Cougars compete well in 55-38 loss to Cascade

CLAYTON — The North Putnam Cougars did a lot of things right in Tuesday night’s opener against the Cascade Cadets in Class 2A sectional 44 play, but couldn’t overcome the bigger, experienced Cadets. North lost 55-38, ending its season at 8-15.

The Cadets used a strong second quarter to put some distance in the game and took advantage of some foul trouble by the Cougars to advance to the semifinal game against Monrovia Friday night.

“I would have like to have seen what we could have done without being in foul trouble. That hurt us during the game,” North head coach Jarrod Duff said.

The two teams battled evenly until late in the first quarter, when the Cadets were able to hit four free throws and take a 11-7 lead at the end of the period. The Cougar defense held the Cadets to 2-of-10 shooting in the quarter, but the Cadets scored six of their points from the charity stripe.

Cascade was able to stretch the lead a little in the second quarter. North struggled offensively, hitting only 2-of-9 shots and scoring eight points in the quarter. The Cadets were able to find the range from behind the arc as Hannah Rasnake hit three from downtown and Cascade upped its lead to 27-15 at the intermission.

“We did a really nice job of finding their shooters most of the time. They (the Cadets) really do a good job in their offense and makes you work. We did that most of the time,” Duff said.

North Putnam wouldn’t let the Cadets get away in the third quarter. The Cougars got two three-pointers from Dana Tennis and seven points from Payton Lyons and kept pace with Cascade. Both teams scored 13 points in the third quarter as Cascade maintained its lead 40-28.

The same issues plagued the Cougars as Cascade went to the free throw line and North Putnam struggled to take care of the basketball. North had its third straight quarter with five plus turnovers. That issue kept the Cougars from gaining any ground.

“We sometimes got a little stagnant offensively and didn’t move the ball, but I thought we did some things well offensively,” Duff said.

The favored Cadets managed to extend their lead late in the fourth period to set the final margin at 55-38. It wasn’t without a battle from the Cougars, though. Cascade was not able to extend the lead until late in the game as North got contributions from multiple players. All 12 players got in the game, with 10 of them playing significant minutes.

“We really played like we loved each other. We started the year with players going a lot of different directions and really came together. I told the girls in the locker room that they really played as a team,” Duff said.

Cascade was led by Emilia Bryant with 19 points, Rasnake had 15 and Olivia Bryant picked up 12 for the Cadets. The Cougars had a balanced scoring night as Lyons led with 10, Tennis added nine points, while Hannah Sims scored eight for the Cougars.

North was able to win the rebounding battle against the bigger Cadets 37-36 on the evening.

“A lot of that (rebounding) was pure effort. We really went after it. I couldn’t be more proud of the way our kids played and competed. We can build on this. This kind of effort is why I coach this game,” Duff said.

NORTH PUTNAM (38) – Sims 1-6 6-8 8, Runnells 0-0 0-0 0, Young 3-7 0-1 6, Osburn 2-6 0-0 4, Lyons 3-11 2-3 10, Tennis 3-5 0-0 9, Gibson 0-4 1-2 1, Day 0-0 0-0 0, Gierke 0-0 0-0 0, Simmerman 0-1 0-0 0, Boller 0-1 0-0 0, Christy 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-42 FG, 9-14 FT, 38 TP.

CASCADE (55) – O. Bryant 3-13 5-5 12, Rasnake 5-15 0-0 15, Norris 0-4 0-0 0, E. Bryant 6-8 7-9 19, Hostetler 1-3 0-0 2, S. Bryant 0-1 0-0 0, Parsons 2-2 0-0 4, Gibbs 0-3 3-4 3, Mahan 0-3 0-0 0, Cleveland 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-52 FG, 15-18 FT, 55 TP.

North Putnam 7 8 13 10 — 38

Cascade 11 16 13 15 — 55

3-Point Shooting — NP 5-13 (Lyons 2-7, Tennis 3-5, Simmerman 0-1), CHS 6-20 (O. Bryant 1-9, Rasnake 5-9, Mahan 0-2). Rebounds – NP 37 (Sims 3, Runnells 5, Young 3, Osburn 9, Christy 1, Lyons 6, Simmerman 2, Tennis 1, Gierke 2, Gibson 2) CHS – 36 (O. Bryant 1, Rasnake 4, Norris 4, E. Bryant 9, Hostetler 6, Mahan 1, S. Bryant 1, Cleveland 3, Gibbs 4) FG Pct. – NP 28.6, CHS 32.7. FT Pct. – NP 64.3, CHS 83.3. Turnovers – NP 21, CHS 13.