NPHS girls' basketball team show improvement

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

CLINTON-- The North Putnam Cougars girls' basketball team has been playing up to standards over the past two games and Tuesday night they continued that streak, losing in a 23-20 nail biter.

They played the South Vermilion Wildcats on the road.

"I thought we played a little bit harder than we had been," Coach Jim Spencer said. "We got to some fifty-fifty balls we hadn't got to. Overall, it was a really good night. We just got to figure out a way to win."

The Cougars started the night 3-of-4 from the field, but they also had 11 turnovers to reside in that category.

Junior Taylor Nauert had six of those points and nine total for the game. She finished one point shy of a double-double with 12 turnovers and eight of those points came in the first half.

Only down by two heading into the second quarter, the Cougars secured the ball more preciously and only committed three turnovers. This helped them gain a 10-10 tie at the intermission.

"Turnovers are going to be a problem for us all year," Spencer said. "If we can keep bringing those down and giving ourselves a chance to score, we have a chance. We're not taking bad shots and haven't all year. That has been a point of emphasis, so it will be nice to get more of those."

Sophomore Emilee Henninger opened the second half by throwing the inbound pass into Wildcats' Ariel Spivey's hands. She took advantage of the favor with a layup on her end of the floor.

North Putnam still played, keeping the ball secure and only committed five third quarter turnovers that helped them keep the game tied after the third quarter.

Back and forth the game went to close it out. Freshman Hope Grange missed a ten-footer, but Nauert was unable to close the floor before Spivey came in and put the ball back up for two.

"It was good to be in a close game," Spencer said. "We made some mental mistakes. We didn't get where we were supposed to after two timeouts. We got to fix that. We got to get a little bit better at making decisions on the run. We are getting so much better everyday. I feel really good about where we are.

Henninger had the ball again pushing down the court, and Spivey made another big play by taking the ball out of her hands with one minute left.

North Putnam was forced to foul junior Carlie Johnson after nearly 30 seconds of defense, who put the Wildcats up by three by making both of her free throws.

After turning the ball over for their ninth time in the fourth quarter with 10 seconds left, the Cougars fouled Lauren Hixon and put her in on the line for a one and one.

She missed the front end and with six seconds on the clock the Cougars ran down the floor, but senior Kaitlin Mindiola missed a two point attempt as time expired.

This is the best the Cougars have played all through this season and the hard work has paid off. After being blown out in their first three games, they have been competitive in the last three. It has come down to final seconds in the previous two against the Wildcats and South Putnam.

"This is the best we've played all year," Spencer said. "We had a lot of improvement, especially on the defensive end. We were ahead late in the game and gave ourselves a chance to win. We had a couple of mistakes and shots that didn't go in. Overall it's the best night of the year. We did a lot of good things and had a lot of improvement."


At South Vermillion

North Putnam 4 6 4 6--20

South Vermilion 6 4 4 9--23


Individual

Cougars: Nauert 8 points 12 rebounds, Henninger 4 points 8 rebounds, Mindiola 4 points 6 rebounds, Millican 2 points 3 rebounds, Clodfelter 1 point 1rebound, Laffin 0 points 4 rebounds, Smith 0 points 1 rebound.

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