BLOOMINGTON — On a night when Columbus North’s offense wasn’t clicking on all cylinders, the Bull Dogs defense was on top of its game.
Columbus North held Bloomington North to seven points in the first half and went on to post a 54-31 victory in the opening round of the Bloomington South Sectional. The Bull Dogs (16-8) advance to play Columbus East in Friday’s semifinals.
“I think that we did come out with a few jitters,” Bull Dogs senior Annie Anderson said. “It’s sectional time, and we’ve waited all year for this. But I think that our defense really brought our energy up and got us into a good rhythm.”
Anderson was primarily responsible for shutting down high-scoring Cougar senior Ainsley Urbanski. Urbanski, who scored 28 against Columbus North last year and 14 this regular season, was limited to a pair of free throws midway through the fourth quarter.
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“I just did my best to stay on her,” Anderson said. “I was face guarding her, and I think that my team did a good job of rotating and being help side when I needed it. It was a team effort.”
Anderson also got the Bull Dogs going offensively, hitting a 3-pointer midway through the first quarter that ignited a 17-0 run that gave them a 19-2 lead midway through the second period. Columbus North led 23-7 at the half.
Bloomington North (8-15) scored the first eight points of the third quarter to cut the lead in half.
“We made a couple defensive mistakes when that happened, and I’ll attribute that to the jitters a little,” Columbus North coach Pat McKee said. “But that’s when we called the timeout and reminded them of the proper rotations, and we were much better.”
A basket by Alexa McKinley stopped the run, and Lauren Barker followed with a 3-pointer. Barker hit two more 3-pointers in the third quarter, and Madison White opened the fourth with a 3 to push the lead to 42-20.
“The second half, we didn’t start out too well, but we knew that we needed to close it out and finish it,” McKinley said. “We definitely liked playing today because I think it gets the jitters out and gets us ready for the next game.”
Barker finished with a career-high 18 points on a school record-tying six 3-pointers. Anderson finished with 11 points, and McKinley added 10.
“I think we did a good job of playing together tonight,” Barker said. “We’re always open to sharing the ball, and if shots fall, we try to feed the hot hand.”
White grabbed six rebounds to lead the Bull Dogs to a 29-25 advantage on the boards. Columbus North committed 13 turnovers to the Cougars’ 20.
“I think there’s always some jitters the first game of sectional, no matter who you are and how much experience you have,” McKee said. “We experienced some of that, but we had some very good spurts, too. Hopefully, we got the jitters out, and we’ll play really clean from this point forward.”
The Bull Dogs now turn their attention to Columbus East (15-7) for Friday’s second semifinal. East Central, an upset winner over Class 4A No. 9 Martinsville in Tuesday’s opener, will meet host Bloomington South in Friday’s opener.
Columbus North is glad to get Tuesday’s first sectional game out of the way.
“I think it will give us some momentum going into Friday’s game,” Barker said. “We know it’s going to be a tough game. It’s a rivalry game, but I think we’re excited and we’re going to work hard in practice this week to prepare for it.”
