PENDLETON — Inexperience hindered the Pendleton Heights girls basketball team again as the Arabians relinquished a fourth-quarter lead and fell to the visiting Yorktown Tigers, 56-52, Nov. 16.
“You don’t want to have to learn from losing, but we will,” Coach Chad Cook said.
The Arabians are on a rare 0-3 start, and the loss to the Tigers opened Hoosier Heritage Conference play. “I thought we didn’t take care of it enough.”
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Cook said fatigue was also a factor. “We had a couple girls who never got a sub, and we weren’t able to close it out.”
He called a few timeouts to allow for a short bit of respite.
As the season progresses, Cook said the youth of the team will not be as much a factor as it is now.
“It’ll come back later in the season where it’ll change the outcome.”
The Arabians committed 14 turnovers, only one more than the Tigers, but a rash came late in the game, giving the Tigers the opening they needed to overcome the deficit.
Pendleton Heights jumped out to an early lead and finished the first quarter on top 18-10. As the second quarter got underway, the Tigers rebounded to close the gap, and at one stretch had a 2-point advantage.
The Arabians tied the game on a bucket by junior Kylie Davis. Davis went on to score 7 points in a row to turn the tide back to the Arabians, who went into the locker room with a 30-26 halftime lead.
With a little more than two minutes remaining in the final period, the Arabians had a 52-49 lead on scores by Aubree Dwiggens, who scored 10 of her 13 in the final minutes of the game.
Yorktown tied the score, and then a Tiger steal and bucket put them ahead 54-52. An Arabian foul sent the Tigers to the free-throw line to seal the win.
Cook said although they came up short, the close physical games will benefit them in the long run.
“The toughness to be able to deal, and the mentality will help to be a little stronger and more poised and more under control in others,” Cook said.
While the Arabians have a long season to improve, one the team’s biggest tests will come in the next few weeks. Five of the conference games will be played within the next few weeks. Additionally, the Arabians will play three games over a four-day period. They play host to Greenfield-Central Nov. 22, Frankton, Nov. 23 and travel to New Castle Nov. 25.
“With the way are schedule is, you’ve got to be ready to go before the third game of the year,” Cook said. “No rest for the weary. It’ll be a challenge, but we’ll see what we can do.”