CAMDEN — Two home games. Two wins.
Under the direction of first-year head coach Maggie Neanen, Preble Shawnee is off to a 2-0 start.
The Arrows began the season with a 52-39 over Brookville on Saturday, Nov. 20.
“Very proud of the way we came out the first half, going up 13-3 after the first quarter and then not allowing them to score a bucket the second quarter just shows how could we could be on defense,” Neanen said. “However we did allow them to score 8 free points from the free throw line in the second quarter. “We need to get our fouling under control, we tend to play aggressive on defense which is a great thing don’t get me wrong, we just need to be smarter and move our feet and just focus on getting deflections, not everything has to be a steal.”
The Arrows extended their lead to 28-11 by halftime and looked poised to make the game a blow out. After pushing the lead to 32-13 with just over six minutes left in the second quarter the Arrows had a lapse, while the visiting Blue Devils seemed to find their groove.
Brookville closed to with 36-29 late in the quarter, but never got closer than seven the rest of the game.
”Going into half up 17, I was worried we would come out flat the second half and we certainly did that,” Neanen said. “We got relaxed on the defensive end and started playing sloppy allowing Brookville to get back within seven at one point. We are a much better team then we played the second half. We also left 22 easy points out there, we missed 11 layups in the game. We definitely need to get better at finishing at the rim especially on break away layups.”
Shawnee was led by Campbell Jewel with 16 points, five steals, four rebounds and three assists. Liv Thompson added 10 points, two rebounds, two steals, two assists, two blocks. Kahlen Kulms came off the bench and added nine points and 11 rebounds.
”Overall it was a good first win of the season and we will continue to get better in practice and work on fixing the little things,” Neanen said. “Proud of the team for not giving up and finishing the game strong.”
On Saturday, Nov. 27, Shawnee knocked off Ponitz 73-51.
Thompson led the way with 16 points. Kulms added 15 and Korrie Woodard (13) and Harlee Howard (12) each reached double figures.
Shawnee was scheduled to play at Valley View on Tuesday, Nov. 30 and will travel to Arcanum on Thursday, Dec. 2 before closing out the week with a home game against West Carrollton on Saturday.
