After opening the season 0-5, the Greencastle girls' basketball team has found its way in recent outings, as first year head coach Jessica Lenihan has her squad sitting at 4-7 after picking up a 39-37 win over South Putnam last Friday. 

While some may see struggles, Lenihan admits the team is exactly where she thought they would be. 

"I am not surprised at all with how things are going. I knew it would take a minute to get this season started and get some wins under our belt. It is tough transitioning from last year when we relied on two of our seniors to score for us," Lenihan told The Putnam County Post.

She admits the Tiger Cubs had to find players to step up and score, which has happened the last few times they have stepped foot on the court. 

"The scoring has been pretty even and that is exactly what us coaches like to see. We want everyone contributing in the scoring column. This season has been going really well. The girls have been practicing and playing really well together these last few weeks. Recently, we have had some tough games, but our girls do not give up and they continue to work hard all four quarters," Lenihan said.

Greencastle has been surrendering just over 43 points a game this season, and the first year head coach notes that is something her team has been working on.  

"We also have been working hard on defense and trying to figure out what defense works best for us and we seem to finally be settling in. I am so proud of these girls and how far we have come just since the beginning of the season. We are excited to see how the rest of the season goes," she said.   

Leading the way for Greencastle has been Evelyn Briones, who leads the team in scoring and has provided leadership, along with Madi Plew, according to Lenihan. 

"They are both seniors and they have done a great job at leading the other girls out on the court," Lenihan said.

In addition, senior Aleeyah Johnson has been playing well, as was evident by her game winning basket against South Putnam in the closing seconds. 
Lenihan singled out a few other players who are playing well for the Tiger Cubs. 

"We are really impressed with how she has been playing. Ali Dobbs and Bailey Brown have been a scoring threat the last couple of games. Ali Dobbs has been a stealing machine on defense and Bailey Brown has been dominant getting offense and defensive rebounds," she said. 

In the Putnam County Girls' Basketball Tournament earlier this season, South Putnam knocked off Greencastle, 50-31. Lenihan admits it "feels really good to get that win against a really aggressive and talented team like South Putnam."

"The girls were so excited and played so well. They fought up until the very last second of that game. There was a time in the fourth quarter with four minutes and 11 seconds left and we were down 7, I told the girls in the timeout "one possession at a time" "don't force shots, move the ball to get a really great shot and know you are hitting it" and that is exactly what my team did. Never once stopped fighting or gave up in that game. A couple shots got us back into the game and we just continued to play our game and when Aleeyah Johnson hit that game winner, we all went crazy. It just felt so good, the girls have been working so hard to win close games like that and it finally paid off. I can't even express how happy I am with the girls," Lenihan said. 

Greencastle plays next on Dec. 15 when it travels to Sullivan.