Lady Miners drop Shakamak at Vincennes tourney

Shakamak's Casey Fougerousse and Linton-Stockton center Stephanie Fougerousse battle for a rebound. The Lady Lakers and Lady Miners met for the second time this season Wednesday night at the Vincennes Rivet Holiday Classic at Vincennes University, with the Lady Miners picking up another victory over Shakamak. (By B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

Fougerousse led the Lady Miners to a 65-55 victory with a career-high 40 points, 14 rebounds, and two blocked shots. The 40 points is a tournament record.

It was the second victory for Linton-Stockton over Shakamak this month as the Lady Miners defeated the Lady Lakers 63-41 on Dec. 17 at Linton.

"I had no idea, when the book guy told me I was flabbergasted," Fougerousse said when asked about her performance.

But she was quick to credit her teammates for supporting her.

"(The team helped) with the passes inside, and I think Savannah Mason had 10 assists. The whole team was working together," added Fougerousse.

Linton-Stockton coach Brad McKinney agreed, "We had Savannah for 10 assists, she did a great job at the point. There's games where she scores some points for us, then there's been the games where she's the point guard and she's just found people.

"There were a couple times tonight that she just found people, she drove and made some nice passes to Steph inside. Let's not forget her efforts there at point because there's a lot in there."

Shakamak knew going into the game that Fougerousse was a strong post player and had a tough time containing her.

"We're not the only team that's going to have that problem. Stephanie does such a good job of using her body and getting position that, with our size, you have to have someone denying and someone in the back. And if you miss or your timing is off a little bit, she's going to catch you on the block and score," Lady Lakers coach Troy Fougerousse said.

Fougerousse not only dominated in the post, she was able to step out and hit a 3-pointer. McKinney was quick to point out, "...they forget about that ... she can step out and shoot the basketball. You know it's kinda odd there late in the game we were trying to get the ball to her against the press. Usually you don't want to throw it to (your center), usually you want it in your guards hands, but Stephanie is the one leading our team in free throws at about 85 percent."

Despite the solid offensive performance, the Lady Miners continue to struggle with their defense, as the Lady Lakers were able to get open looks.

"I was not happy with our defensive effort with 32 points in the first half, that's just not acceptable. It's almost like we've gotten into this thing where we think we can just outscore people and granted we can put some points on the board and we have several scorers who can do that," said McKinney.

"We're going to have to make a bigger commitment to defense over the last month and a half of season if we want to win a sectional championship. That's what we talked about before the game and we just didn't go out and do that. Now at halftime we talked about it a little more in depth about our defensive effort in the first half and came out and I thought we did a much better job getting after them."

The Lady Lakers got off to a good start leading at the half 32-30, but a lack of execution on the offensive side cost Shakamak its lead.

"When you've got somebody like that they can throw the ball to and Steph (Fougerousse) can go off for 40, you have to execute every time down the floor," said coach Fougerousse. "Like I said we had too many turnovers there in the third and fourth quarters.

"You come down and you have to execute because you know that you're going to have to come down and guard Steph inside. ... Turnovers really hurt us there in the second half."

Shakamak did make a run late in the third quarter with back-to-back three-point plays by Casey Fougerousse. A 3-pointer by Jazmine Martin brought the Lady Lakers within two, and another basket by Casey Fougerousse tied the game at 45 with 1:17 left in the third quarter.

McKinney had seen enough and called timeout.

"We got that little lead and it's like we took a breath and kinda rocked back on our heels and took a breath, and you can't do that because Casey (Fougerousse) goes down and makes back-to-back three-point plays and six or eight points and takes an eight-point game down to a two-point game. You can't do that with players like her out on the floor you have to play defense the entire 32 minutes."

The Lady Miners (9-4) will host Eminence at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5 while Shakamak (2-8) will play at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 7 at West Vigo.

At Vincennes

LINTON-STOCKTON (65)--Fougerousse 13-15 13-17 40, Robinson 4-11 0-0 12, Mason 0-3 7-10 7, Riggleman 1-1 1-2 3, Daluga 1-6 0-0 2, Alsman 0-2 1-2 1, Overton 0-1 0-0 0, Wells 0-0 0-1 0, Totals 19-39 22-32 65

SHAKAMAK (55)--Fougerousse 7-9 3-4 18, Martin 4-6 0-0 11, Pearson 4-5 0-0 8, Collins 3-6 0-0 7, Gambill 2-7 0-0 4, Holdaway 1-1 1-2 3, Crane 1-3 0-0 2, Gilbert 0-1 2-2 2, Totals 22-38 6-8 55.

Linton-Stockton 14 16 18 17--65

Shakamak 14 18 13 10--55

3-point shooting -- Linton-Stockton 5-11 (Robinon 4-10, Fougerousse 1-1), Shakamak 5-9 (Martin 3-4, Collins 1-2, Fougerousse 1-3). Fouls -- Linton-Stockton 9, Shakamak 22 Fouled out --None. Rebounds -- Linton-Stockton 22 (Fougerousse 14), Shakamak 11 (Gambill 4). Turnovers--Linton-Stockton 15, Shakamak 18.