Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2013, Page 72

Description:	the score heard7i WlSmuSii 1 h WN1LDespite the controversy surrounding their 107-02 win over Arlington High School, theLady Panthers were determined to represent Bloomington South to the best of theirability.Its a dream that many young athletesshare. That one day, they will befeatured in ESPN highlights, gainingnational attention for crushing theiropponents. For the 2013 BloomingtonSouth girls varsity basketball team, thisdream became a reality, but quicklyturned into a nightmare, as their teamand their coach were nationallycriticized by broadcasters and viewersalike.On December 11, the LadyPanthers traveled to Arlington HighSchool in Indianapolis for a game thatshould have been like any other, butinstead ended up earning headlinesnationwide. South beat Arlington (0-6)107-2, and the blowout quicklybecame controversial, netting the teamboth strong support and harshcriticism.Critics felt coach Larry Wintersshould have done something to keepthe score from getting out of hand, butno one had a solution that all couldagree on.Supporters stood behindWinters, arguing that he was doing hisjob as a coach by encouraging histeam to play their best. Winters toldthe Indianapolis Star that he was in noway trying to run up the score.I didnt tell my girls to stopshooting because that would havebeen more embarrassing [forArlington], Winters told the Star. Wewere not trying to embarrass them.The Lady Panthers defendedWinters. I absolutely stand by him, asdoes our entire team, because itdefinitely would have been moreembarrassing and rude towards themjust to stand around and pass the ballas well as a waste of time foreveryone, said senior MorganGillard.Supporters of Winters and theLady Panthers stressed that theobjective of sports is to play hard andto win. One anonymous ESPN websiteuser jumped to the teams defense,asking, How is anyone outraged bythis? Can you imagine a team thatsimply stopped trying to shoot theball? Id be outraged by that. To notplay the game at all is the biggestinsult that exists.While plenty supported thePanthers, others were furious with howSouth continued to score late into thegame. Many questioned the level ofsportsmanship portrayed by Wintersand his team. One Twitter user wrote[It was] disgraceful and a blow to theintegrity of Indiana High SchoolBasketball.Arlingtons first year head coach,Ms. Ebony Jackson, told the Star thatshe was disappointed with how Southhad handled the game. Its not okay,but (Winters) will have to live withthat, Jackson said to the Star. If thatshow they want to carry themselves,thats fine. Im focused on me andmine, and well just keep going.The blowout sparked talk of anofficial mercy rule in Indiana toprevent incidents such as this fromoccurring again. If a mercy rule wasinstituted, it would not stop the gameafter a certain margin of lead hadbeen attained, but rather it wouldprevent the clock from stopping as itnormally would. The clock would onlystop in emergency cases such asinjury, and the clocks continuousrunning would ensure that a similarscore would not be reached by thewinning team.Gillard agreed that this could bea good solution to the problem. I dothink a mercy rule should be installedjust to keep drama like this fromhappening, as well hopefullypreventing any teams fromembarrassment, she said. However,Gillard also believed it was just abad situation in where the game justshould never have been played. Itwas just too uneven of a match-up.Only time would tell if IHSAAwould change policyincidents such as the g1 1 th. Whatever the eveon high schoon the Lad)Though the week followirwas not easy for them,showed strength in the face of ncriticism and dedication as athletestheir coach and their school.- LOGAN RODGERS AND SARI The image of the score boainews. Winning by one of the ggreat controversy. 2. Just monrgoofy pictures in the locker roc201 2 the varsity girls basketbabecome an extremelv tiaht-knit <fter the game against Arlington Itest margins ever reported in high school basketball history, the 1 07-02 finish sparked5 before playing Arlington, the varsity girls basketball game light-heartedly snappedNobody expected the game to be a newsworthy occasion. 3. During the summer ofam traveled to Las Vegas for some preseason conditioning and fun. The girls grew toip. This bond later helped the team cope with the national scrutiny they faced.1X
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/8624
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

Further information on this record can be found at its source.