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Cougars start hot, sink Clovers again
BAINBRIDGE – Ten days after meeting in the Putnam County Girls’ Basketball Tournament, North Putnam hosted Cloverdale in the regular season and WIC matchup Tuesday evening.
The result didn’t change from meeting to meeting as the Cougars got off to an even better start in the second go-around, jumping out to a double-digit lead after a quarter of play on the way to a 61-38 win over the Clovers.
“Cloverdale did a nice job,” North Putnam head coach Curtis Lawrence said. “(Clover head coach James) Wade always has his kids ready to play and they had a nice second quarter against us.
“We expected a run from them and stretched the lead out in the third quarter. Overall, it was a good performance on our part after coming out of a long stretch with no practice.”
“You can’t give up 20 points in a quarter and it can’t be 20-9 if you do,” Wade said. “We just lack the depth to dig ourselves out of a hole like that.
“We had a good second quarter and we handled (North Putnam’s) press better than we did in the county. The score seemed worse to me but, from a coaching perspective, I felt we played better.”
Baskets had been hard to come by in the county tournament matchup but Tuesday saw North Putnam nearly hit its halftime score by the end of the first quarter.
Threes from Rose Haste and Jasmine Duvall helped the Cougars race out to an early lead while a pair of baskets each from Lexi Daigle and Melanie Davies had the hosts up to the 20-point mark inside the first eight minutes.
Cloverdale outdid its first half scoring from the first meeting, netting nine points in the opening eight minutes, though it would also be the only period players other than Amalia Haga or Emily Mann would score as Syrie Ford had three points and Sarah Nichols scored her only points as the visitors trailed 20-9 after the first quarter.
Despite the early hole, the Clovers kept within touching distance by playing out a 10-10 second quarter with Mann scoring the first two baskets and Haga the other three, answering the Cougars each step of the way and keeping things tight at 30-19 entering halftime.
North Putnam depth began to weigh down on Cloverdale in the second half as threes from Haste and Daigle finally kicked the game open.
Mann scored twice and Haga added a three to keep the visitors from falling too far behind but baskets from Davies, Duvall and Daigle helped the hosts to a 44-26 lead after three quarters of play.
The rest of the Cougars got in on the scoring act in the final period as seven different players scored, five getting in the scorebook for the first time, as North Putnam took a 23-point win to move to 5-4 on the season while Cloverdale continues to search for its first win of the season.
Daigle led all scorers with 19 points as the Cougars had three in double figures with Davies scoring 12 points and Haste chipping in 10 while Duvall finished on eight points. Haga had 17 points and Mann 16 points in the loss for the Clovers.
“Anytime we can get balance, with three girls in double figures and Jasmine on eight, we’ll take that,” Lawrence said about the scoring balance. “That gives us a chance to win ball games if we can distribute the scoring and not rely on one person to do it.”
“I’ve said this a lot, short of one game, that our effort has been good. Every 50-50 ball in the fourth quarter we couldn’t get to was a case of us not physically able to get to them, not because we didn’t want to or weren’t playing hard,” Wade said about fatigue setting in late.
“We have to keep working as the schedule isn’t getting any easier. We have to shore up some things as we gave up too many offensive rebounds, a point of emphasis tonight.”
| Cloverdale | 9 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 38 |
| North Putnam | 20 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 61 |
Scoring
Cloverdale (14 2FGl 3 3FGl 1-4 FT) — A. Haga 17, Mann 16, Ford 3, Nichols 2
North Putnam (22 2FG; 5 3FG; 2-4 FT) — L. Daigle 19, Davies 12, Haste 10, Duvall 8, Hackleman 4, Carrell 2, Hoops 2, Mason 2