Columbus North had a big shooting night Thursday against East Central, hitting eight 3-pointers.
Senior Maliah Howard-Bass hit four 3-pointers to help the Class 4A No. 10 Bull Dogs beat East Central 63-37. Her 23 points moved her into seventh place on North’s all-time scoring list.
Liz Tynan hit a couple shots from behind the arc, and ended the game with eight points. Kenzie Patberg and Jenna Borger both scored on a 3-pointer, as well. The Bull Dogs (6-2) have now won three games in a row.
“It was more than just shooting,” North coach Pat McKee said. “It was really good up-tempo running stuff and executing, which led to good shots that we converted.”
Imani Guy picked up two quick fouls in the first 3 minutes, 15 seconds of the game and had three before the end of the first quarter. McKee said the method for Guy right now when she gets into foul trouble is to play through it, and she did just that.
Guy fouled out with 6:08 left in the game but not before scoring six points, blocking four shots and forcing three steals. McKee said she did a good job of playing well while in foul trouble.
“I had to be a lot more cautious of my fouling,” Guy said. “My coaches and teammates kind of got on me a little bit. So I think I just knew to try to be smarter about my fouls.”
Ashlyn Huffman, who just returned last week from an ACL injury, showed some of her explosiveness, scoring eight points.
East Central tried to make a third quarter surge by hitting four 3-pointers. Hannah Schloemer knocked down three of them and had nine points.
The Bull Dogs finished with 12 steals, and Howard-Bass said they are getting more comfortable into the North style of play.
“We knew East Central was going to be a really tough team,” Howard-Bass said. “All of them are over 6-foot, so we had to play just as big as they did. We exposed their weaknesses, and that is how were were successful.”
