The Greene County Ram basketball teams started the last week of play before the holiday break with a road trip to Woodward to play the non-conference Woodward-Granger Hawks Monday. The Rams returned home with a pair of losses.
The Ram girls lost their eighth game of the season, but the 11-point margin was smaller than in any other loss this season, and the girls made four 3-point baskets.
The Rams were down by only three points after one quarter, at 7-4. They scored only three points in the second quarter while the host Hawks scored 14 points. The score at intermission was 21-7. The Rams hit three 3-point shots in the third quarter – one each for Izzy Bravard, Bailey Cunningham and Sadie Wilson. The score at the end of the third quarter was 33-18. Cunningham put up another long bucket in the fourth quarter and her teammates added four field goals. The final score was 41-29.
Cunningham sored 11 points, twice her season average. Madison Hayes and Brianna Osterson scored four points each, Bravard and Wilson scored three points each, and Lily Muir and Brianna Habben added two points each.
Unofficially the Rams made 12 of 39 shots from the floor 30.7 percent, well ahead of their season average of 20.7 percent. They made only one of seven free throws for 14.2 percent. For the season they were at 40.5 percent from the line.
The Hawks made 14 of 46 shots from the floor for 30.4 percent and 11 of 19 free throws for 57.8 percent.
The Woodward-Granger girls team is now 2-6 on the season.
In the boys game, senior Trey Hinote scored 27 points with nine 3-point baskets and senior Lance Hughes scored 24 points, but that wasn’t enough to balance the Hawks’ 20 points from the free throw line.
The Hawks scored first and led by 10 points, 18-8, after six minutes of play. The Rams were down 18-14 at the end of the quarter, and they put up four more unanswered points in the second quarter to tie the game at 18. The score was tied again at 24 and the Rams stayed within two points much of the quarter. Hinote put up a tres as the buzzer sounded, unofficially breaking the school record for the number of three-point baskets, and the score at intermission was 37-33.
It was in the second half the Hawks’ frequent trips to the free throw line started impacting the course of the game. The Hawks had a 10-point scoring run at the line, allowing them to stretch their lead to 56-43 before Hinote scored. The run included free throws on a pair of technical fouls, neither of them blatant. The score at the end of the quarter was 60-49.
A victory was still within reach with less than two minutes to play. A Hughes basket brought the Rams to within five points, just two possessions, with 1:24 to play in the game. It was again a five-point game at 75-70, but the Hawks scored five point points from the free throw line to win 80-70.
In addition to the points by Hinote and Hughes, Morton scored seven points with two 3-point baskets, Caden Lowmiller scored six points with two long baskets, Cael Fisher made a three, and John Rosado scored three points.
Several teams have scored above their season average against the Rams; the Hawks scored 20 points more than their season average.
The Rams are 4-4 overall and the Woodward-Granger Hawks improved to 6-1.
