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  • North Vermillion’s Taylor Turchi gets past Rockville’s Jerica Carrington for a lay-up during Friday’s sectional semifinal at Cayuga, Ind. Greg Flint/For the Commercial-News

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February 11, 2012

Falcons make sectional title game

BY MATT MILLER Commercial-News

CAYUGA, Ind. — North Vermillion’s Taylor Turchi scored 21 points while Darby Martin recorded a double-double on the Falcons’ way to a 71-58 defeat of Rockville in a sectional semifinal on Friday.

The Falcons (18-5) face Riverton Parke in the sectional final at 7:30 p.m. EST tonight at North Vermillion.

North Vermillion built a 19-9 first-quarter lead through post presence — with constant looks to senior Casey West — and quick passing.

Rockville coach Ryan Luce warned his team about the frenetic pace he expected in the first four minutes of the game, and it cost them in some mental mistakes.

Martin asserted herself for North Vermillion in the post and by slashing to the basket, scoring 16 points and grabbing 16 rebounds.

“She’s got a knack for the ball,” North Vermillion coach Terry Naylor said. “When it comes off, she kind of knows where it’s going before it gets there.”

Luce started his team in a triangle defense in hopes of stifling Turchi and Martin but switched to man-to-man defense when that failed.

The Rox post players gave up several inches to the Falcons. Couple that with good rebound positioning, North Vermillion out rebounded Rockville 40-32.

Down 32-18 at halftime, Rockville used full-court pressure to force turnover and score the first 10 points of the third quarter. They climbed back into the game as Jerica Carrington made a 3-pointer to narrow North Vermillion’s lead to 32-28.

The Falcons pounded the paint with West and Martin scoring on back-to-back possessions to bring North Vermillion’s lead to eight points.

But, after a Rockville timeout, the Rox scored a basket, forced a Falcon turnover, then scored three on a basket-and-foul by Carrington. It was a one-possession game for the first time since the first quarter, 36-33.

Rockville struggled to make shots while North Vermillion converted and slowly increased a lead that the Falcons would hold the rest of the game.

Taylen Balding added 13 points and Mikayla Kinneer added 12, giving North Vermillion four double-digit scorers. But Turchi’s 21 points caught Naylor’s eye most.

“That’s probably the best game offensively I’ve seen Turchi play this year,” he said. “She didn’t force the issue when she got it on a break and she hit the open girl. I haven’t seen her do that consistently throughout a game like she did tonight.”

North Vermillion turns its focus to Riverton Parke, which defeated Covington 64-17 on Friday. The Falcons lost early in the season 52-34 to the Panthers with Martin out with an injury. Martin had returned when North Vermillion lost 57-55 in overtime to Riverton Parke.

“If you want to beat Riverton, if you handle the pressure and you don’t turn it over and don’t give them easy looks, you’ve got a chance,” Naylor said. “I think we have a chance if we don’t turn it over like we did tonight.”

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