The North Putnam High School girls' basketball team losing streak came to an end Saturday as it knocked off the Greencastle Tiger Cubs, 51-47

Monday, November 21, 2005

The North Putnam High School girls' basketball team losing streak came to an end Saturday as it knocked off the Greencastle Tiger Cubs, 51-47.

The Cougars finished third in the Putnam County Tournament and earned its first win of the season to move them to 1-4 on the season, while the Tiger Cubs fall to 0-2.

"I told my girls at the beginning of the game that we were 0-4, but I didn't feel like were an 0-4 team," NPHS Coach Kevin Smith said.

After the first quarter, it looked like the Cougars had everything under control when they built a 14-12 lead. Laura Blaydes got right to business for the Cougars scoring 10 points alone in the quarter.

North Putnam started the second period with a 7-0 run that would later manifest into a 12-7 quarter in its favor. The Cougars bench came to life with Tara Thornburg hitting back-to-back three-pointers. The Tiger Cubs finally got on the board for the quarter when Olivia Miller scored in the paint.

The Tiger Cubs' scoring was limited in the second period due to the Cougars' full court pressure, forcing them to turn the ball over. The Cougars stole the ball from the Tiger Cubs four times in the second quarter and 10 times total in the first half, with a few resulting in fast break points.

"That's how we play. Baseline to baseline, we may give up some easy points, but we will pressure you into to doing things you don't want to do," Smith said.

After the first half, North Putnam led 26-19 and Greencastle came out in the second half and made a statement. The Tiger Cubs started the second half with a 6-0 run of their own with four of the points coming from Stefanie Masten, who had been scoreless since the first few minutes of the first quarter.

The Cougars continued to shoot around the perimeter, but couldn't get anything to drop in the period.

North Putnam shot 22 three-pointers in the game, only hitting five, but Smith was still happy with the selection of shots his team had.

"We shot a lot on the outside because we lacked the height on the inside, but I thought our shot selection (Saturday) was the best yet this season," he said.

The Tiger Cubs outscored the Cougars 13-11 in the third quarter, but still trailed 37-32 heading into the final quarter of play.

Kyrian Marshall came to life for Greencastle in the fourth quarter, grabbing six boards and scoring two points. Marshall sat most of the first half on the bench after getting into foul trouble early in the game. Besides Marshall, Masten was the only one from Greencastle that could produce anything. Masten scored five more points for the Tiger Cubs.

"We played a lot better than what we did on Friday," GHS Coach Glenn Hile said. "They were hard to match up against because of their quickness."

Laura Blaydes led the Cougars with 21 points while Brook Miller chipped in seven and Thornburg and Taylor Alles had six points each. Mackenzie Pearson finished up with five points while Chelsea Green had four points and Shawna Johnston had two.

Masten scored 17 points for the Tiger Cubs while Lauren Robertson came off the bench and chipped in 13. Marshall and Miller had four points each while Laura Weatherford had three points.

At South Putnam

Greencastle 12 7 13 9 - 41

North Putnam 14 12 11 14 - 51

GC - Masten 9 2-2, 17, Robertson 4 3-5, 13, Miller 2 0-0, 4, Marshall 2 0-1, 4, Weatherford 0 3-8, 3.

NP- Blaydes 5 9-12, 21, Miller 3 0-0, 7, Thornburg 2 0-0, 6, Alles 3 0-0, 6, Pearson 2 1-3, 5, Greene 2 0-0, 4, Johnston 1 0-0, 2.

3pt FG - NP 5 (Blaydes, Thornburg 2 each), GC 2 (Robertson 2). Assists - NP 4 (Greene 2), GC 2 Alspaugh). Rebounds - NP 7 (Blaydes) GC 25 (Marshall 10). FT - NP 10-17, GC 8-17. Total Fouls - NP 21, GC 18. Fouled Out - Miller NP.

Next games -- Greencastle plays at Crawfordsville Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., while North Putnam plays at Rockville Dec. 1 at 6 p.m.

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