Second-half struggles doom Lady Cougars
CRAWFORDSVILLE -- The North Putnam girls' basketball team tried to eke out its third win of the season Tuesday night against the Southmont Mounties only being down one at halftime, but they ultimately fell, 40-26.
North Putnam struggled to start the game, turning the ball over six times on its first seven possessions. Senior Kayla Clodfelter struggled with traps as she turned the ball over four of those times.
Down 6-0, good shooting kept the game in range for the Cougars. Junior Taylor Nauert hit a three to cut the lead in half, and down 10-3, senior Kaitlin Mindiola hit one of two free throws and senior Morgan Smith hit a three. This ended the first quarter with the Cougars only being down 10-7.
"We shot really well in the first half," Cougars' coach Jim Spencer said. "We did some good things and it kept us in the game."
Mindiola tied the game for the Cougars with 4:43 left in the first half. She was fouled driving to the bucket and made both free throws.
After a Mountie free throw by lone senior Aarika McKinsey, Clodfelter created a shot of her own but shot too long. There to rebound was sophomore Emilee Henninger, who grabbed the ball and scored giving the Cougars their first lead of the game, 17-16.
Southmont went on a 7-2 run after that spurt, but the Cougars cut it to one gong into halftime on a last-second Madisyn Smith three-pointer.
The three-point line had been good to the Cougars who hit 5 of 7 in the first half. They only hit 1 of 7 inside the arc.
Hoping to maintain the momentum into the second half, the Cougars hit a stalemate.
"We hoped to continue from the first half," Spencer said. "We wanted to try and win this one."
Three turnovers were the result for the Cougars on their first three possessions of the half and Southmont went on a 10-0 run. In all the Cougars only scored two points in the quarter. They only scored four for the half.
"We just couldn't get good shots," Spencer said. "We turned the ball over too much."
The Mounties did all their damage in the third quarter, outscoring the Cougars, 14-2.They outscored them 3-2 in the fourth.
North Putnam had 32 total turnovers in the loss. Nauert, who scored all her points in the first half did not attempt a shot in the second half.
"You can't do this and win a game," Spencer said. "They played well, but they have to play a full game."
After being on fire in the first half from behind the three-point line, the Cougars went ice cold, going 0-for-5 in the second half.
The Cougars' next game will be Friday night at Cloverdale at 6 p.m. before the boys' game.
At Southmont
North Putnam 7 15 2 2--26
Southmont 10 13 14 3--40
Scoring
North Putnam (8-31 5-8 26): Nauert 2-5 2-2 8, Mo. Smith 2-7 0-0 6, Mindiola 1-3 3-4 5, Henninger 2-4 0-0 4, Ma. Smith 1-7 0-0 3, Clodfelter 0-2 0-2 0, Duncan 0-0 0-0 0, Evans 0-1 0-0 0, Millican 0-0 0-0 0, Parent 0-0 0-0 0, B. Smith 0-2 0-0 0.
Southmont (16-47 5-13): Barrett 4-8 0-0 11, McKinsey 3-11 3-8 9, Burton 3-6 1-4, 6, Hess 2-5 1-1 5, Strauser 2-7 0-0 5, Case 2-8 0-0 4, Endicott 0-1 0-0 0.
Rebounding
North Putnam (11 OFF 30 TOT): Nauert 7, Henninger 6, Clodfelter 5, Mindiola 4, Parent 2, B. Smith, Ma. Smith 2.
Southmont (10 OFF 19 TOT): McKinsey 7, Burton 4, Case 4, Hess 3, Strauser 1.