Taylor’s run ends in regional final

By JOHN DEMPSEY Tribune sportswriter

BERNE — The Taylor girls basketball team’s dream of a trip to Conseco Fieldhouse died early in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s IHSAA Class 2A South Adams Regional championship game.

The Harding Hawks opened the period with a 14-5 run that left the Lady Titans chasing them the rest of the game before Harding emerged as a 57-48 victory in the Star Dome.

Scoreless for the first 24 minutes, Notre Dame recruit Danielle Ben-Tvsulun hit three straight shots that pushed the Hawks’ one-point margin at the end of the third, 34-33, to a 40-35 lead.

Then, Derrecka Rogers, a junior guard who had averaged 2.7 points over 18 games, exploded. She drained a 3-pointer from right of the key, hit a jumper from 14 feet and then added another long-range bomb. By the time the game ended, she had 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

“Ever since I took over as coach,” said J.J. Foster, “I’ve been wanting her to shoot. People are just daring her to shoot. Now she’s got some confidence.”

A 30-percent shooter from the field, she had hit five from behind the arc all season.

“She hit some shots,” Taylor coach Dennis Bentzler said, “that I bet she hasn’t hit all season.”

Down 49-40 with 4 minutes, 10 seconds to go, the Titans kept fighting. The Hawks made just one more basket and let Taylor stay in the game by hitting just 6 of 14 free throws in the final 2:25.

That, however, is where Taylor’s afternoon battle with Manchester came back to haunt it. Forced to go deep for points, fatigue left the Titans being double teamed every time down the court.

“We lost our legs late in the third. We had to play so hard in the afternoon that it affected our shooting and our reactions on defense,” Bentzler said. “We didn’t get it done. Usually we create a lot of problems defensively but we weren’t able to get on top of people on the press.

“Couple that with the fact that they hit some tough shots inside to start the fourth. We had to shoot 3s. Our legs were gone and we weren’t even close.”

Still, the heart was there for Taylor and it narrowed the margin to 54-48 with 31.5 seconds remaining on Morgan McWhorter’s free throws.

Ben-Tvsulun hit a pair of charity tosses with 29.6 seconds remaining and that effectively sealed the Hawks win.

“They aged me. We wanted to get into our press and force them to bring it up against pressure, but by missing the free throws, we weren’t allowing ourselves to get into the press,” said Foster, who took over the team a little over two weeks ago when the previous coach was forced to resign.

Brianne Christophel sank four free throws and hit a jumper to keep Taylor close, 14-10, at the first-quarter break. Harding led 22-21 at halftime.

The teams traded the lead early in the third as McWhorter hit a jumper, but Bratton drilled the first of her two 3-pointers in the quarter. The deficit grew to five for Taylor, 31-26 but another McWhorter basket, two Terri Oliver free throws and another by Danae Beavers had the Titans tied with 1:23 to go in the third. Brandi Jarrett went right through the middle of the lane to put Taylor up 33-31. Bratton’s 3-ball made it 34-33 and Harding never trailed again.

Ben-Tvsulun wasn’t a factor in the game until her fourth-period spell. Christophel spent the first half guarding her one-on-one.

“We were giving her the ball and she was kicking it back out,” Foster said. “I told her at halftime that we needed her to be more aggressive and make some moves.”

“We hurt ourselves early. Brianne was guarding Danielle in single coverage and we told the kids to let her handle it,” Bentzler said. “Two times we tried to help and [Bratton] and [Rogers] hit when their players went to try and help.

Christophel, McWhorter and Terri Oliver each had 11 points for the 21-4 Lady Titans while Jamie Dunlap added 10. Bratton and Rogers had 14 apiece for Harding.

The game was the last for Christophel, Dunlap, McWhorter, Jackie Lasley and Jennifer Petty.

“These kids have gone 74-21 over their careers and 10 of those losses were as freshmen,” he said. “They’ve had a tremendous career and this loss doesn’t mean they failed. I hope our younger kids have been paying attention to the details.

“These kids are great kids. They’re great examples for Taylor on and off the court and they will be sorely missed. I can’t say enough about them and what they have done for Taylor High School.”