Senior staff writer
Greenwood senior Leah Moore has made it a point to see the movie “Hoosiers” for the first time after scoring a game-tying high of 17 points with teammate Alex Kincaid on Dec. 28 against Walled Lake Northern (Mich.) at the fabled Hoosier Gym in Knightstown.
“It was small and very cramped with the fans really close, not much room,” Moore said. “I think our coach (Bill Torgerson) was more excited than we were. It was exciting because we were playing a team from a different state, and that usually doesn’t happen in season.”
The gymnasium served as the home court for the movie’s Hickory Hucksters and site of the Border War classic that featured Greenwood Christian Academy and Tri County (Mich.) in the opener.
The Woodmen defeated Walled Lake 72-45 and GCA won a 49-45 thriller.
The next day they switched foes in Greenwood with the Woodmen defeating Tri-County 56-38 behind Moore’s 15 points; GCA lost 47-36.
The court at Knightstown is 13 feet shorter than today’s high school courts, but that didn’t take anything away from the games.
Free throws by Sarah Mangan and Grace Peters iced the Cougars’ win. They led 36-30 after three quarters, fell behind by one point but recovered to win. Mangan led with 15 points. Freshman Izzy Reed scored 20 points against Walled Lake.
Holiday results
Six Southside girls teams took part in holiday tournaments.
Center Grove (12-3) reached the final game of the Columbus North tourney but lost to Northwestern 48-37; Beech Grove (10-4) went 1-2 and finished seventh in the same eight-team field.
Roncalli was 1-1 in the Plainfield tourney, and Perry Meridian split at Warsaw.
Southport was winless in two games at Noblesville, and Lutheran fell twice at Clinton Prairie.
Key upcoming games: tonight, Roncalli at Franklin Central; Thursday, Beech Grove at Roncalli; Friday, Center Grove at Carmel, Greenwood at Whiteland and Washington at Manual.