Tingley comes to Indiana to notch 500th coaching win

Jan. 4—If there had been a cake, it might have gotten stale.

Coach Dave Tingley of the Paris girls high school basketball team had been stuck on 499 career victories for more than a week as the young Tigers faced some of central Illinois' toughest teams during the holiday break, but Thursday night at Terre Haute South proved to be the milestone as the Tigers snapped their four-game losing streak by a 52-23 score.

"We're excited to get one at this point," Tingley, who is in his 22nd season, said after the game. "We're still playing hard, but we've got the losing blues."

The Braves, who are slightly older in years than the Tigers but far behind a team with multiple Illinois Elementary School Association state championships on its resume in experience, were not quite ready for the test Thursday night. But Jason Setliff, still looking for a milestone win of his own after taking the reins of the team seven games ago, is not discouraged.

"We're getting better," he said. "The girls want to work every single day."

Paris scored the game's first 10 points and had a 16-2 lead late in the first quarter.

The Braves played their visitors almost evenly for a while after that and it was 30-12 at halftime, but then the Tigers played a near-perfect third quarter and put the game even farther out of reach.

Paris was without two regulars — Vivian Moore, the team's lone senior, has a knee injury and Morgan Coombes, one of the team's six freshmen, has a balky ankle — but is still planning to make noise the rest of the way.

"We have a really tough schedule in January," Tingley said. "We're practing really well, and now we have to try to translate that into games."

Graci Watson, the only returning regular from last year's 30-4 team that lost a close super sectional game against the eventual Illinois Class 2A champions last February, led all scorers with 15 points and shared the Paris rebound honors with nine. Freshman Kailey Young had nine points and a game-high five assists, and freshman Jacie Young (no relation) matched Watson's nine rebounds.

Karizma English-Malone led South with nine points and Te'Rah Cooley led all rebounders with 11.

"They're all willing to learn, and when they do have some success at practice they grow from it," Setliff said. "And they're just great kids, which is the important thing."

PARIS (52) — Watson 5-8 2-2 15, Clark 3-4 0-0 6, Moreschi 1-3 1-1 3, K.Young 4-9 1-2 9, Edwards 3-5 0-1 6, Englum 4-8 0-2 8, J.Young 1-3 1-4 3, Bicknell 0-2 0-0 0, Landsaw 1-3 0-0 2, Bartos 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-46 FG, 5-12 FT, 52 TP.

TERRE HAUTE SOUTH (23) — English-Malone 3-16 2-2 9, Morris 0-2 0-0 0, Cooley 2-9 0-2 4, Holman 0-7 1-2 1, Werremeyer 2-4 0-0 4, Boyd 1-1 0-1 2, Cox 1-1 0-0 3, Kemp 0-0 0-2 0, Lewis 0-0 0-0 0, Mundell 0-0 0-0 0, Bodine 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-40 FG, 3-9 FT, 23 TP.

Paris 17 13 18 4 — 52

TH South 4 8 7 4 — 23

3-point shooting — Paris 3-9 (Watson 3-4, K.Young 0-1, Edwards 0-1, Bartos 0-1, Englum 0-2), THS 2-10 (Cox 1-1, English-Malone 1-7, Holman 0-1, Werremeyer 0-1). Total fouls — Paris 11, THS 13. Fouled out — none. Turnovers — Paris 12, THS 19. Rebounds — Paris 35 (Watson 9, J.Young 9, Clark 3, K.Young 3, Moreschi, Englum, Bicknell, Bartos, Team 7), THS 33 (Cooley 11, English-Malone 4, Boyd 3, Morris 2, Werremeyer 2, Cox 2, Kemp 2, Holman, Team 6). Asssts — Paris 17 (K.Young 5, Edwards 4, Moreschi 3, Watson 2, Clark, Englum, Bartos), THS 4 (Holman 3, Werremeyer). Steals — Paris 14 (Edwards 3, Englum 3, Watson 2, Moreschi 2, K.Young 2, Clark, Landsaw), THS 7 (English-Malone 2, Morris 2, Cooley 2, Boyd). Blocks — Paris 1 (K.Young), THS 5 (Cooley 2, Holman, Werremeyer, Boyd).

Next — Paris (13-6) plays the host team Saturday at the Taylorville Shootout. Terre Haute South (2-16) hosts Bloomington North on Saturday afternoon.