As many locals were preparing for a big Thanksgiving meal and time for family to come together to be thankful for what they have been given this year, the Lady Pirates and Lady Mustangs had some business to attend to on the court before making any Thanksgiving Day plans.
    The teams met at Bill Dunn Sports Arena last Wednesday night. The homestanding Lady Pirates fell 31-21 to New Washington.
    Lady Mustang junior Jennifer Schindler started the scoring on a lay-up at the 6:20 mark. Charlestown senior Katie Jackson tied the game at 2 on a jumper just seconds later. Lady Pirate Alicia Zollman scored Charlestown’s next six points to give the Lady Pirates the 8-4 advantage at the end of the first stanza.
    New Washington owned the second quarter as they outscored the Lady Pirates 9-2 in the period. Senior Jillian Charlet recorded six of her 12 points in the quarter.
    New Washington held the 13-10 advantage heading into the halftime break.
    The third quarter seen a little more balance in the scoring as the Lady Mustangs added eight points while giving up six points. Charlestown’s Zollman tallied five of the Lady Pirates’ six in the stanza.
    New Washington held the 21-16 advantage heading into the final eight minutes of play.
    The Lady Mustangs rattled off the first seven points of the period including a trey from Alyssa Burch to push their lead to 28-16. Charlet hit a bucket before Charlestown’s Jenah Sherrill nailed a triple at the 1:00 mark.
    New Washington’s final point came from Callie Burgin as she nailed one from the charity stripe. Charlestown’s Amanda Miller answered with a pair of her own from the stripe to end the scoring in the ballgame.
    The Lady Mustangs captured the 31-21 victory to push their record to 3-1. Charlestown sat at 0-4 after the ballgame.
    "The thing we have to do is be more aggressive. We are not doing the things we need to do," New Washington head coach Terry White stated. "The first half we didn’t do the things we needed to do to win. I seen some progress this evening. We need to come out and give it our opponent instead of our opponent coming out and giving it to us."
    Charlestown head coach Tony Hall stated, "I’m really proud of our girls tonight. The girls came out and played good defense. We didn’t have much offense tonight with Katie hurt. We need to be more consistent on offense. We have to be patient with this team, it’s mainly freshmen and sophomores. We just really need to win a game because winning a game sugar coats a lot of problems. Right now it doesn’t hurt to lose. As we tel them, you don’t become a champion until you hate to lose."
    Scoring for New Washington: Charlet 12, E. Burgin 4, C. Burgin 4, Burch 3, Walker 3, Cranmer 3, Schindler 2.
    Scoring for Charlestown: Zollman 11, Miller 4, Jackson 3, Sherrill 3.
    3-point goals: Zollman 1, Burch 1, Walker 1, Cranmer 1.

    Last Saturday as temperatures struggled to reach the high 30's fans of high school basketball looked for something to do. They did not have to look far as fans of Pirate and Dragon basketball traveled to Silver Creek High School for Dragon Mania 2007.
    The day-long event featured four games including junior varsity and varsity boys and girls games. In between games and throughout the day fans were given a rare opportunity to capture memories of a lifetime as Indianapolis Colts cheerleaders Tessa and Valerie were on hand for pictures and autographs, Miss Indiana 2006 was also on hand for autographs. A great highlight of the day were the many mascots that played a game of basketball. Mascots entertaining the kids and adults alike were Blue of the World Champion Indianapolis Colts, Buddy Bat of the Louisville Bats, Axe of Louisville Fire, Chase Bank Dog, Sniffy of Vectren, Chick-fil-A Cow, McGruff, Freddy Fever of Indiana Fever, Bowser and Boomer of the Indiana Pacers, 811 mascot, and the home-standing Silver Creek Dragon.
    Dragon Mania proved successful with a nice crowd on hand to witness the many opportunities brought to them.
    Of course, it is Southern Indiana and Hoosiers love their basketball. The main event was the match-ups of the Charlestown Pirates and Silver Creek Dragons.
