PLEASANT HILL — Preble Shawnee’s girls’ basketball team had not played a game in 10 days and the rust showed early as Newton forced the tempo.
Once the Arrows got their footing, they pulled away for a hard-fought 59-45 win on Thursday, Jan. 20 in a Western Ohio Athletic Conference game.
Two days later, Shawnee extended its winning streak to nine games with a 44-39 home win over Legacy Christian.
“Coming off a 10 day, no game stretch we knew that we would have to bring the energy and playing on the road is never easy,” Shawnee coach Maggie Neanen said. “We started off the game quickly falling behind to a high energy, fast paced Newton, who has been playing very well. I don’t think our team was ready for such a fast paced game, you could tell that we hadn’t played, we were very rusty on our passes and shots.”
The Arrows managed a 15-13 lead after the opening quarter and was up 27-25 at the half.
Junior Liv Thompson paced the Arrows with 15 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Junior Campbell Jewel added 12 points, seven steals and four assists.
Junior Harlee Howard tossed in 11 point and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, while senior Gracie Lovely contributed 10 points and five rebounds.
Korrie Woodard added five points and nine rebounds and sophomore Kahlen Kulms chipped in with six points, six blocked shots and five rebounds.
“We finally regained our strength and our shots started to fall, our guards started getting to the rim instead of settling for the outside shots,” Neanen said. “Newton definitely didn’t make it easy for us. Harlee played her best game rebounding wise for us, she was a beast on the boards.
Shawnee outscored the Indians 18-12 in the third quarter to take a 45-37 lead into the fourth quarter. In the fourth, the Arrows closed with a 14-8 run.
“We started the second half up two and really battled point for point with Newton until about midway through the (third) quarter, we quickly exploded and were able to gain a pretty good lead and from there on out we controlled the game,” Neanen said. “It was a grind and we were rusty but I am very proud of the girls’ effort and hustle they showed last night.”
On Saturday, Jewel led the way with 13 points, eight rebounds and seven steals. Howard had 11 points and eight rebounds.
Thompson and Woodard each finished with seven points and six rebounds and Lovely contributed six points.
The Arrows led 13-7 after the first quarter and took a 22-16 lead into halftime. Each team scored 10 in the third.
Shawnee is now 12-5 overall and 6-2 in the WOAC.
The Arrows are scheduled to play at Mississinawa Valley on Thursday, Jan. 27 and will visit Monroe on Saturday.
