Lady Cougars get put on ice

Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Shelby Frye goes around North Vermillion's Taylor Turchi during the first half of the Lady Cougars' game Tuesday night.

ROACHDALE -- The weather wasn't the only thing that was cold at North Putnam High School Tuesday night as the Lady Cougars dropped their third straight game to North Vermillion, 59-20.

North Putnam converted only six of its 45 shots while the Lady Flacons went 25-for-51 from the field in the non-conference match up.

"They are 7-1 for a reason," NPHS Coach Jim Brothers said. "They moved the ball and shot the ball well and we didn't.

"We just haven't come with the intensity to play like we did in the beginning of the season, ever since Rockville, and we need to get that back," Brothers added.

North Vermillion set the pace in the first quarter, outscoring the Lady Cougars 19-4, and no matter what North Putnam did, North Vermillion countered it. If the Lady Cougars tried to go to the inside, the Lady Falcons switched defenses to counteract it. If North Putnam tried to press it, North Vermillion just sent a man all the way down to the other end and cherry picked the basket.

The Lady Falcons forced the Lady Cougars to turn the ball over five times in the first quarter alone while nto committing a single turnover themselves.

In the next quarter, it looked like the North Putnam found a way to counteract the Lady Falcons relentless offense, when it was able to hold them to eight points, while scoring six of it's own. But that hope faded away quickly at the start of the second half when North Vermillion outscored the Lady Cougars 16-4, hitting 70 percent of their shots in the third.

"Our transition to defense was really bad tonight and our communication wasn't that good either," Brothers said. "It just wasn't a good night for us."

North Vermillion went on to outscore the Cougars 16-6 in the fourth for the win, with all but four coming from its bench. All of North Putnam's fourth quarter points came from the bench. With about 2:30 left in the game, Brothers substituted his entire team, benching his starting players for the remainder of the game.

"We've got to focus on what we are doing," Brother said. "We all understand what we need to do to get back where we were and that's what we need to do," Brothers said.

The Lady Cougars will be back on the hardwood Friday night when they open up their West Central Conference season at Cascade starting at 6 p.m.

At North Putnam

N. Vermillion 19 8 16 16 -- 59

North Putnam 4 6 4 6 -- 20

North Vermillion -- Chew 2 0-0 4, Turchi 3 0-0 7, Lively 6 0-1 12, West 2 1-2 5, West 2 0-0 5, Kinner 1 0-0 2, Martin 6 2-2 15, Poynter 2 2-2 6, Weir 1 1-2 3. Totals -- 25 FG, 5-7 FT, 59 TP.

North Putnam -- Frye 1 1-3 3, Pinney 0 0-2 0, Davis 0 0-0 0, Robinson 1 1-2 3, Asbell 1 0-0 2, McGaughey 2 2-2 7, 35 1 0-0 2, 31 0 1-2 0, 41 0 2-3 2. Totals -- 6 FG, 7-14 FT, 20 TP.

Next game -- The Lady Cougars will be back on the hardwood Friday night when they open up their West Central Conference season at Cascade starting at 6 p.m.