Eaglettes roll over defending champs

Sha'Para Johnson scores after a steal. (T-G Photo by Gary Johnson) [Click to enlarge]

Shelbyville Central rolled past defending Class AAA state champion Riverdale 64-35 to close out the regular season Monday night. Their attention now turns to the postseason and a run for their 13th state title.

The Golden Eaglettes (21-5) are the No. 1 seed in the upcoming District 8-AAA tournament at Shelbyville Central. They'll play Saturday at 4:30 against Thursday's Franklin County/Coffee County winner.

"I've always said that this is my favorite time of the year," Shelbyville coach Lynn Burkey said. "I don't think that I'll ever get too old that tournament time won't be my favorite time of the year. It's time when you step up or you go home.

"Tournament time is when the cream rises to the top and it's when winners make plays, it's when great teams come together and I'm very excited to be part of a team that has an opportunity to do that."

Shelbyville enters the postseason with a number of impressive wins in the past few weeks, including 11 in a row.

Shelbyville's Ceny Phelps takes it to the basket. (T-G Photo by Gary Johnson) [Click to enlarge]

"We are peaking at the right time," Burkey said. "At some point over the past month or so this team decided to come together as a team and that's when we started playing our best basketball. When they did that, this team gave themselves a chance to go for another gold ball.

"We are playing extremely well right now, but I want all of our fans to know that we haven't peaked yet, and I don't think we've played our best basketball game yet, but I do think it's coming."

The Eaglettes went to work quickly against Riverdale, holding a 15-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter before posting a 31-16 lead at halftime.

Kayla Whorley canned a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the third stanza to increase the lead to 45-22 and the Eaglettes were never challenged in the final eight minutes.

Alex Jarrell led the way for the Eaglettes with 23 points, Ceny Phelps netted 11 and Hannah Dawson added 10.

Shelbyville held a 26-18 advantage in rebounds and had a season low of only six turnovers.

Morgann Swoupe paced the Lady Warriors with 10 points.

"I thought we were a little sluggish early, but we really came alive after that," Burkey said. "Our defense really went to work and we were able to get some things done on the offensive end as well. This was a very physical and hard fought game but that's what we expected."