Castro shines in Harvest Christian debut
There were several new beginnings for the girls basketball programs at Westminster Christian and Harvest Christian Monday night and if the result is any indicator of things to come, the Lions could be doing a lot of roaring this season.
Junior Montini transfer Paulina Castro poured in 28 points in her Harvest Christian debut and senior Kylee Knox, who has already scored more than 1,000 points in her Lions' career, added 18 as Harvest rolled to a 68-29 win in the opening round of the Harvest Christian Thanksgiving Tournament.
The game was also the varsity head coaching debut for both Lions' coach Rich DeTamble and Westminster coach Fred Versluys.
To add to the list of firsts, it was Harvest Christian's first varsity win over Westminster in girls basketball since the Lions began competing as an IHSA school in 2011.
"This program has never beaten Westminster and Westminster has a great program," said DeTamble of the Warriors, who reached the Class 1A Elite Eight two years ago before being bumped up to Class 2A last year.
"The entire first two weeks of practice I've been stressing to them to believe and they came through. The defense came through and they worked really hard."
For Castro, who played on Montini's past two Class 3A state championship teams, the transition to Class 1A Harvest Christian has gone well so far.
"There was a little first-game nervousness for all of us but once we got into the flow of things everything came together and we all knew what to do," she said. "It's a little different for me but the hard work is still there. This is a great environment to be in and everybody has been very welcoming. That's made it a lot easier."
DeTamble has been nothing but pleased with how Castro, his point guard, has fit in with the Lions so far.
"She's a joy to coach," he said. "She's an extension of me on the floor. She didn't get to play full games at Montini very much so it's just a matter of working with everyone and learning the intangibles. She knows every night there's going to be a Division I coach in the stands, as there was tonight (Indiana State). She just has to play her game."
The Lions turned a 13-12 lead after Monday's first quarter into a 23-15 advantage after a Castro basket with 5:11 left in the first half. By halftime Harvest led 33-21 and by the end of the third quarter it was 51-25. The Lions shot 27 of 69 on the night with Castro hitting four 3-pointers and Knox two.
Junior Maddie Versluys had 12 points, 16 rebounds and 9 steals to lead the Warriors, while senior Emma Kovachevich added 11 points. The Warriors were 9 of 25 shooting and outrebounded Harvest 31-25 but committed 47 turnovers.
"We really came out strong and rotated well on defense," said Fred Versluys. "But when they started to put the press on we had a hard time making passes at the right time and protecting the ball."