North Putnam girls end streak with win over Gryphons
BAINBRIDGE — The North Putnam Lady Cougars snapped a six-game losing streak with a tough win over the International School of Indiana, 36-27, on Tuesday night. The Cougars played tough defense and hit clutch free throws down the stretch to improve their record to 4-7 on the season.
“We did a good job of gutting one out, tonight,” North Putnam head coach Jarrod Duff said.
Both teams struggled on the offensive end of the floor. The teams combined for 51 turnovers and combined for 24 percent (18-of-75) shooting from the floor. The offenses may not have been effective, but the defensive intensity and effort were the hallmarks of the game.
“We got after it. We really competed. We played with a lot of heart right from the start,” Duff said.
The Cougars jumped out to good start. North sprinted to a 13-2 lead and 13-4 lead after the first quarter. They forced seven turnovers and Dana Tennis scored five of her 13 points in the period to lead the way. North had their best offensive quarter as they hit 5-of-9 shots and 3-of-4 from the line to establish the nine-point lead. They would end up winning by that margin.
“There haven’t been very many times over the last two years, we have gotten off to a good start. That was huge. We came out and played with a lot of energy,” Duff said.
The Cougars maintained their lead in the second quarter. Hannah Sims hit a couple of shots and North wouldn’t allow the Gryphons to get any closer than seven points in the period. The Cougar defense continued to harass International and North went to the locker room with a 21-12 lead.
The Gryphons rallied in the third quarter. They methodically got back into the game behind Maya Caldwell’s 7 points. International finally began to make a few buckets. The hit four field goals, but left some on the table as they hit only 3-of-7 from the line. Tennis kept the Cougars from losing the lead as she picked up another five points.
“They got into the bonus in the third quarter. We told the girls to be aggressive and we got out of position at times. We didn’t always make good decisions,” Duff said. “Offensively, we got out of sync. We stopped moving the ball and missed some good shots.”
The Cougars heart showed in the fourth as they took care of the ball with only two turnovers and they stepped up their defense another notch. International didn’t score in the period until there was only 1:15 left in the game and North had bumped their lead back up to nine points. Sims led the way from the line in the final stanza hitting 6-of-8 from the stripe.
“We got a ton of stops. Our defense came up huge in the fourth quarter,” Duff said.
International’s Caldwell led all scorers with 14 points. Tennis and Sims led the way for North with 13 points each.
The Cougars hope the momentum carries over on Friday night as they travel to Northview for a Western Indiana Conference game. The Cougars are looking for their first conference win against two losses.
INTERNATIONAL (27) – Caldwell 2-6 0-1 4, Long 4-13 2-2 11, Burke 6-15 3-3 16, Ybarra 4-9 2-2 14, Zumbaugh 3-6 0-2 6, Moyer 2-2 1-2 5, Sasse 1-3 0-2 2, Johnson 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 8-32 FG, 11-16 FT, 27 TP.
NORTH PUTNAM (36) – Sims 3-6 7-14 13, Runnels 1-3 0-0 3, Osburn 0-4 0-2 0, Lyons 1-7 5-5 7, Tennis 5-17 1-2 13, Young 0-2 0-0 0, Gibson 0-3 0-0 0, Day 0-1 0-0 0, O’Neal 0-0 0-0 0, Simmerman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-43 FG, 13-23 FT, 36 TP.
International 4 8 11 4 – 27
North Putnam 13 8 5 10 – 36
3-point shooting – ISI 0-5 (Long 0-2, Burke 0-1, Yberra 0-2), NP 3-17 (Sims 0-1, Runnels 1-2, Lyons 0-2, Tennis 2-11, Gibson 0-1) REB – ISI 29 (Caldwell 10, Long 4, Burke 5, Yberra 4, Zumbaugh 1, Moyer 1, Sasse 2), NP 32 (Sims 4, Runnels 3, Osburn 8, Lyons 6, Tennis 2, Young 2, Gibson 2, Day 1), FG Pct. – ISI 25.0, NP 23.3. FT Pct. – ISI 68.8, NP 56.5. Turnovers – ISI 28, NP 23.