Regional champs! Lady Titan basketball clenches first title since 2002
In what started out as a close game, Gibson Southern blew past Princeton to capture the championship
The Gibson Southern Lady Titans beat Princeton to claim the 2023 class 3A Regional 16 title at Charlestown High School.
A Regional title, the one thing that eluded the Lady Titan basketball program and head coach Kyle Brasher the past several years. But, on Saturday, February 11, the Gibson Southern Lady Titans took down the Princeton Tigers at the Charlestown Regional 16, winning 71-55. Despite beating the Lady Tigers in the regular season by more than 40 points, this time the county rivals gave the Gibson Southern a run for its money, with both teams going back and forth throughout the first half of Regional play.
“In the first half, we did not have things go our way to what I thought,” Brasher said. “They came out strong, and we were able to hang on in the first half. I had to switch up the defense into a zone because what we were doing wasn’t working. We were able to stop them from scoring in the second half, and we were able to take advantage of that.”
In the first quarter, the Lady Tigers started off by rarely missing a basket. It was tough for the Lady Titans to defend against the Lady Tigers, who went 90% in field goals in the first half. The Lady Titans were able to hit multiple threes to stay in the game, as they were getting into foul trouble early. At the end of the first quarter the Lady Tigers had the lead by two.
“We knew that Princeton was a different team compared to the first time we played there,” sophomore Gappy Spink said. “After half time, we knew that we had to get our crap together if we wanted to win this game.”
In the second quarter, the Lady Tigers were able to maintain their lead with the Lady Titans only trailing by two, 32-30. The Lady Titans had eight fouls, with the Tigers having seven.
In the start, and during the third quarter, the Lady Titans were able to get a lead on the Tigers, as the whole team was able to contribute with layups and three point shots.
The Lady Titans scored 19 points in the third compared to the Lady Tigers only scoring nine. The change of defense after halftime, going from a man-man defense to a zone defense, really made the Lady Tigers struggle to get inside the paint to hit their shots. The Lady Titans lead at the end of the third quarter 49-41.
In the fourth, the Lady Titans played their best, putting 22 points on the board. They were able to finish around the basket and continued to hit three-point shots. The Lady Tigers could not hang on, losing the game by 16 points.
“We knew going into the game that they were going to come out strong and with a lot of energy,” senior captain Ava Weiseit said. “So, going into halftime, I was pretty confident in our ability to fix our defense if we wanted to win this game.”
This was the first Regional Title for the Lady Titans since 2002.
They ladies face off against Corydon Central this Saturday, February 18, at Jasper High School.
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Alex Spindler is a senior at Gibson Southern. He currently runs cross country and track. He is part of a family of eight with four brothers and one sister....
