Lauren Barker
BLOOMINGTON — A Columbus North team that lost to East Central by 16 points in early December had the Class 4A co-No. 11 Trojans on the ropes for the better part of three quarters Tuesday.
But the Trojans weren’t about to give up their two-year stranglehold on sectional supremacy just yet.
The two-time defending sectional champs held North to six points over the final 11 minutes, 45 seconds to pull out a 41-38 victory in the opening round of the Bloomington North Sectional.
The Bull Dogs (14-9) started fast, jumping out to a 16-6 lead late in the first quarter. The Trojans (20-4) scored 10 in a row to tie it, but North went back ahead 27-24 at halftime on a 3-pointer by Lauren Barker, who had 18 points in the half.
A basket by Emma Long and a 3-pointer by Kayla Jones to begin the second half pushed the lead to 32-24. That’s when things started going south for the Bull Dogs.
East Central went on a 15-2 run over the next 11 minutes to take a 39-34 lead with three minutes left in the game. A free throw by Andrea Justis and a basket and free throw from Barker cut it to 39-38 with 46 seconds remaining.
The Trojans converted a one-and-one to push the lead to three, and North got the ball to Kylah Lawson in the left corner, but her 3-pointer was off the mark. East Central’s Laney Baker rebounded and was fouled with 6.3 seconds remaining.
Baker missed the front end of the one-and-one, but East Central’s Hope Fox rebounded and eluded a foul until 1.6 seconds remained. She missed, and Lawson grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 1.2 seconds left.
North inbounded to Lawson, who passed to Barker on the left wing, but she could not get a shot off before the buzzer.
“We shot the ball pretty well initially, and later on, a lot of it was just the adjustments that they made defensively,” North coach Brett White said. “We were unable to execute some of the things that we had early on. They went on a little run and got the ball to their best players, and that became the difference.”
The other big difference was free-throw shooting. The Trojans were 12 of 17 from the line, while the Bull Dogs were just 5 of 12.
“Teams that make free throws usually end up winning,” White said. “Unfortunately tonight, we didn’t do that. You always look back in one-possession games at a lot of different factors, but free throws was definitely one of those.”
Barker was limited to three points in the second half and finished with a game-high 21. Kayla Jones added nine.
Both teams finished with 23 rebounds. Lawson grabbed eight to lead North.
“We had a game plan that we put together,” White said. “We asked them to believe in that game plan, and I felt like they executed the game plan that we put together. I’m really proud of these girls. They competed their hearts out tonight. They did what we asked, and as a coach, I can’t ask for anything else.”
