North battles Clovers tough in loss

CLOVERDALE — The Cloverdale Lady Clover basketball team was able to overcome an improving North Putnam Cougar basketball team on Tuesday night, 60-45 in girls’ high school basketball.

The Clovers were able to methodically pull away from a resilient Cougar squad behind 27 points from Sammie Shrum and a big double-double night, 18 points and 20 rebounds, from Tori Combs.

“We are looking at each game as preparation for the sectionals. This is not a game we will probably look back on and say we got better, but we were able to get the win,” Cloverdale head coach Matthew Langdon said as his Clover team improved to 8-1 on the season.

The Clovers took advantage of North’s struggles from the foul line and pounded the Cougars on the boards. Cloverdale held a 38-25 rebound advantage, while the Cougars hit just 8-of-21 from the charity stripe on the night.

“We have got to shoot the ball better from the free throw line. You can’t beat good teams shooting free throws like that,” North Putnam head coach Jarrod Duff said as North Putnam fell to 2-5 on the season.

The game got off to a rough start with the teams combining for seven turnovers in the first two minutes of action as well as North missing all four of its free throw attempts.

Shrum jump started the Clovers in the opening period with 10 of her game-high 27 points. The Clovers were able to hold a 19-11 advantage at the quarter break.

“Sammie had a good scoring game tonight,” Langdon said. “She hit some threes, but really looked to drive the basketball tonight.”

North Putnam opened the second period on a 9-1 run to tie the game at 20-20 and forcing the Clovers to call a timeout. The timeout had the desired effect as Cloverdale went on its own run, this one 9-0 take a 29-20 lead.

Payton Lyons nailed a three-pointer coming out of a timeout and the Cougars clawed their way back into the game and trailed 31-24 at the half. Bailee Osburn’s energy sparked North in the period as the junior had four points, two rebounds and drew four fouls on the Clovers.

“We did a good job of answering their runs,” Duff said. “They (Cloverdale) are a team that can really put some runs on you and turn you over. We did a good job of settling down and taking care of the basketball.”

The Clovers was able to begin to separate themselves in the third quarter. Cloverdale’s rebounding began to make a difference and Combs and Shrum combined for 11 of Cloverdale’s 17 points in the period.

North wouldn’t let the Clovers get away as it hit 4-of-7 from the field, but eight turnovers limited its opportunities as Cloverdale stretched the lead to 48-33 at the end of the quarter.

“Tori (Combs) had a big double-double for us tonight. We struggled a little defensively,” Langdon said.

The Cougars continued to battle, but couldn’t get any closer than 10 points in the final period. Kyla Willis had eight of her team-high 14 points in the final quarter to keep North close, but again Shrum and Combs were too much to overcome as they combined for eight points and Cloverdale picked up the win going into their Western Indiana Conference opener on Friday against Edgewood.

“Jarrod (Duff) had a good game plan and their girls came out an executed and bought into it. You can’t have an off night against the county schools and North Putnam almost made us pay for it tonight,” Langdon said.

Cloverdale’s Shrum led all scorers with 27 points, while Combs added 18. Willis had 14 for North and Brie Miller added 13 points as the freshman tandem scored 27 of the 45 Cougar points.

“I told the girls in the locker room after the game that I felt positive, but not satisfied. We got better tonight,” Duff said.

North Putnam will host South Putnam on Friday night in the WIC opener for both schools.

NORTH PUTNAM (45) – Tennis 1-4 0-0 3, Sims 1-2 0-0 2, Osburn 1-4 4-8 6, Willis 6-10 2-6 14, Miller 6-10 1-5 13, Lyons 2-4 0-0 6, Gibson 0-1 0-0 0, Young 0-1 1-2 1, Day 0-1 0-0 0, Pace 0-0 0-0 0, Gierke 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-38 FG, 8-21 FT, 45 TP.

CLOVERDALE (60) – Wade 2-10 0-0 6, Price 0-0 3-4 3, Shrum 9-21 5-7 27, Thomas 0-3 2-2 2, Combs 7-14 4-6 18, Shoemaker 2-4 0-0 4, Lewellen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 FG, 14-19 FT, 60 TP.

3-point shooting – NP 3-9 (Tennis 1-4, Willis 0-1, Lyons 2-4), CHS 6-23 (Wade 2-9, Shrum 4-12, Combs 0-1, Thomas 0-1). Rebounds – NP 25 (Sims 2, Osburn 2, Willis 2, Miller 8, Lyons 2, Day 1, Young 3) CHS – 38 (Price 4, Shrum 2, Thomas 4, Combs 20, Shoemaker 2, Lewellen 2) FG Pct. – NP 44.7, CHS 37.37. FT Pct. – NP 38.1, CHS 73.7. Turnovers – NP 23, CHS 16.