NPHS ladies fall at home

ROACHDALE -- The North Putnam Lady Cougars fell to the Falcons of North Vermillion 41-26 in a non-conference high school girls' basketball game Tuesday night at North Putnam High School.

The Cougars were held scoreless for the first 5:18 of the fourth quarter. The Falcons extended a one point lead at 23-22 to 35-22 and held on for the victory.

The Cougars opened the fourth quarter trailing by just one, but Rhiannon Grubbs hit her fourth three-pointer of the night for the Falcons to open the quarter.

Taylor Nauert, who led Cougars with 15 points, picked up her fourth foul with 6:18 left to play and had to take a seat on the bench. North struggled to find scoring after that. The Cougars and scored a layup with 2:42 left to play, but by that time the Falcons had scored 12 straight points to give them a comfortable lead.

"They did a really good job with their defense. They keyed on Taylor," North Putnam first-year coach Kevin Corsaro said. "I think the thing that really got us, and we talked about it, was that they got a lead and backed it out and made us guard them in man. They do a really good job of running their offense. When we had to scramble, it was tough for us."

The two teams opened the game exchanging three-pointers. Madisyn Smith started the Cougar scoring with a trey and Grubbs hit the first of her four three-pointers on the evening as an answer on the next possession. She then followed that one with two more in the first quarter. The Cougars kept it close with five straight points by Nauert and ended the quarter down 10-8.

"No. 22 (Sierra Grube) and No. 24 (Grubbs) are really good players. We did a real good job on #22, we lost No. 24 a few times early in the game, but did a real good job in the middle of the game," Corsaro said.

Grube was held to just two points and Grubbs scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the first and the fourth quarters.

Both offenses stalled in the second quarter as just 12 points were scored combined in the quarter. North Putnam used its height and its tough zone defense to limit the Falcons, but couldn't capitalize offensively. North Vermillion extended itslead to 18-12 at the half.

"We had a lot of good looks. I told the girls that it is basketball. Sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn't," Corsaro said.

Again, scoring was at a premium in the third period. The Cougars made their run late in the quarter. A jumper by Shelby Suding and rebound basket by Emilee Henniger closed the quarter and pulled North within one point at 23-22.

"We were able to get the ball inside for a while." Corsaro said as Nauert had six of her points in the quarter. North scored eight of its10 points from the paint in the quarter.

The Cougar fourth quarter was their undoing. The Falcons spread the floor and forced the taller Cougars to guard them in man-to-man and reeled of a 12-0 run to essentially end the Cougars' hopes for a victory.

North managed just four fourth-quarter points in falling to 2-10 on the season. The more experienced Falcons forced the Cougars into uncomfortable offensive and defensive situations and were able to capitalize to take home the victory to improve to 9-1 on the season.

"I'm really proud of the girls. That is a really good and experienced team. I think they have only lost once. They know how to run their stuff. We gave them all they could handle," Corsaro said of the Falcons who played six players on the night, all of them seniors.

Nauert led the Cougars with 15 points and Henniger chipped in with six points, while Grubbs had a game-high 19 points and was backed by Kennedy Crowder's 11 points.

The Lady Cougars will host Edgewood in a WIC boys/girls doubleheader on Friday night.

At North Putnam

North Putnam 8 4 10 4 -- 26

North Vermillion 10 8 5 18 -- 41

Nauert 7 1-2 4 15, Smith 1 0 0-0 3, S. Spencer 0 0-0 0 0, Suding 1 0-2 3 2, Duncan 0 0-0 1 0, Henniger 3 0-1 4 6, Parent 0 0-0 2 0, Runnells 0 0-0 3 0

Three-pointers (Smith 1)

North Vermillion

Vicars 1 2-4 4 4, Grube 1 0-0 1 2, Grubbs 5 5-6 2 19, Lewis 0 3-4 2 3, Crowder 3 4-6 0 11, Moody 0 2-2 1 2

Three-pointers (Grubbs 4, Crowder 1)