Columbus East got off to a hot start against its crosstown rival Columbus North is Thursday’s girls basketball contest.
It was the second quarter that proved to be the difference. The Bull Dogs got off to a slow start from the perimeter, but once they started hitting their shots, they became hard to stop. They kept the solid shooting to start the second half to defeat the Olympians 45-38.
“I think when we start making shots, it’s exciting. We’re getting steals, and that’s where we turn the corner, and it all starts working,” North senior Annie Anderson said. “Thankfully, we were able to dig out of the hole that we dug. It was good. It was a good comeback.”
East (7-5) came out of the gate with a lot of energy, and senior veterans Whitley Rankin and Katie Dougherty got the Olympians going with the duo each hitting a 3-pointer, and then a Rankin floater from the right baseline put East ahead 8-4.
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“We knew that we needed to move the ball more,” East freshman Gabby Dean said. “We’ve been working on that in practice a lot, so we got off to a good start to start by moving the ball around.”
The Olympians’ top scorer, Koryn Greiwe, was quiet for much of the first quarter, but that all changed, scoring the final seven points for East that included a jumper at the buzzer to go give them a 20-11 lead.
“We had a good game defensively. Giving up only 45 points, we should’ve had a shot to win the game,” East coach Danny Brown said. “The second quarter just kind of bit us. We went about 11 minutes of game time without scoring, but I am so proud of the effort. They worked hard, and that’s all you can ask for in a game like this.”
The second quarter was a much different story. The Bull Dogs (7-5) tightened the defense, and points were hard to come by for the Olympians. North, which struggled in the first quarter behind the arc, found its rhythm with Madison White, Lauren Barker and Sierra Norman all knocking down 3-pointers. Defensively, the Bull Dogs held the Olympians to just two second quarter points, with Norman’s 3 coming with around 30 seconds left in the half to give North a 23-22 advantage.
The perimeter shooting continued to be effective for the Bull Dogs. Norman hit another triple to extend the lead to 28-22. Dougherty hit from behind the arc to stop the bleeding momentarily. With the score 30-27, Barker then hit consecutive 3-pointers and a Norman 3 extended the gap to 39-27. The Olympians scored the final four points of the third to go ahead 39-31 heading into the fourth.
“I knew that in my last few games, once I got into a rhythm, I started making shots, and I was telling myself, ‘Keep shooting and eventually they’ll fall,’” Barker said of her perimeter shooting. “I was glad to see them fall."
East carried the momentum into the final quarter going on a 5-0 run to cut it to 39-36. An Anderson basket for North stoped the run. With time of the essence, the Olympians were forced to foul, and had four fouls to give, and when the Bull Dogs finally got to the line, they their free throws to seal the win.
North had balanced scoring across the board. Anderson led the way with 13 points, Barker added 10 and Norman finished with nine. Kylah Lawson and Tessa Lomax each grabbed seven rebounds.
“We have a lot of talented players with different skills, so it really helps with our identity,” Anderson said.
Koryn Greiwe lead all scorers with 17 points for East.
North is now on a five game winning streak heading into its own invitational tournament Dec. 27-28.
“Beating a sectional opponent gives us confidence going later into the season,” Barker said. “We play for each other. Our team chemistry is getting really good. We’re lifting each other up. I have some of the best seniors playing next to me.”
