By Ed Gotwals
And G-A coach Mike Rhine did not feel his team did its best work on the boards.
Let us count the ways the Blue Devils impressed on Wednesday:
• Greencastle shot 50 percent from the floor (24-for-48) and from behind the 3-point arc (7-for-14).
• It made only 11 turnovers; only three in the first half.
• The Devils played strong defense without fouling. Gettysburg (14-9) attempted only nine free throws and at halftime the teams had combined for only three whistled fouls.
• The passing game was superb. Of 16 first-half buckets, G-A had assists on 13 of them. The ball was being moved around the perimeter, into the paint, back out and over the top ... with speed. It created wide-open shots that weren't often missed.
• G-A freshman Jenay Faulkner was superb — 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals, and numerous other sweet passes and deflections.
• Warrior star Cami Boehner will probably have nightmares about Blue Devil defensive ace Jane Herman, whose task it was to limit Boehner. Mission accomplished. The Bloomsburg-bound, 1,000-point scorer was 3-for-13 from the field for 11 points and Herman did not even pick up one foul.
Herman was so focused on Boehner that one time a Warrior pass went zipping past her right ear and she never flinched.
"She's a tough player," Herman said. "I just try to guard her the best I can, and I know my teammates will be there to help me. Normally I'm the one to do it if we're going to face-guard someone. We have a lot of good offensive players, so I'm fine with concentrating on defense."
Rhine said, "We just tried to make it as tough for Boehner as we could. I tell Jane if Cami goes over to get a cup of water, you need to go over and knock it out of her hand. Jane played her tough, but, really, what we do on defense is a collective effort."
The majority of Warrior shots were heavily contested and G-A forced 15 turnovers, many on steals.
"They are so aggressive on defense," Gettysburg coach Casey Thurston said. "We did our game plan well at the start, but then we would not, or could not, run it after that. They picked it up on defense and forced us to look chaotic."
The Warriors did start out OK, and led 9-8 with 3:48 left in the first quarter.
But Gettysburg did not score again until 5:48 remained in the second quarter and during that span of six minutes, Greencastle spun off 16 consecutive points to lead 24-9.
Herman and Chloe Hoover had already hit 3-pointers by that time, and during the blitz Faulkner banged in two more treys and another jumper with her foot on the line. In the second quarter, Hoover hit another and Faulkner dropped in her third 3-pointer with just over one second left to end the first half with Greencastle ahead 38-20.
Point guard Hannah Crist burned the Warriors for 23 points the last time these teams played, so Thurston put Boehner on her. It did limit Crist (10 points), but she got plenty of help.
Thurston said, "We forced their other kids to step up and they did in a big way. We had a good start, but they started knocking down three balls. And give them credit, it wasn't just one — it seemed like everybody was hitting them."
"We hadn't played for a week and I wasn't sure how the shooting would be," Rhine said, "so we wanted them to work it inside and maybe draw some fouls. Instead, it became three-ball city and the kids looked confident."
As much as anything, the Blue Devils looked like they were having fun.
Katie Gelsinger, who did her part inside to the tune of 14 points, said, "That was the most fun I've ever had. We were pumped and the crowd really got us going. We have such good chemistry on this team, and it's not just one or two players we depend on like some other teams."
NOTES >> Hoover, playing her last game on her home court, contributed 10 points and 10 boards ... Crist had five assists ... Gettysburg's next highest scorer was Cierra Brown with six ... The Warriors were held to 14 of 47 shooting (29%).
