Clover girls breeze by North Putnam

Assistant Editor

The ball just wouldn't go into the hoop for the Cougars Friday.

The North Putnam High School girls' basketball team shot 14-of-46 from the field Friday in its 58-36 loss to Cloverdale.

With the win, the Clovers improve to 10-7 on the season, including 3-1 in the West Central Conference. North Putnam dropped to 4-12 overall and 0-3 in league play.

"We had a lot of good looks," North Putnam coach Kevin Smith said. "We just didn't shoot the ball real well.

"We just did not knock shots down. We struggled from the field."

Cloverdale coach Bruce Cook said his team started the game in a man-to-man defense, but quickly switched after North Putnam's Brook Miller hit back-to-back buckets to begin the game.

Cook switched to a triangle-two defense, which put the clamps on the Cougars' offensive aspirations.

Cook said he wanted to play man defense because in the county tourney earlier this season, the Clovers used the triangle defense against the Cougars.

"I really thought they'd be looking for the triangle-two," Cook said. "So we went to man-to-man. But we went back to the triangle after the first two minutes.

"After (Miller) hit that, I think we woke up."

The change of defense seemed to spark life into Cloverdale's offense as well, as the Clovers went on a 9-0 run after switching defenses and never looked back.

The Cougars pulled within three, 13-10, with less than two minutes to go in the first period, but the Clovers had a 19-12 lead heading into the second quarter.

Cloverdale extended its lead heading into halftime to 14 points, 33-19.

The Clovers blew the game open in the third quarter, defensivly shutting down the Cougars to just five points while scoring 16 points in the period.

By the conclusion of the quarter, Cloverdale had extended its lead to 25, 49-24.

The Clovers scored the first five points of the final period en route to the victory.

"I think everybody got a breather," Cook said of Friday's win. "We were very aggressive. I think we just hustled."

Hannah Monnett paced the Clovers with 15 points while Ashley Koosman tallied 13. Kristen McCammon also hit 3-of-5 three-pointers for nine points and Chelsie Haltom added eight.

Miller and Shawna Johnston led North Putnam with nine points each.

"This game got a way from us," Smith said. "(Cloverdale) did a nice job.

"It seemed like they were a step quicker than us. And they did a good job on defense."

The Clovers will face South Putnam on Friday while the Cougars take on Turkey Run Tuesday.

At Cloverdale

North Putnam 12 7 5 12 -- 36

Cloverdale 19 14 16 9 -- 58

North Putnam -- Miller 3-9 2-4 9, Greene 0-3 0-0 0, Alles 0-0 0-0 0, Crosby 3-5 0-0 6, Kumaran 2-7 0-0 6, Johnston 4-9 0-0 9, McGaughey 1-11 0-0 3, Crosby 1-2 0-0 2, Malayer 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-46 FG, 3-6 FT, 36 TP.

Cloverdale -- Monnett 6-15 2-6 15, Koosman 5-11 3-7 13, Haltom 3-7 1-2 8, McCammon 3-8 0-0 9, 0-1 1-2 1, Cheatham 4-5 0-0 8, Schroer 2-4 0-2 4, Shepherd 0-1 0-0 0, Skiles 0-0 0-0 0, Evans 0-0 0-0 0, Bond 0-0 0-0 0, Franklin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 FG, 7-19 FT, 58 TP.

3-pt. FG -- NPHS 5-23 (Kumaran 2-7), CHS 5-16 (McCammon 3-5). Rebounds -- NPHS 27 (Alles 7), CHS 36 (Monnett, Haltom 7). Blocks -- NPHS 1 (E. Crosby), CHS 0. Assists -- NPHS 10 (Miller 5), CHS 15 (Monnett, Koosman 4). Steals -- NPHS 4 (L. Crosby 2), CHS 9 (Haltom 3). Total Fouls -- NPHS 15, CHS 9. Fouled Out -- None. Turnovers -- NPHS 21, CHS 16.

Next Games -- The Clovers (10-7, 3-1) face South Putnam Friday. North Putnam (4-12, 0-3) takes on Turkey Run Tuesday.