There was a celebration prior to the game Thursday against visiting New Castle and thanks to some late heroics, the celebration lasted after the game as the Lady Lions closed out the Lady Trojans 50-45 to end the season 20-2.

Prior to the varsity game, the Lady Lions honored senior manager Danniella Banks and players Kaleigh Andrews, Krista Beaman, Alexa Bess, Morgan Herbert and Kayla Niehoff on Senior Night.

The Lady Trojans, who trailed by as much as 10 points in the fourth quarter, fought back to have a chance for the lead with :30.4 left in the game. New Castle's Molly Swift grabbed a rebound, but the ball back in and drew the foul to knot the game at 44-44. The free throw did not go down and the game remained tied.

With :25.6 on the clock, Rushville Shelbie Justice was fouled on a shot. The basket was good and her free throw was true to complete the three-point play and put the Lady Lions up 47-44.

After New Castle's Courtney Baker hit 1-of-2 free throws with :18.4 to play, Herbert hit 1-of-2 from the line and Beaman hit 2-of-2 to close out the 50-45 victory.

The two teams started off slowly offensively as New Castle led 9-7 after one quarter. Rushville led 5-2 on a bucket from Andrews and 3-pointer from Bess, but Miranda Wallen's 3-pointer, free throws from Swift and bucket from Baker had the Lady Trojans on top after the first eight minutes of action.

Justice's first points tied the game early in the second quarter and Herbert's bucket had the Lady Lions on top 11-9. After New Castle tied the game at 13-13 on a bucket from Wallen, Herbert and Bess led a 5-1 run to close the first half with the Lady Lions leading 18-14.

New Castle's Baker opened the scoring in the second half, but the Lady Trojans had no answer for Justice. Her traditional three-point play started seven straight points from the Lady Lions junior as the Lady Lions led 25-16.

New Castle fought back with six straight points from Wallen to tighten the game again. Justice closed the third quarter with a bucket to give Rushville a 31-27 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

With the score at 33-31, the Lady Lions ran off eight straight points. Andrews started the run. Meagan Hittle followed with a bucket and after another Andrews score, but Justice scored to make it 41-31 with 5:16 to play.

A 3-pointer from Kaycee Dobbs and five straight points from Baker had the Lady Trojans right back in the game at 41-39 with 2;39 to play. After another Justice bucket made the lead five points, Wallen hit from long range to set up Swift's big rebound put back and the exciting finish to the game.

Justice led all scorers with 22 points. Wallen had 17 for New Castle. Baker and Swift both finished with 10.

In the junior varsity game, Rushville took the lead 24-23 on two free throws by Taylor Linville with 3:41 to play in the fourth quarter. Two Bekah Miller free throws pushed the lead to three. The lead grew to 30-23 before a 3-pointer by New Castle's Allyson Garrett cut the deficit to four points. The Lady Lions closed out the 36-31 win by hitting six free throws in the final 30 seconds.

Alexis Kirkham led the Lady Lions with 12 points. Linville and Miller both added eight. New Castle's Garrett led all scorers with 16 points.

In the gym addition, Rushville's freshman team defeated New Castle's “C” team 38-12. The Lady Lions were led by Steffi Newbold with 15 points and Mikayla Dougherty with 10.

The varsity Lady Lions return to action Friday in the sectional semifinal against New Palestine.



Box score

Rushville 50, New Castle 45

Scoring: New Castle – Baker 3 1 1-3 10, Wallen 4 3 0-0 17, Cochran 2 0 0-0 4, Dobbs 0 1 1-2 4, Swift 4 0 2-3 10. Totals 13 5 4-8 45. Rushville – Herbert 4 0 1-2 9, Andrews 3 0 0-0 6, Hittle 1 0 0-1 2, Justice 10 0 2-3 22, Bess 1 2 1-2 9, Beaman 0 0 2-2 2. Totals 19 2 6-10 50.

JV game

Scoring: New Castle (31) – Garrett 16, Leath 8, Renner 1, J. Smith 2, E. Smith 4. Rushville (36) – Linville 8, Miller 8, Green 2, Kirkham 12, Hodge 2, McManus 1, Hedrick 3.

Freshman game

Scoring: New Castle (12) – Claywell 6, Rees 2, Hall 3, Gonzalez 1. Rushville (38) – Newbold 15, Carpenter 10, Daubenspeck 2, Kuhn 6, Hoeing 2, Colestock 1, Flannery 2.