Cougars take consolation win over Clovers

CLOVERDALE — For the second-straight game, Cloverdale made one of its Putnam County rivals sweat at the Putnam County Girls’ Basketball Tournament consolation game.

North Putnam needed a 17-0 run in the second quarter to create separation and yet the Clovers did not go away, trimming an 18-point gap to just five points in the fourth quarter before falling to the Cougars 49-39.

“I was a little nervous,” North Putnam head coach Craig Franklin said about the start. “Any time you get blown out the previous night, it can go one of two ways.

“The game can go really poorly and the other team beats you or the girls can be hungry and you can respond. Early, we were finding our way but once we got settled in and started to execute, it turned around really quickly for us and I was proud of the girls for the way they fought through adversity tonight.”

“The girls haven’t won close games and haven’t really been in a lot of close games, so there’s a lot of learning to be done there,” Cloverdale head coach James Wade said about getting the game down to five points in the fourth quarter. “We did learn tonight.

“There’s a lot of things we did that hurt us and that’s not to discredit what (North Putnam) did. The run really hurt us; we had foul trouble, had to put some girls in places they aren’t normally and it was a snowball of things.”

Much like in the first game of the tournament, Cloverdale kept things tight early, trading baskets with North Putnam and trailed just 10-9 after the opening eight minutes.

A three from Emily Mann pushed the Clovers in front 13-12, followed by a jumper from Aubrey Yoho to make it 15-12.

A three from Kiersten Wade made it 18-14, at which point the Cougars answered back with a flurry of threes.

Daigle hit her second three to take the lead back for good at 20-18, followed by hits from Rose Haste, Jacy Huffman and Addi Osburn to make it 31-18.

Trailing by 12 at halftime, Cloverdale would only score two of the first 10 points of the fourth quarter as North Putnam stretched its lead out to 39-21.

Mann scored all seven Clover points in the quarter, including a late three and basket, to trim the gap to 41-26 and started the final stanza with a three, followed by a jumper from Andrea Nees to cut the lead to 41-31.

A three from Nees and a Mann steal and score made it a five-point game at 42-37 but the Cougars were able to close things out from the line, knocking down six from the foul line late to secure the win.

CLOVERDALE (39) – Yoho 4-9 0-0 8, Nichols 0-0 0-0 0, Mann 8-14 1-2 20, Nees 2-9 1-2 6, Wade 2-5 0-0 5, Bernard 0-6 0-0 0, Ford 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-44 FG, 2-4 FT, 39 TP.

NORTH PUTNAM (49) – Hoops 1-6 2-2 4, Haste 4-11 1-2 10, Huffman 1-6 5-6 8, Daigle 3-5 3-4 11, Brewer 4-7 1-4 9, Osbourn 3-5 0-1 7, Davies 0-2 0-1 0. Totals 16-42 FG, 12-20 FT, 49 TP.

3-point shooting – CHS 5-13 (Yoho 0-2, Mann 3-4, Nees 1-3, Wade 1-3, Bernard 0-1), NP 5-17 (Hoops 0-3, Haste 1-6, Huffman 1-3, Daigle 2-3, Osbourn 1-1, Davies 0-1) Rebounds – CHS 22 (Yoho 4, Nichols 3, Mann 2, Nees 6, Wade 1, Bernard 4) NP – 37 (Hoops 4, Haste 5, Huffman 3, Daigle 4, Brewer 7, Osbourn 2, Davies 6) FG Pct. – CHS 36.4, NP 38.1. FT Pct. – CHS 50.0, NP 60.0. Turnovers – CHS 18, NP 17.