Shelbyville struggled to get its offense in gear against a stingy Southwestern squad Friday at Garrett Gymnasium.

Midway through the second quarter, the Golden Bears had just 15 points against the winless Spartans, who were having their own offensive issues.

Shelbyville scored nine straight points over the final half of the second quarter and held Southwestern scoreless in the first half on the way to a 58-15 victory.

Ava Wilson scored a game-high 18 points to lead Shelbyville (4-1). Ellie Keller hit five second-half three-pointers and finished with 15 points. Hannah Baker added eight points and Ellie Simpson had seven.

“Our season (schedule) is set up that way now to make sure we get into an easy flow moving forward because we start our conference (schedule) next week and our conference is one of the toughest,” said Shelbyville head coach Becca Hoefler of the second-straight season with at least four wins in the first five games. “It’s really just getting our feet wet and making sure everyone knows their role and what they have to do to make us successful.”

Shelbyville’s four wins have come against Mid-Hoosier Conference schools and resulted in wins by an average margin of 38 points. The lone loss came at Class 3A, No. 10 Greensburg and the Golden Bears were down three points with three minutes to go before falling 71-60.

The biggest offseason adjustment was replacing Shelbyville career scoring leader Kylee Edwards, who created a formidable 1-2 scoring punch with Wilson last season when the program finished 15-9 – the most wins for the program since 2007.

Wilson is averaging 20.8 points per game this season and is 154 points away from becoming the seventh Golden Bear to score 1,000 career points.

“She is going to get face-guarded a lot but what I like about Ava is she is one of the smartest basketball players I know,” said Hoefler. “She does a really good job of dealing with it. Greensburg was face-guarding her and she dropped 26 points.

“I am not really concerned with that because she knows how to play. And she is very selfless and she can share the ball and she knows how to set screens when she is being face-guarded.”

Wilson had eight points in the first quarter Friday against Southwestern and helped the Shelbyville defense force 12 first-quarter turnovers. The Golden Bears led 12-0 after the opening eight minutes and extended the lead to 23-0 at halftime.

Southwestern missed 12 first-half shot attempts, all seven free throws and committed 20 turnovers.

“The first half was kind of the epitome of our season so far,” said Southwestern head coach Jason West. “I think we played great defense. I looked up and I think there were three minutes, 50 seconds to go in the second quarter and we had given up 14 points but hadn’t scored anything.”

Southwestern’s first points did not go up on the scoreboard until the 4:25 mark of the third quarter when Tanna Tatlock hit a shot from in the lane. She landed awkwardly, though, and was helped off the court and did not return. The junior suffered an ankle injury but West believes she will be ready to play next week.

Southwestern ended up scoring eight points in the third quarter but 12 more turnovers did not help to keep the Golden Bears in check.

Baker and Simpson each scored four points in the quarter and Keller, who was scoreless and in foul trouble the first half, sank three 3s in the quarter to get Shelbyville a 42-8 lead.

Haley Casey scored all five of her team-high point total in the fourth quarter for Southwestern (0-4), who hosts Hauser (1-4) Monday.

The Spartans only took 19 shot attempts at Garrett Gymnasium and committed 39 turnovers.

“I thought Shelbyville did a good job of really being strong and getting into us tonight and forcing us to shy away from really being strong with the basketball,” said West. “We are trying to get our girls in the weight room during the day and having a class for that and (Shelbyville) has been doing that for four years now.”

While Ella Johnson did not score for Shelbyville, the senior had seven rebounds to add to her team-leading total. She set the single-game record for rebounds (21) in the season-opening win over Waldron.

“That is the best part about Ella Johnson – she knows her role,” said Hoefler.

Simpson, a senior like Wilson and Johnson, also had four steals against the Spartans.

“Ellie Simpson had a huge summer and did really well,” said Hoefler. “She is really coming into her role. She just has to hit a couple more shots and we will really be rolling with her.”

New to the varsity rotation this season is Baker, a sophomore. She had four rebounds, two steals and two assists Friday.

“For her, it’s just learning the speed of the varsity game,” said Hoefler. “Learning when she should take it to the basket, learning when she should move off screens, she is a big role player for us this year.”

Shelbyville won the junior varsity game, 54-16. Sophia Asher and Lyla Wilson led Shelbyville with 13 points apiece. Taylor Abell, Alivia Lee and Savannah Collins each had seven.

Emma Estes and Emma Isgrigg each scored five points for Southwestern.

The easiest part of Shelbyville’s schedule is complete. The last three games on the November schedule are against opponents with a combined 11-4 record.

The Golden Bears are on the road tonight at Franklin County (4-1).

“They are tough. It’s going to be a really tough game,” said Hoefler. “They are physical. They are big. I think they are going to play man-to-man on us which will help us. I think they will try to face-guard Ava and we will try and run-and-gun it because they are a little bit slower than us.”

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