Varsity Girls
Charlestown - 38
Silver Creek- 37
    After the junior varsity girls the varsity girls took to the court. The game was close throughout as fans were glued to their seats. Fans got a treat with a good ole fashion barn-burner just weeks into the season.
    The Lady Pirates took the 38-37 victory on a trey from sophomore Morgan Allen as the buzzer sounded. The victory was the first for Charlestown.
    The Lady Dragons started the scoring with a lay-up from senior Donna Ferree. Charlestown rattled off five points to take the early 5-2 lead sparked by two from the charity line from freshman Jenah Sherrill. The teams battled for the remainder of the quarter as the Lady Pirates lead 11-9 at the end of the first quarter.
    The second stanza seen Charlestown open with a 10-0 run with only senior Katie Jackson and sophomore Amanda Miller scoring during the run. Silver Creek’s Erin Richmer opened the scoring for the Lady Dragons in the quarter on an old-fashioned three point play. Tori Johnston nailed a triple to close the Pirates lead to six, 21-15.
    The Lady Pirates went three for four from the free throw line in the final minute to take the nine point advantage into the locker room. Charlestown enjoyed the 24-15 halftime lead.
    The third quarter seen the Silver Creek double the Lady Pirates scoring, 8-4. Richmer and Amber McFarland nailed treys in the stanza. Charlestown held the 28-23 advantage heading into the final eight minutes of play.
    McFarland and Ferree opened up the final stanza with back-to-back threes for the homestanding Lady Dragons. Ferree’s trey gave Silver Creek their first lead, 29-28, since the opening bucket.
    Both teams traded baskets until Silver Creek senior Becky Kelley’s bucket put the Lady Dragons back on top, 36-35. Johnston added a free throw to give the Lady Dragons the 37-35 lead with just 22 ticks remaining on the clock.
    Allen’s game-winning triple seared through the net as the buzzer sounded. The bucket was her only score of the ballgame. The Lady Pirates took their first win of the season, 38-37 over rival Silver Creek.
    Allen was greeted by a big bear hug from head coach Tony Hall after the buzzer sounded and he danced around the court raising his hands in victory.
    "We should have never been in that position. A lot of it tonight was Ferree picking up two quick fouls," Silver Creek head coach Ryan Apple stated. "We kept losing the Jackson girl (Katie). We had 17 turnovers for the game. Turnovers just killed us."
    An elated Tony Hall, head coach of the Lady Pirates, stated, "We did a good job. Our defense is ahead of our offense. On offense we still want to stand still, if you are standing still, it’s really easy to defend us."
    He continued, "That was a great shot by Morgan. We needed that. She (Allen) battled back from a knee injury. She injured her ACL in July."
    Scoring for Charlestown: Jackson 14, Miller 8, Zollman 4, Williams 4, Allen 3, Sherrill 2, Bennison 2, Rhoten 1.
    Scoring for Silver Creek: McFarland 9, Voyles 7, Ferree 7, Richmer 6 ,Johnston 6, Haddon 2.
    3-point goals: McFarland 3, Johnston 1, Ferree 1, Allen 1.
Varsity Boys
Silver Creek- 59
Charlestown- 56
    The fans again got all they could ask for as the boys picked up where the girls teams left off.
    The boys battled the entire ballgame before Silver Creek slipped past the Pirates 59-56 in overtime. Charlestown clawed back from 13 down in the final eight minutes to knot the ballgame at 53 to force the overtime.
    The Pirates’ Zach Merschbrock began the scoring with a bucket at the 7:02 mark. Silver Creek’s Spencer Robinson answered with two from the free throw line at the 6:43 mark for the early tie. Charlestown went on a 15-4 run sparked by a pair of treys from Clayton Merschbrock to give the Pirates an 11-point advantage, 17-6.
    Silver Creek would score the next seven points to pull within four 17-13 heading into the second stanza.
    The second period started much like the first one ended as the Dragons went on an 11-0 run. The run gave Silver Creek the 24-17 advantage.
