Lady Lions pick up two wins 

After opening the season with a win at Seymour, the Salem High School girls’ basketball team picked up two additional wins at the start the week. 

The Lady Lions defeated Clarksville, 68-22, on Monday and followed that with a 60-26 win over Crawford County Tuesday. 

The win over the Generals on Monday wasn’t a surprise to anyone, but the margin of victory against a very good Lady Wolfpack team may have suprised some. 

“We played well,” said Salem Head Coach Jerry Hickey of the Crawford game. “We forced 30 turnovers and any time you can do that it gives you a chance to get out on the break and get to running and get some transition points.”  

Both wins were aided by fast starts. 

Salem opened the first quarter against Clarksville with a 26-6 run and was up by 35 points, 45-10 at halftime. 

Three Lady Lions were in double figures against the Lady Generals with Natalie Noel leading the way with 15 points and five rebounds, four of which came on the offensive end. Karly Sweeney added 14 points for Salem and also had five rebounds and Kaylea Klinglesmith had 10 points. 

“Clarksville is just undermanned,” Hickey said. “They have a post player who is a handful, but their guard play is rough. They have young kids at those positions.”

While the Lady Generals are dealing with youth, Salem is on the other end of the spectrum, and Hickey admits it’s fun to be part of. 

“We are fortunate right now in that we have some girls who can really play,” he said. “Like Natalie, the biggest difference I’ve seen in her is the motor she has. She has always played hard, but right now, she plays and practices as if there is a college scout watching her and she is impressive.”

Salem wasn’t able to score at such a high rate against the Lady Wolfpack Tuesday, but the defense was just as impressive. They held Crawford to single digit quarters and only allowed nine total first half points as they led 26-9 at halftime. 

Crawford County tried to claw back in the game in the third, but the Lady Lions closed the game on a 15-3 run, improving to 3-0 on the young season. 

Sweeney paced Salem with 16 points and had six assists and Noel was the only other player in double figures with 14 points. 

Olivia Weber was Salem’s leading rebounder with five. 

Hickey was happy with the way his entire team played at Crawford, but he called Sweeney’s performance her best as a varsity player.

“Crawford was one of Karly’s most complete games for us,” he said. “She had some opportunities on the break where in the past she might have taken the tougher shot and not seeing the open person. Against Crawford she did a great job of passing the ball and hitting the open person in stride. I told her that was one of the best games she has played for us.”

The Lady Lions will play Saturday at Jac-Cen-Del. The Lady Eagles haven’t played a game yet this season. 

“This is our first meeting,” he said. “They haven’t played so we haven’t seen them and know nothing about them. We had a gap in our schedule and they needed a game. This is one of those years where if we can get a game in, we are going to take it.”