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Lady Cougars' season ends in sectional
The North Putnam girls' basketball team's season came to close in the South Putnam sectional Wednesday, when it took on Covenant Christian. The Lady Cougars lost 62-11.
North Putnam was unable to overcome mistakes in the postseason bout and fell behind early.
"The game played out exactly the way we have talked about," Cougar coach Jim Spencer said. "You've got to make good decisions against Covenant Christian. Every time you don't block out or you make an errant pass, you're going to give up a basket."
North Putnam finished its season at 5-11 with three of its wins coming later in the season.
"We improved so much from the beginning of the season," Spencer said. "I was really pleased with the way we finished the season. In these last two-to-three weeks I thought we played really well."
The Lady Cougars will graduate five this year and Spencer acknowledged that the seniors' acceptance of a new coaching style helped the transition for everyone.
"Whenever you change coaches it's always hard on seniors," Spencer said. "They did a really good job of being open to new ideas and new practice styles. Everybody is different but they were really open to it. They were good leaders and I was really proud of the way they played for us this year."
Spencer has tried to get the Lady Cougars to play smarter on the court as the season went along and he believes North Putnam made great strides.
"(As far as) making better basketball decisions on the court, I thought we improved so much in that area," Spencer said. "With reading what was going on, making the correct pass and making the next pass, moving to the next spot that you are supposed to be and communication, which is big, we just got better every day.
"By the end of the season as a group we had a product that we could be proud of."
Covenant Christian will play Monrovia in the semifinal on Friday after the Cloverdale and South Putnam rivalry game.
At South Putnam
Covenant Christian 17 18 11 16--62
North Putnam 5 2 2 2--11
Individual Scoring
Cov. Christian 26-58 (R. McLimore 7-11 1-1 16, S McLimore 4-5 1-2 9, Joseph 4-9 8, Luikart 2-7 6, Ryals 2-5 6, Cleary 2-6 4, Halderman 1-4 2, Johnson 0-0 2-2 2, Bruning 1-3 2) North Putnam 5-30 (Nauert 2-8 5, Clodfelter 2-7 0-2 4, B Smith 1-5 2)
Team Stats
3-point shots Covenant Christian 6-10 (Luikart 2-4, Ryals 2-2, Anderson 1-1, R. McLimore 1-1) North Putnam 1-3 (Nauert 1-2) Rebounds Covenant Christian 26 (R. McLimore 4, Bright 3, S. McLimore 3, Joseph 3, Johnson 3, Cooper 3, Halderman 2, Ryals 2, Bruning 2, Luikart 1) North Putnam 23 (Clodfelter 6, Nauert 4, Evans 3, Duncan 2, Millican 2 Mindiola 2, Henninger 1, M Smith 1, Ma Smith 1, B Smith 1) Assists Covenant Chrstian 7 Steals Covenant Christian 24 North Putnam 4 (Clodfelter 1, Nauert 1, Henninger 1, B Smith 1) Blocks North Putnam 3 (Nauert 2, Clodfelter 1)