Greencastle-Antrim pulls away from Boiling Springs

 

By Ben Destefan

 

GREENCASTLE -- Quietly, the Greencastle-Antrim girls’ basketball team has started the season 4-1.

 

Entering the year with several unknowns, the youthful Blue Devils again found a way Wednesday night against Boiling Springs, using a strong second half to secure a 37-25 Mid-Penn Colonial Division victory.

 

A physical tempo made for a not-so-pretty opening two quarters, producing a 15-all tie at the break. G-A then held the Bubblers to just two points in the third before pulling away for the double-digit win in the fourth.

 

“This game isn’t about perfection, it’s about learning from your mistakes and correcting them,” G-A head coach Mike Rhine said. “We didn’t play well at the end of the first half and allowed them to hang around. In the second half, we outscored them by 12 points and did some really nice things.”

 

Madison Sweitzer paced the Blue Devils with 13 points, headlined by nine after halftime. Providing a spark, McKenna Rakaczewski had the best varsity outing of her young career, netting nine points while leading the team with 11 rebounds.

 

“McKenna gave us a really nice boost tonight, and that’s something we needed,” Rhine said. “We wanted to work the ball inside to Sweitzer and take advantage of her size there. We were able to do that much better in the second half.”

 

A three-point play by Sweitzer jump-started the third, with Lydia Crist hitting a shot from downtown before a finish by Rakaczewski extended the margin to six. Sweitzer then buried a jumper at the buzzer to send the Blue Devils to the fourth up 25-17.

 

Continuing to build momentum, a runner off the glass by Rakaczewski preceded four straight points from Jordan Yeager, pushing G-A’s lead to double digits. Crist later delivered a gorgeous feed to Sweitzer for an uncontested bucket prior to a lay-in by Ashley Noblit essentially putting the game out of reach.

 

“We’re young, it’s a process and there are going to be growing pains,” Rhine said. “We’re happy to be 4-1 going into Christmas. Now we’ll see where we go from here.”

 

Sweitzer also finished with eight rebounds and five steals in the win while Yeager scored eight points.

 

Ashlyn Yocum paced the Bubblers with nine points.