Columbus East’s Koryn Greiwe, right, has her layup attempt blocked by Zionsville’s Laila Hull during a basketball game at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
It was apparent from the opening tip of the game between visiting Zionsville and Columbus East that the Olympians had not played a game since defeating Columbus North on Dec. 16. The long layoff affected the home team, as it struggled out of the gate against a hot shooting Eagles team in a 76-59 defeat Wednesday night at The Orange Pit.
“The long layoff affected us for sure, especially at the beginning of the game,” East coach Danny Brown said. “This was a very good, talented team we played tonight, and we knew that coming in, but we were slow to get started, and I think the layoff had something to do with that.”
After a Koryn Greiwe 3-pointer gave East an early 4-2 lead in the opening period, Zionsville went on a tear, outscoring the Olympians 24-9 the rest of the quarter to jump to a 26-13 lead heading into the second period.
Several Olympian turnovers and hot shooting from deep by the Eagles contributed to the 13 point East deficit. Zionsville was 4-5 from behind the arc in the period.
East faced its largest deficit just seconds into quarter two, as Zionsville’s Mya Childress hit a layup, giving the Eagles a 28-13 lead. Following that bucket, the Olympians picked up their game, however. A Kaitlyn Carothers’ 3 jump-started the East offense. Saige Stahl hit two free throws to bring the Zionsville lead under 10 points at 30-21.
From there, it was Albany Speer who kept East within striking distance for the remainder of the first half. Speer scored 11 points in the quarter, including a 3 that brought the Olympians to within five at 39-34. The Eagles would score the final bucket of the half to take a 41-34 lead into the locker room.
The Olympians came out of the locker room to begin the second half with a quick Leah Bachmann score to cut the deficit back to five early in the third period, but that is as close as they would get. The Eagles kept East at bay for the remainder of the quarter, upping their lead to as much as 12 points. A Greiwe 3 late in the quarter cut the Eagle lead back to seven heading into the final period.
Once again, East was able to cut the lead down to five early in the final period, 53-48, put a personal six-point run by the Eagles leading scorer, Laila Hull, who scored 31 points on the night, quickly expanded the visitors’ lead back up to 11 at 61-50. Unfortunately for the Olympians, they were not able to cut into the lead the rest of the way.
“We tried to change things up. We threw a lot at them. Every time we got it close, they had an answer. They would break our press for an open 3, and if we closed out too fast they would go around for a layup,” Brown stated.
Another two Zionsville baskets put the game away for the visiting Eagles, as they were able to hold off a hard fighting East team, 76-59.
Joining Speer, who had 11 points, in double figures for the Olympians on the night were Stahl, who paced East with a team leading 21 points, Greiwe with 10, and Bachmann with 11.
“We will learn from this game and move on. This is a great team we played, and Hull is as talented a player as we have seen this year,” Brown said. “This is a non-sectional and non-conference opponent, so it’s a game we can just learn from.”
