North Putnam slips to 0-3 after 58-31 loss to Covington Trojans

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

ROACHDALE -- North Putnam's girls' basketball squad fell to 0-3 on the season, losing their home opener to Covington 58-31.

After starting the game with a 5-0 lead, the Cougars began to have issues with the Trojans' full court press.

It was a theme for the evening as the hosts committed 33 turnovers over the course of the game.

Unable to get good offensive looks consistently, North Putnam trailed 7-6 at the end of the first and fell further behind in the second as Aliah Larsen scored 12 of her game high 23 in the frame.

The Cougars, down 24-15 at halftime, found themselves unable to keep Covington off the glass on either end and trailed 38-24 as the Trojan defense put on withering pressure.

The hosts continued to battle on but could not find a way to bridge the scoring gap and lost their third game in a row to start the season.

North Putnam head coach Curtis Lawrence said that the squad still has some bad habits to shake off before they play in the county tourney.

"I thought we got off to a great start but we reverted to the same two things we've been struggling with in the first two games and that's turnovers and giving up offensive rebounds," Lawrence said.

"We're not going to change anything going against South Putnam. We'll stick with our zone. We struggled some tonight but we played against Danville pretty well in it.

"South Putnam has some great players. [Leanna] Masters is a great player in the post and we've got to be cognizant of where she is on the floor at all times," Lawrence added.

Lawrence was quick to point out that the squad would use the time between Tuesday and Friday well.

"(The players') effort is tremendous," Lawrence said. I can't fault their effort or their enthusiasm and hustle. We need to work on taking care of the ball and rebounding."

"If we get those two things under control, we'll be in good shape. We've got a couple of practices before playing South Putnam and I think we'll be ready to go.

"When they come to practice, they're ready to go. The one thing I learned about coaching girls a long time ago is that they forget the previous night pretty quickly. That's a good thing to have."

At North Putnam

Covington 7 17 14 20 -- 58

North Putnam 6 9 9 7 -- 31

Individual Scoring

Covington -- Larsen 23, Chezem 8, Taylor 7, Wallace 6, Hanson 6, Kagels 4, McConkey 2, Foster 2

North Putnam -- Lucas 10, Smith 9, Wiatt 6, Asbell 2, Aynes 2, Heron 1, Matthews 1

Next game -- North Putnam faces South Putnam in the Putnam County Tournament Friday.