    Pirate C. Merschbrock nailed a triple at the 5:00 mark to spark a Charlestown 12-2 run. The run returned the lead to the Pirates, 27-26.
    Silver Creek’s Justin Kight scored the next seven points to push his Dragons back on top heading into the halftime break, 35-31.
    The Dragon’s Robinson scored all 12 points for Silver Creek as they extended their lead to nine, 45-36 in the third quarter. Charlestown was held to five points in the stanza as senior Chris Chastain recorded three points in the quarter.
    The Pirates found themselves in a 13-point hole at the 6:39 mark in the fourth quarter, 52-39. Charlestown’s Z. Merschbrock nailed three of four from the free throw line before his twin brother, C. Merschbrock, nailed two treys. Senior Bowman Thrasher pulled the Pirates within one, 53-52 with 1:38 remaining in regulation.
    Z. Merschbrock nailed one of two from the charity stripe to tie the ballgame at 53 with 1:27 remaining. Neither team would score the winning bucket within the regulation time frame.
    The four minute overtime seen Silver Creek’s Will McCall put the Dragons in front with a bucket at the 3:51 mark. Andrew Clayton extended the lead to four with a pair from the charity stripe before Pirate senior Stephen Grayson nailed a trey at the 2:47 mark to pull Charlestown within one, 57-56.
    Silver Creek senior J.T. Hamm nailed two from the charity stripe to seal the 59-56 victory.
    "I felt like we had this game and then we gave it to them and then they gave it right back to us," Silver Creek head coach John Bradley stated after the ballgame. "I’m pleased with our role players tonight. Justin Kight showed what kind of player he can be in the second quarter. Our kids panicked in the fourth quarter and Charlestown did a nice job capitalizing on them."
    Sean Smith, head coach of the Pirates stated, "We made a great comeback but just fell short of the win. I’m proud of the kids’ comeback. We were able to get some shots and hit from the free throw line."
    Scoring for Silver Creek: Robinson 23, Kight 18, McCall 6, Hamm 4, Clayton 4, Koetter 2, Townsend 2.
    Scoring for Charlestown: C. Merschbrock 21, Z. Merschbrock 21, Grayson 6, Chastain 5, Thrasher 3.
    3-point goals: C. Merschbrock 5, Grayson 2, Kight 2.

    It’s true that history repeats itself, because once again the Henryville Hornets lost to the Silver Creek Dragons on Tuesday, November 20.
    The final score to the game was 51-38, as this was truly a game of ups and downs.
    After the first quarter, Silver Creek had pulled away to have a 10-point lead, but Henryville closed that to 5 by the end of the half. Then the ever resilient Hornets shaved the lead to 4 after the conclusion of the third quarter, but the Dragons pulled away and scored 17 points in the final quarter, while Henryville only managed to score 8 points.
    Despite this early season loss, the Hornets look to be full of promise, as juniors Cory Munk and Skyler Brooks contributed the majority of the points in this game. They also have the senior leadership of Brandon McGloshen and Mat Smith.

    The Charlestown Beautification Committee is once again sponsoring the Charlestown Christmas Tour of Homes. This is the seventh annual Christmas Tour of Homes and they just keep getting better and better.
   The tour this year will be held on December 8 from 5 to 9 p.m. You may purchase tickets starting at 4 p.m. at the Charlestown A&E Center located at 999 Water Street in Charlestown. Tickets will again be $10 each.
   This year is going to be another spectacular Christmas Home Tour as there are six beautifully decorated homes that you do not want to miss seeing. There will be two on State Road 160, don’t miss these and then four more equally beautiful homes in the city. All are easy to find and each one is more beautiful than the next. Don’t forget to come back to the A&E Center for cookies and drinks to give the committee your feed back on the homes.
   Just a reminder that the CBC is working on next year’s Bi-Centennial Founders Day Celebration. It will be kicked off with a Historical Home and Garden Tour of 10 of the most beautiful historical homes in Charlestown.