempts as well. “That was really big tonight. We knew that the potential was there, she’s just had a little bit of trouble getting it going. I think tonight it helped that Loogootee didn’t match up with her really well size-wise and she was able to capitalize on it,” Niehaus said. “She got some really timely buckets, hit some free throws that were big for us as well. We needed a third scoring option for sure and tonight it was her. That was really good to see.” Springs Valley (7-6, 2-1 PLAC) has a pair of contests left before the new year, and will try to use them to build some momentum heading into 2023. Owners of two wins in a row, the Blackhawks will take on Patoka Lake Athletic Conference foe West Washington on Tuesday, then get a short break before hosting Hancock County on Thursday, Dec. 29. A pair of wins — and a significant amount of rest over the holiday break — would do them well as they head toward an early-January span featuring key matchups against Vincennes Rivet, Crawford County, and Paoli. “We’ve still got West Washington to play on Tuesday, so we have to get through that, but yeah I think we’re ready for a break,” Niehaus said. “There are some things that we need to back up a step on, regroup, refocus, and clean them up so hopefully we get the opportunity to do that and get a little rest.” SPRINGS VALLEY BLACKHAWKS 38 3P;AFG;FT;R;PF;Pts Buchanan, g;0-2;0-3;2-4;3;1;2 Eckerty, g;3-12;3-15;0-1;6;2;9 Shipman, f;0-0;0-1;0-0;2;1;0 Hall, f;0-0;0-1;0-2;6;2;0 Carnes, c;0-1;6-12;5-7;11;0;17 Bonta;0-1;0-2;0-0;0;0;0 Nottger;0-0;2-3;3-4;3;3;8 McCormick;0-0;1-1;1-2;3;0;3 Land;0-0;0-0;0-0;0;0;0 Totals;3-16;12-38;11-20;34;9;38 Shooting;.188;.316;.550 LOOGOOTEE LIONS 36 3P;AFG;FT;R;PF;Pts Arizti;0-0;0-0;0-0;0;0;0 Farhar;0-2;0-2;0-0;0;2;0 Hawkins;1-1;6-13;0-0;5;4;13 Waggner;1-3;2-11;2-2;5;3;7 Eckerle;1-2;2-4;1-1;0;1;6 Ramsey;0-0;0-0;0-0;0;0;0 Sutton;2-7;2-14;0-0;4;0;6 Mason;0-1;1-4;0-0;4;3;2 Green;0-0;0-2;2-2;4;2;2 Brown;0-0;0-0;0-0;0;0;0 Totals;5-16;13-50;5-5;22;15;36 Shooting;.313;.260;1.000 Springs Valley (7-6);7;13;9;9—38 Loogootee (2-9);7;10;4;15—36 TO: Springs Valley 15, Loogootee 7.