Published: January 05, 2009 11:19 am      

Lindsay's Neu gets 200th win

By DARIN ALLRED

Register Sports Editor

LINDSAY — It wasn’t a particularly pretty win, but it’s still a win that Lindsay Lady Knights head coach Don Neu will remember for a while.

Neu picked up his 200th career win as a head coach Saturday as his Lady Knights defeated the Savoy Lady Cardinals 41-34 at the LHS gym. In his 11 years at Lindsay, Neu now has an overall record of 200-89.

“It’s nice,” Neu said of the milestone. “I’d rather win a district championship than get 200 wins, but it’s nice. It’s an honor to get that many. When I get 500 that will mean something more than 200, but it’s a good feeling.”

Lindsay (9-10) didn’t make things easy. The Lady Knights only led by four (21-17) at halftime and let a 16-point second half lead slip down to seven at the end, but they were still able to get their coach his 200th win.

“You are always happy to win, but you always feel like you can play a little better,” Neu said. “I contribute a lot of it to all the kids that have come through here since I’ve been here. They’ve been a great group of kids. Without them this wouldn’t even be possible. I’ve been blessed with some great athletes and it’s been a blessing.”

Against Savoy, Lindsay fell behind 4-0 but came back to lead 11-7 after the first quarter and 21-17 at halftime. Savoy scored the first points of the second half to pull within two (21-19), but Lindsay’s Cammi Neu answered with a 3-pointer and Kristin Martin followed that with a field goal to put Lindsay back up 26-19.

The Lady Knights closed the third period strong as Neu hit a field goal, Kaylee Murphree hit a shot in the lane and Bethani Eberhart got a steal and layup to give Lindsay a 32-23 lead going into the fourth.

Lindsay’s run continued in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Neu swished her third 3-pointer of the game then scored after a nice assist from Rose Hermes. Twenty seconds later, Hermes got an offensive rebound and putback that finished off an 11-0 run to make it 39-23 with 4:34 remaining in the game.

That’s when things got sloppy for Lindsay. Savoy finished the game with an 11-2 run thanks to baskets by Marquin Malone, Destiny Moore and Whitney Cooke. Lindsay’s only field goal in the final four minutes came from Martin.

Lindsay’s defense forced Savoy into 23 turnovers for the game.

Cammi Neu finished with 15 points for Lindsay, while Beverly Knabe added 10, Kristin Martin scored 8, Bethani Eberhart had 4, and Rose Hermes and Kaylee Murphree each added 2.

For Savoy, Destiny Moore had 16 points, Marquin Malone added 7, Whitney Cooke scored 6, Lauren Camp had 4 and Carissa Dillon added 1.

Neu will try to get win No. 201 Tuesday when his Lady Knights travel to Muenster to face Sacred Heart.