GREENFIELD — The losing streak couldn’t last forever. And even if it tried, then Hannah Farrell was going to have something to say about it.
The Greenfield-Central senior guard scored 13 points, hauled in 12 rebounds and dished out seven assists with five steals to propel the Cougars back into the win column with a 50-43 victory over Shelbyville on Tuesday night.
The Cougars (3-7) had lost five consecutive games, but after ending their drought against the Hoosier Heritage Conference rival Golden Bears (3-7, 1-3) they’re ready to start a new trend.
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“It feels good because our girls practice hard. They’re trying to do the right things,” Greenfield-Central coach Bradley Key said. “Winning is hard. Once you get on a roll, it seems to be easier. Once you get on the other side of it, though, it’s really hard.”
The Cougars made winning look easy early behind a 17-4 run to open the night. Greenfield-Central built a 13-point lead while shooting 54 percent from the floor through the first eight minutes.
Shelbyville answered with a 9-0 run in the second quarter, but the Cougars kept their composure despite the margin slipping to 31-24 by halftime.
A 10-3 run, sparked by the tandem of Farrell and senior Crystal Peterson put the Cougars back in front 43-35 after the third quarter.
Peterson finished the game with five assists and three rebounds as both she and Farrell fed juniors Ava Antic and Brooke Herrell in the paint. Antic had a team-high 15 points and seven rebounds. Herrell added 12 points with three rebounds.
“It’s a big relief. We’ve definitely been trying to get over the hump, which just takes some time, getting used to our new dynamics of the season,” Farrell said. “But I feel like we’re finally going to turn the corner. We knew we had a lot more basketball, and it was just getting used to each other, playing the game together.”
The Cougars shot 57 percent from the field in the first half and were 5 of 12 in the third quarter, but their efficiency plummeted to 20 percent in the fourth as Shelbyville clawed back.
Kylee Edward scored a game-high 16 points on 6-for-18 shooting, including four 3-pointers. Jaidyn Tackett had nine points, and Madison Bassett chipped in six along with Megan Eads.
As a team, the Golden Bears were 8 of 23 from beyond the arc, and each 3-pointer kept them within striking distance.
An Edwards trey followed by a bucket in the post by Madison Phares sliced the deficit 43-40 with 5 minutes and 22 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
After a missed free throw by Farrell with 3:09 left, the Bellarmine commit responded.
She connected with Antic in transition to pad the lead 45-40 and found Herrell for another two points with under a minute remaining to keep the Cougars in control, 47-42.
She converted 3 of 4 free throws in the last 19.1 seconds to seal the victory.
“Shelbyville, they worked hard, and they hit some shots from players that don’t normally hit shots. Good for them, but I felt like we stayed in the game. We continued to battle,” Key said. “As a coach, you knew they were going to make a run. It was how are we going to respond to it because we have not been in that situation all year. We haven’t been up on a team like that.
“I thought we did a good job of listening to the game plan. We really didn’t want to settle tonight, and we wanted to attack the rim as much as possible. I thought we did that.”
The Cougars were aggressive on both ends of the floor, out-rebounding Shelbyville 37-15 with 24 boards coming off the defensive glass.
Greenfield-Central shot 8 of 12 from the foul line. Addison Hill had six rebounds and four points. Brianna McConnell supplied five points off the bench.
“It was a good team win. I like to see three players in double-digits. That’s awesome,” Key said. “I’m really happy with tonight. It feels good. We’re going to enjoy it tonight. It’s been a while. That’s five games, so it’s been tough, but we have Delta on Saturday, another conference game. Hopefully, we can give them our best shot.”
Greenfield-Central travels to HHC foe Delta with a 1-2 league record before competing in the Franklin Tournament on Dec. 28.
The last time the Cougars lost five straight games was in 2012-13 under former head coach Doug Laker before the team finished 8-13 overall.
“That was huge. We wanted to come out and go strong, and I felt like we did that,” Farrell said. “We knew we’d get there eventually, so this is a good start for a good roll.”
