The Gibson Southern Lady Titans basketball team hosted the Castle Knights in the Titans’ home opener. In the first quarter, the Titans put up 18 points to Castle’s 10. In the second quarter the Knights outscored the Titans and narrowed the lead to 30 – 25 heading into halftime with junior Chloey Graham topping the score sheet.

“We were all pumped and excited; we were doing pretty well but we knew we could do better,” Graham said. “We had a lot of positive energy to do so.”

Opening the third quarter the Titans went on a run and extended the lead to 19 points, 51-32. The Titan defense held the Knights to just 12 points in the second half, and with the help of senior forward Alexis Tucker, the Titans ended up with 16 points in the fourth quarter to Castle’s 12. 

“The third quarter is where we really imposed our will upon Castle,” head coach Kyle Brasher said. “We outscored Castle 21-7 while only committing one foul with about 10 seconds left in the quarter. The girls did a great job of responding to the type of pressure we saw in the first half and limiting our turnovers and moving/sharing the basketball with each other.”

Gibson Southern took the win 67-44 on this first game of the season on its own court. Tucker finished the game with 23 points as well as eight rebounds.

“It really helps that the team pushed the ball up the floor and looked up for me down low to hit a shot,” Tucker said. “My favorite moment of the game was when Lauryn Adamson drove to the lane and drew both defenders to her and made a perfect bounce pass to me on the other side.”

Some other girls in the scoring column included Graham with four threes and a total of 20 points, senior Ava Weisheit with 11, junior Ally Malone with nine and sophomore Adamson putting up four.

“I was most impressed with our team’s ability to play the level of defense we did,” Brasher said. “The girls did a great job of applying the scout to our advantage, limiting their possessions to one shot, and providing both on and off-ball defense.”

The Lady Titans start their season off with a win. They face the North Posey Vikings at the Titan Fieldhouse on Friday, November 11.