Cougars chase down second straight

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

By DAN SHELTON

Sports Writer

MARSHALL -- For the first time in while, North Putnam High School girls' basketball Coach Kevin Smith can smile.

The Cougars overcame their opponent Turkey Run Tuesday 34-30, winning their second game in a row, something they haven't done since the earlier part of the season.

'You want to play your best basketball late in the season and were getting better,' Smith said.

Although the Cougars won, their first-quarter performance did not show their best ability.

The Cougars fell short in the first quarter, 12-5, but were able to redeem themselves in the second quarter.

Laura Blaydes took charge of the Cougars offense, scoring six points while going 2-for-3 from the charity stripe. By half time, the Cougars knotted the score at 17-all.

'We came out a little flat (Tuesday) earlier, but were able to come back and regroup,' Smith said.

The third period was nothing for either team to brag about. The Cougars scored the first basket of the period with 5:45 left when Taylor Alles hit a post shot and held off the Warriors for most of the quarter.

The Warriors went scoreless until Jennifer Davis drained a three-pointer out of the far left side at the 3:40 mark, then just a little over a minute later, Lainey Newnum hit an inside jumper. At the end of the third quarter, Turkey Run had outscored North Putnam 5-4, and retaken the lead at 32-31.

The Cougars found themselves trailing at the end of the third quarter, but all that would change in fourth.

North Putnam scored the first basket when Brook Miller drained a jump shot with 5:25 left. The Cougars then went scoreless for the next two minutes while the Warriors went n a 6-0 run.

North Putnam bounced back from its drought and ended the game on an with a 11-2 run, courtesy of Miller and Blaydes. Blaydes scored eight of the 11 while Miller scored the other three

'We were able to hit out shots and play our offense,' Smith said. 'We had a little trouble with their dribble weave, so we played a little zone defense which is something we don't do a lot of and shut that down.'

Blaydes led the Cougars offense with 16 points while Miller chipped in eight and Chelsea Greene had six. Alles scored four.

In junior varsity action, the Cougars defeated the Warriors 33-29.

The Cougars are back in action on Friday when they travel to Greencastle for a West Central Conference match up with the Tiger Cubs starting at 6 p.m.

At Turkey Run

North Putnam 5 12 4 13 -- 34

Turkey Run 12 5 5 8 -- 30

NP -- Alles 2 0-0 4, Blaydes 4 8-9 16, Crosby 0 0-0 0, Diebold 0 0-0 0, Doyle 0 0-0 0, Doyle 0 00-0 0, Greene 3 0-0 6, Johnston 0 0-0 0, Miller 3 2-5 8, Pearson 0 0-0 0, Skene 0 0-0 0.

TR -- Patton 0 0-0 0, Newnum 6 1-2 13, Cory 0 2-2 2, Cory 1 0-0 3, Harbison 0 0-0 0, Vauters 0 0-0 0, Hobbs 0 0-0 0, Patton 6 0-0 12, Bailey 0 0-0 0, Delp 0 0-0 0, Doss 0 0-0 0, Vandivier 0 0-0 0.

JV -- North Putnam won 33-29

Next Game -- North Putnam travels to Greencastle for a 6 p.m. game.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: