Indy Chronicler

WALTON — Lewis Cass’ girls basketball game against Oak Hill was tied for the first 3:42 minutes. And it was tied for 18 seconds of the third quarter. The rest of the time, Cass had the advantage.

Riding a solid defensive effort that put them ahead early, the Class 2A No. 11-ranked Kings led nearly wire-to-wire in fending off Oak Hill 41-30 for a solid W on their season résumé.

Cass got 15 points and 10 boards from Heta Kosunen, a dozen points from Aftin Griffin and a host of other contributions, especially defensively.

“It’s always scary coming off a break like Christmas break,” Cass coach Kyle Amor said. “I don’t know how other schools handle it, but at Lewis Cass, no practice on New Year’s Day, so that’s a concern. We had Sunday off obviously and then [Monday] off. Rust vs. rest and I thought there were times that showed, fortunately defense never has to rely on touch.

“Credit [Oak Hill coach] Kerri [Barcomb], I thought they had a great game plan against [Cass forward] Kinsey [Mennen], who has been a pivotal piece to what we’re doing all season really, and then they did a really nice job defending Aftin on the dribble drive and preventing her from getting too many transition looks. Heta Kosunen had another monster night. That’s kind of what she gives us night in, night out.”

The Kings held Cass scoreless for the first 7:15 of the game and opened a 10-3 lead after a quarter. The Kings led 21-15 at halftime and 26-23 after three quarters.

Cass’ biggest lead in the first three quarters was 10 points at 16-6. The Golden Eagles chipped away in the middle quarters and tied the game at 23-all on the second straight 3-pointer by freshman guard Landri Hardman with 3:08 left in the third. But Kosunen got a 3-point play on a drive at 2:50 and scored a rebound bucket later in the frame. The lead was never less than four points in the final frame.

Cass made Oak Hill chase the game in the final period. The Kings were 11 of 12 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter with Mennen hitting four freebies, Griffin three and Kosunen and Anna Hedrick two each.

“It’s amazing what kind of confidence you have with a little bit of a lead, and then the other team gets in panic mode a little bit,” Amor said. “I thought they were playing on their heels and trying to make something happen and our girls just had to allow things to come to them. When that happens the game seems to go a lot smoother for whoever’s winning at the time. It makes your defense even better when you have a little bit of a lead.”

Oak Hill was 2 of 14 from the field in the fourth and 3 of 5 from the line. For the game, the Golden Eagles hit 9 of 32 shots. Hardman had six of those field goals and a game-high 19 points.

“We rarely get out of our 2-3 zone,” Amor said. “I’ve got coach Karl Eshelman that played on a Basil Mawbey team [at Cass] that was really darn good in the 2-3. He takes a lot of pride in having the girls in the right spot at the right time in the right place and all that. It’s something we’ve hung our hat on all season. As of [Tuesday] night, I think we’re in the top 20 in defensive average in the state. Our girls take pride in that. If we’re having any kind of decent shooting night, we’re going to be a hard team to beat because we’re going to hold teams under their average.”

Amor had praise for kids who didn’t get a lot of points but made an impact elsewhere.

“I thought Ava Hubner played an excellent game defensively, rebounded well for us. Mylie Sipe has been a calming sense with her basketball IQ and her ability to pass the ball. There’s people like that that sometimes don’t get the recognition they deserve and are a big reason why we’re 13-2 also.

“Faith Helvie, a senior like Mylie, like Ava, not always a stat getter but a pivotal piece to our defense.”

The Kings dropped Class 3A Golden Eagles to 9-7.

“They’ve been a powerhouse for a decade so I think any time you can beat Oak Hill you’re pretty excited,” Amor said. “You watch them on film, they’re a solid basketball team that has beaten some teams that I hope we can beat on our schedule. This is a great win for us and I feel like every team that’s like this is a nice measuring stick, and we seemed to measure up to that.”