Columbus East’s Leah Bachmann, left, shields a rebound from Seymour’s Claire Marshall during a basketball game at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Columbus East came back on Seymour in the fourth quarter after trailing as big as nine points, but the 3-point attempt by Victoria Cuhadar at the buzzer was off, and the Owls came away with a 54-51 Hoosier Hills Conference victory over the Olympians at the Orange Pit Thursday night.
The Olympians found themselves trailing 51-42 midway through the fourth quarter. They turned up the press to cause many Seymour turnovers. East cut it down to 52-51 following two free throws from Cuhadar. Claire Marshall then converted two free throws for the Owls with 11.8 seconds left to put them ahead 54-51.
“We had a chance to win it. It was a tremendous comeback. We were right in the game, probably should have won the game,” East coach Danny Brown said. “It’s hard not to be proud of the girls’ effort, but we’re tired of losing. It’s still a loss, we should have won the game. We didn’t take of the opportunity when we had the chance.”
The Olympians (5-10, 0-3) played without their top player in senior Saige Stahl, who tweaked her ankle and is currently day-by-day.
“We had to have everyone step up with Saige being out,” Brown said. “We weren’t sure going in. We didn’t find out Saige wasn’t going to play until (Wednesday). We’ve got to take care of her and give her more time to heal. We weren’t sure who was going to step up, but we had a chance to win the game. That’s all you can ask.”
With Stahl out of the lineup, East went to Leah Bachman often in the first quarter. She scored eight of the 11 first quarter points with the game tied at 11-11.
Seymour contained Bachmann a bit in the second quarter, but the Olympians got contributions elsewhere jump out to a 19-13 lead midway through the quarter. The Owls came back with 7-0 run to retake the lead 20-19 following a 3-pointer from Brooke Trinkle with about 2:45 left in the first half. East led 22-20, but Seymour went inside to Journee Brown, who scored 12 first half points, to give the Owls a 24-22 lead at the half.
For the game, Bachmann finished with a game-high 22 points. Messiah Trapp added 10 points for East.
Seymour was led by Journee Brown, who finished with 19 points, and Kendall Sterling added 13.
Brown announced in late November that this season was going to be the last of his 20 year reign at the helm of the Olympians.
“With (Seymour coach) Jason (Longmeier), I’ve been battling Seymour for 25 years and Jason for 15. He’s a great coach and a good friend,” Danny Brown said. “He does a good job at Seymour, and I wish him the best.”
Seymour 54, Columbus East 51
Seymour;11;13;15;15;—;54
Columbus East;11;11;11;18;—;51
Seymour (11-5, 2-2): Brown 9 1-2 19, Trinkle 4 0-0 9, Marshall 3 2-2 8, Sterling 5 0-2 13, Henry 1 1-3 3, Kirby 0 2-2 2. Totals: 22 6-11 54.
Columbus East (5-10, 0-3): Jenna Guse 2 2-6 6, Victoria Cuhadar 0 2-2 2, Allison Craig 2 0-0 4, Maeleigh Roberts 2 1-2 5, Heidi Murphy 0 2-2 2, Leah Bachmann 10 2-6 22, Messiah Trapp 4 1-2 10. Totals: 20 10-20 51.
3-point goals: Seymour 4 (Sterling 3, Trinkle); Columbus East 1 (Trapp).
