It’s that time of year again - basketball season

It’s still football season in Greene County. And our Eastern Greene Thunderbirds have an excellent shot at advancing to the semistate when they take on the Fountain Central Mustangs in Friday’s regional at Eastern.
But this being Indiana fans all around the state eagerly anticipate the sounds of the bouncing ball against the hardwood, the cheers from the enthusiastic crowd and the official’s whistle.
Girls basketball season has already gotten underway with several great games and some terrific individual performances.
First a recap of the season so far:
Bloomfield opened with a 57-30 loss at Northview last Friday. Saturday afternoon the Lady Cardinals rebounded, outlasting the Brown County Lady Eagles 53-49 in a three-overtime thriller at Brown County.
Bloomfield’s first four games are all on the road. The Lady Cards travel to Shoals Thursday and play at Edgewood Tuesday.
Dugger Union has yet to play. The Lady Bulldogs open the season on the road Friday against the Living Water Marlins. Dugger Union returns a veteran squad and the Lady Bulldogs were 14-3 a year ago.
Eastern Greene is off to a rousing start with a 63-30 romp over Bloomington Lighthouse on Halloween Night. The Lady Thunderbirds will take on Loogootee Tuesday at home.
Linton-Stockton has yet to see game action. The Lady Miners travel to North Knox Thursday before returning home to host Edgewood in a Saturday night ball game.
Shakamak picked up a huge win in its season opener last Thursday. The Lady Lakers topped West Vigo by double digits on the road, 34-24. Win number two should come Tuesday night at Washington Catholic. Then it gets a little tougher for the Lady Lakers as they host Northview Thursday.
White River Valley is still seeking its first win. South Knox spoiled trick or treat for the Lady Wolverines with the Lady Spartans winning 56-29 October 31. Saturday at Mitchell the Lady Bluejackets pulled away in the second half to win 64-51.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Lady Wolverines. WRV hosts Northview tonight.
In addition the Lady Wolverines have suffered a major blow. Center Kaylie Gayheart is out for the year with a shoulder injury.
I don’t know what it is about Northview but the Lady Knights always seem to be good.
First it was Makayla Rowan, daughter of 1986 Indiana All-Star Kenny Rowan. Then it was 6-1 sharpshooter Stacy Payton. Basketball wasn’t even Payton’s best sport. Softball is.
Now Northview has the Lundy sisters Jenny and Olivia, both of whom are six feet tall and guards Makayla Sparks and Addy Thompson.
I’ve seen South Knox and I’ll get my first look at North Knox Thursday. The Lady Spartans are the defending 2A Sectional 47 champs, upsetting the perennial sectional favorite Lady Warriors of North Knox in the sectional semifinal.
Thursday’s Linton at North Knox game could give us an indication of what we might expect in this year’s sectional. If Linton and Eastern have improved as much as I think they might have it could be a barnburner of a tournament come February.
And as mentioned there have been several outstanding individual performances so far.
None stood out more than the show Bloomfield’s Malea Toon put on at Brown County. Toon racked up 39 points on nine field goals and 18-of-32 at the free throw line.
Her nine buckets included three from three-point land. I know this because my teacher told me I’m good at math.
It’s nice to see Malea taking it to the basket aggressively as she must have done to get to the line for 32 freebies.
They’re not booing, they’re saying Toooooooon. That’s my favorite bad joke.
In the loss at Mitchell WRV’s Addi Graves poured in 24 points, including 8-of-9 at the charity stripe. Way to work on those free throws, Addi!
Bloomfield freshman Kylee Shelton put up 16 points in her varsity debut at Northview including 3-of-4 trifectas.
Also, freshman Shelley Tarr buried four three-pointers to lead Eastern with 19 points in the runaway victory over Lighthouse. Michelle Hatfield added a career-high 15 for the Lady T-Birds.
Speaking of freshmen, the Lady Miners have a promising group of frosh I’m looking forward to seeing in action. As eighth graders, the group won the SWIAC tournament.
The Greene County Daily World’s basketball preview special section will be coming out shortly. Unfortunately given the early start of girls basketball season our teams will have several games under their belts by the time the previews come out. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy reading about what our area girls teams will have to offer this season.

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.