Yes, life is more important than basketball

No, basketball is not bigger than life. Sometimes a game of basketball has to take a back seat to real life events.

We were reminded of this last Friday when Kim Frederick, the mother of Bloomfield senior basketball player Drake Frederick, was involved in a serious automobile accident on Highway 54 in Eastern Greene County.

The Bloomfield Cardinals were playing at Washington, but Frederick, the Cardinals sixth man, left the Hatchet House during the junior varsity game to attend to the family emergency.

"A friend of mine called me and told me about it. I then called my dad. He was already on the way to the game and was almost to Washington. He just came and picked me up."

They drove directly to Bloomington Hospital from there.

"When we got there she was talking and everything so that was good," Drake said.

"I was shocked and a little scared. I just figured a basketball game isn't as important as my mom so I'd better go up there and see her and I'm glad I did."

According to Drake, his mother is doing well although she did suffer numerous broken bones.

Among her injuries are a fractured pelvis, scapula wrist and a couple lumbar vertebrae.

"But she's going to make a full recovery," he said.

Kim Frederick is employed at Bloomington Hospital and was en route to Bloomfield from Bloomington when the accident happened on Highway 54, just past the Eastern Greene Middle School before the straightaway near Carmichael Welding.

And since Kim is a hospital employee, Frederick jokingly said his mother isn't necessarily a model patient.

"She can be a bad patient at times. She works there so she knows everyone that works there. She knows how the hospital works and she gives the people that work there a hard time."

Bloomfield coach Matt Britton would not use the pregame distraction as an excuse.

But he did admit, "Our players didn't know if she was alive and if so how badly she was injured.

"When I looked at our players in the locker room their faces were as white as a ghost.

Obviously we weren't able to focus entirely on basketball. Our hearts and our minds were with Drake and his family."

The Cardinals lost to Washington 64-44.

"Washington was just a whole lot better than us. We caught them on a night when they played outstanding and were at their best," Britton said.

***

Coincidentally, I was on my way to Eastern Greene when Mrs. Frederick's accident happened. In fact, a mile or so east of Ridgeport, I could see the accident scene with the patrol cars' lights flashing, up the road around one of the many bends of Highway 54 in Eastern Greene County.

Of course I had no way of knowing who was involved.

I'm ashamed to admit this - as I should be.

All I could think about was how much this inconvenienced "me." And I wasn't about to sit there in the middle of the road and wait for the wreckage to be cleared and wait for ambulances to arrive to transport the victims to the hospital.

Not me, buddy. I knew a back way to get to Eastern Greene. So I backtracked to Ridgeport, turned south and then headed east.

All without any regard whatsoever as to who might have been involved in the accident, how badly they might have been injured, if anyone had died....

Let that be a lesson to me.

***

Still, the games went on. So we'll revisit last weekend's hardwood action and take a brief look at what the penultimate weekend of the regular season has in store.

Bloomfield and Shakamak play on Friday night only. Linton-Stockton, Eastern Greene and White River Valley are in action both Friday and Saturday.

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Bloomfield rebounded from its 20-point loss at 3A Washington pulling out a 47-42 win over 8-12 Sullivan at Guy Glover Gymnasium Tuesday. Sullivan led 42-41 with 38 seconds left but the Golden Arrows were unable to finish off the resilient Cards. Zach Skinner made a couple huge plays down the stretch with a steal, a blocked shot and a big offensive rebound in the closing seconds.

Bloomfield entertains 8-12 North Knox Friday.

With the loss to Washington, Bloomfield dropped from the top spot to No. 3 in this week's Class A poll.

***

For the Shakamak Lakers, Cameron West knocked down a pair of fourth quarter three-pointers in a 65-64 come-from-behind win at Vincennes Rivet Friday night.

The Lakers trailed 56-46 heading into the final eight minutes of play before outscoring the Rivet Patriots 19-8.

Tanner Yeryar led five Lakers in double figures with a game-high 21 points in the win.

Mathias Caucheteur added 12 points, while West, Lane Gilbert and Parker Green all finished with 10 points apiece.

The Lakers play host to Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference foe Eastern Greene Friday.

They will do so without the services of starting forward Braden Scott. Scott has been shelved the past two weeks with a severely sprained knee.

Scott is on crutches now and will play with a bulky brace when he does return. He will be out of action Friday but said he may be able to return as soon as next Thursday at Owen Valley. Scott says he will definitely be available for sectional play.

***

Eastern Greene was the latest area team to run into Class 4A quickness and athleticism.

Bedford North Lawrence's team quickness and transition offense were too much for the Eastern Greene Thunderbirds to keep up with Thursday in a 77-62 loss.

But the Thunderbirds came back strong Friday, dominating Edgewood in the fourth quarter.

The T-Birds exploded for 27 points in the final eight minutes and sent the visiting Mustangs home with a 64-53 loss.

Eastern Greene has gotten plenty of offensive firepower of late with Nathan Eckerle sniping from outside, Caleb Hamilton attacking the rim and Ethan Helton doing a little bit of everything.

Hamilton poured in a career-high 26 against Edgewood.

After visiting Shakamak Friday, Eastern Greene hosts Orleans Saturday. The Bulldogs are 12-7 this year after going 21-4 a season ago.

This game could be a test for the Thunderbirds. Orleans defeated Borden 42-30 at Borden, two weeks after Eastern Greene lost 45-40 to Borden at Hoosier Gym in Knightstown.

***

Linton-Stockton made the long trip north to Cayuga and came away with a 59-42 win over football rival North Vermillion.

Cody Wright - a name familiar to Miner football fans as the quarterback of this year's North Vermillion semistate team - scored a game-high 20 points for the Falcons, with nine of those coming late in the game.

I haven't mentioned the Miner junior varsity yet this year, but I will now.

I kept seeing Greg Elliott's tweets from North Vermillion Thursday. Elliott mentioned the Linton-Stockton junior varsity remained undefeated with a 69-37 win.

Not only are they undefeated, only one opponent has managed to stay within double digits of the Miner Jayvees this season. That was Barr-Reeve in Linton-Stockton's 56-51 double-overtime win at Barr-Reeve.

The Miners will be on the road both nights this weekend.

Linton-Stockton finishes the conference season Friday at North Central, losers of 12 of their past 13.

Saturday it's a long road trip to 10-10 Rockville.

The Miners moved up one spot to seventh in the latest Class 2A poll.

***

White River Valley is also on the road both nights this weekend.

The Wolverines will be seeking their first conference win of the year Friday at North Daviess. The Cougars have two conference wins against three losses, beating North Central by 22 and Shakamak by two. The Cougars' SWIAC losses have been to Linton, Clay City and Bloomfield in a span of two weeks.

Saturday it's a trip to Nashville to take on the Brown County Eagles.

The Eagles may be just 11-9 but they've beaten Edgewood and took Bloomfield to overtime.

Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.