In most competitive basketball games, the first four minutes of the second half is usually the biggest key to victory.
That happened to be the case for Columbus North against crosstown rival Columbus East on Thursday night.
The Bull Dogs got a 3-point basket from Annie Anderson that helped spark a 12-3 run. Despite everything that the Olympians threw at it, North was able to hang on for a 56-46 girls basketball win.
The Bull Dogs also scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to cap a 14-0 run give them the cushion needed to seal the win.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
“I think we raised our intensity in the third quarter,” said Anderson, who scored eight of her 10 points in the third. “We came out and realized that this was it. Our coaches told us that the first four minutes are the most important in winning the game. I thought we really showed that, and we came out strong and I’m proud of my team for that.”
North’s lone senior, Nadia Lomax, has had her ups and downs so far this season, but that wasn’t the case Thursday. Lomax contributed in all four quarters to pour in a team-high 14 points.
“Town rival game is always fun to play,” Lomax said. “I feel like at the beginning, we struggled a lot keeping the ball under control. I thought that maybe I can take control for just a minute, maybe not as much as I should have, but I definitely tried a bit. In the second half, we focused on our defensive intensity during the third quarter and I felt like we did that.”
The Bull Dogs (8-3) jumped out to an 8-0 lead before the Olympians (5-6) were able to convert two free throws from Sarah Park. North built the lead to double digits 12-2 after a Kylah Lawson basket. Just before the end of the first quarter, Koryn Greiwe buried a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 12-5 after the first quarter.
Greiwe kept the momentum going for East in the second quarter, scoring six points in an 8-0 to give the Olympians their first lead of the game at 13-12.
After North retook the lead at 14-13 after a basket from Lawson, Claire Cunningham and Greiwe scored to give East another lead at 20-16. With about five seconds left in the first half, Lomax converted a layup for a 23-22 Bull Dogs lead at the break.
Katie Dougherty hit a triple to give the lead back to the Olympians at 25-23 to start the second half. After Lomax tied the game at 25-25, Dougherty again converted a layup to give East its final lead of the game at 27-25.
The Olympians then went on a cold spell the rest of the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter. A Whitley Rankin 3-pointer was all the points East had during the scoring drought. That would eventually help North close out the game for the victory.
Alexa McKinley spent most of her defensive duties guarding East’s top scorer in Greiwe.
“We knew that she can score a lot, so we just tried to shut her down as much as we could and not let her get as much shots off,” McKinley said.
McKinley finished with 12 points, and Sierra Norman added 10, giving the Bull Dogs four players in double figures.
“It shows that everyone can contribute, which makes it harder for other teams to guard us,” McKinley said. “We focused in on the game our defense and what plays we needed to run on offense.”
Greiwe scored a game-high 23 points for East and was getting double-teamed at times throughout the game. Claire Cunningham finished with 11.
“In a game like this, you just have to execute your offense,” East coach Danny Brown said. “They were double-teaming Koryn, and that’s a lot of effort and respect for a freshman guard. She handled it very well. We have to be a better shooting team, and shooting 35 percent tonight is not going to get it done. We’ll work and work and work, just like the same situation last year. We’ll keep working and get ready for sectional.”
