Greene County Daily World: High School Sports: Freebies cost Lady Lakers

It was a matter of good news and bad news for the Shakamak High School girls basketball team, who hosted Clay City in a dual conference game Tuesday night at Jasonville.

The good news was that the Lady Lakers got to the foul line 34 times, but the bad news was they missed 20 in a 43-39 loss to the Lady Eels.

"Free throws were the difference," said Shakamak coach Troy Fougerousse, whose Lady Lakers slipped to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in both the Tri-River Conference and Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference. We hit 8 of 19 in the first half and came in at intermission and talked about that.

"It was a good thing to get to the free throw line that many times, but you just can't miss that many. My goal is 70 percent, but I would settle for 60 percent right now."

Jade Gambill made 8 of 12 from the line as part of a 10-point performance. Micayla Crane made 3 of 4. The rest of the team was 3-for-18.

"We got to spend early mornings practicing free throws," said Fougerousse. "There is no way around it. We have to have more repetition."

Casey Fougerousse made three 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, but the senior guard missed 7 of 10 foul shots.

Coach Fougerousse said their press allowed the Lady Lakers to cut the Lady Eel lead to two in the second half, but couldn't get any closer.

"The girls played their hearts out," he said. "We were able to force turnovers, which allowed us to get back into the game.

"But we just did not step to the line and convert when we had the chance."

Clay City improved to 2-1 overall, 2-0 in the TRC and 1-0 in the SWIAC.

Clay City won the jv contest 38-30. Kelsey Pilant paced the Lady Lakers with 14 points. Megan Phipps scored seven points, Bethany Simpson three, Savannah Turner four and Kelsey Fulford added two.

Shakamak will play a conference game at White River Valley at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. It will be a varsity-only contest.

CLAY CITY (43) -- Roeschlein 4 5-8 15, Drelick 4 7-7 15, Reed 0 0-0 0, Ally Miller 2 1-4 6, McCullough 1 1-3 3, Sloan Miller 1 0-0 2, Booe 1 0-0 2, Gossage 0 0-2 0. Totals 1e 14-25 43.

SHAKAMAK (39) -- Casey Fougerousse 5 3-10 16, Kristi Pearson 2 0-4 4, Cassanda Holdaway 0 0-2 0, Jade Gambill 1 8-12 10, Mikayla Crane 2 3-4 7, Jazmine Martin 1 0-0 2, Lacey Gilbert 0 0-2 0. Totals 11 14-34 39.

Clay City 5 14 16 8 -- 43

Shakamak 6 6 13 14 -- 39

3-pointers -- Clay City 3 (Roeschlein 2, A. Miller), Shakamak 3 (Fougerousse 3). Fouls -- Clay City 24, Shakamak 19. Fouled out -- Drelick.