By Dee Grenert
Pilot Sports

CULVER — When all else fails for Knox’s girls basketball team, it turns to Mollie Taulbee.

And after the Redskins’ dismal first half at Culver Girls Academy last night, Taulbee latched onto the reins and guided Knox to a 42-23 win at Fleet Gymnasium.

Taulbee erupted for 18 of her game-high 22 points in the second half — including 13 points in the third quarter alone — to help the Redskins pull away from the hosts.

The high-scoring senior’s post move with 4:31 left in the final frame put Knox up 32-23 and also started a 12-0 game-ending spree.

“Mollie Taulbee gave us great leadership tonight,” Knox head coach Sidney Bollier commented. “She played practically the whole game and did what she had to do.”

Knox, which managed a 12-7 edge at the intermission despite 10 turnovers and just 22.7 percent shooting from the field, pestered the Eagles into 13 second-half turnovers with a half-court trap.

Taulbee, who manned the point of the pressure, turned five of those miscues into transition buckets.

“I wanted to put pressure on the ball the whole game,” Bollier explained. “That was one of our goals coming in, but we didn’t show up ready to play. Culver came out and played hard. I give them all the credit in the world. We didn’t deserve to win.”

CGA’s defense, bolstered by Angela Carlson’s steady first-half effort on Taulbee, kept the hosts in contention through nearly 28 minutes.

“I think we played very well defensively,” CGA coach Gary Christlieb noted. “We held a good offensive team to 34 percent field goal shooting, and 12 points at the half. I thought we made them work for their points.”

However, the Eagles connected on just 3-of-17 field goal attempts in the opening half and finished 9-for-41 (22 percent) shooting from the field. Several of those chances came from close range.

In fact, those shooting woes escalated to the point that when the Eagles misfired on a pair of bunnies to end the half, Christlieb retreated to the locker room with a smile of seeming disbelief on his face.

“It’s just our shooting,” Christlieb said. “We missed point-blank shots that at some point are going to fall. We’re going to just keep plugging away. I thought the kids played very hard and gave great effort.”

Caci Budde, who topped the Eagles with seven points, scored to make it a 17-13 game with 4:45 left in the third quarter. Asia Patrick then connected from downtown to put the Redskins on top 20-13. Knox led by no fewer than seven points the rest of the evening.

While Patrick and Anna Hyrczyk scored nine and seven points respectively for Knox, much of the Redskins’ offense consisted of watching Taulbee do the work.

“We didn’t execute,” Bollier admitted. “Everyone was looking to Mollie to do all the scoring. It doesn’t make sense because that’s not how we beat Winamac and Rensselaer. I’m confident we’ll get back to our form and back to team ball. I can’t complain because it is a win.”

Both teams are back in action Friday. CGA hosts LaVille, while Knox is home against Goshen.