North girls complete back-to-back sweep with win at Western Boone

THORNTOWN — Trailing 35-27 after three quarters, North Putnam’s girls put forth a strong fourth-quarter comeback to pull out a 43-38 win.

The Cougars had defeated Greencastle early Friday evening before taking the road on Saturday afternoon to battle the Stars.

North coach Lukas Haworth was pleased his team was able to put things together in the final period.

“After a big, emotional win Friday night and going on the road to play a very skilled and physical team in Western Boone, we knew it was going to take a great effort to come home with a win,” he said. “With Webo having big, strong inside players our post players collectively did a fantastic job on defense and rebounding. And all of our guards did a great job pressuring the ball, pushing the pace, creating scoring opportunities and helping inside.

“All in all it was just a great team win.”

Western Boone got off to a 12-8 lead after one quarter, then pushed that margin up to 25-15 at halftime. The Cougars chipped a couple of points off the deficit in the third period, but still trailed by eight points.

As they had done on Friday night, the Cougars hit 10 of 11 free throws in the final period to key their victory.

Hannah Sims led North with 13 points, including 8 of 9 at the line.

Kyla Willis added eight points, while Dana Tennis, Baylee Osburn and Brie Miller each had six.

The Cougars now close out the regular season with a tough stretch of three games — at Edgewood on Friday night, hosting Western Indiana Conference East Division champion on Saturday and then hosting Class 3A top-ranked Benton Central on Jan. 30.

NORTH PUTNAM (43) — Tennis 2 0-0 6, Sims 2 8-9 13, Christy 2 0-0 4, Osburn 2 2-6 6, Davies 0 0-0 0, Gibson 0 0-0 0, Willis 4 0-0 8, Gierke 0 0-0 0, Miller 2 2-3 6. Totals 14 FG, 12-18 FT, 43 TP

WESTERN BOONE (38) — Conger 0 0-1 0, Voils 0 0-2 0, Florey 2 0-0 5, Brewer 4 1-4 12, Reed 3 8-9 15, Wilkinson 2 0-0 4, Bascom 2 0-3 4. Totals 13 FG, 9-19 FT, 38 TP

3-point goals — Florey 1, Brewer 1, Reed 1, Tennis 2, Sims 1.