Columbus North’s Lauren Barker (3) watches teammate Kayla Jones (21) steal the ball from Terre Haute North’s Hallie Hayes, second left, and Preslee Michael, far right, during a high school basketball game at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Columbus North wasn’t themselves Thursday when they faced Conference Indiana foe Terre Haute North.
A very slow start to the game allowed the contest to remain close, but it wasn’t until a quick burst in the fourth quarter that the Bull Dogs officially sealed the game with a 60-33 girls basketball conference victory over the Patriots.
“We were pretty sluggish, whether it was fatigue from playing (Wednesday) or having an afternoon game, we didn’t have the energy level that we needed to have to begin the game, and that translated into missed shots and some missed defensive assignments,” North coach Brett White said. “Luckily in the second half, we had a better balance to us. We moved the ball better, which led to better shots, and then, we were able to pull away.”
Columbus North is riding a four game winning streak and have won nine of the last 11 games after starting the season 0-2.
“We feel like we’ve been playing well,” Our goal is to always play better than the game before. I’m not sure we did that today, but we reset that goal (today against Jennings County) and every time we step in, we’re trying to improve. We feel like we’re playing pretty confidently at this point and hopefully, that’ll carry over into (today).”
Columbus North started out not finding the basket, but did cause several turnovers that gave them free throws opportunities on the offensive end. Late in the first quarter, the Bull Dogs found the basket by draining a couple of perimeter shots to give them an 11-6 lead after the first quarter.
Columbus North added a couple more 3-pointers to lead by double digits 21-10. Terre Haute North stayed in the game thanks to the Bull Dogs committing fouls and giving the Patriots plenty of opportunities at the line. Terre Haute North converted on 10 of 12 free throws in the second quarter to keep themselves within distance as Columbus North held a 25-19 edge at the half.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Bull Dogs put the game away as they went on a quick 10-0 run to lead 56-32 to officially seal the win. Columbus North outscored the Patriots 20-5 in that quarter.
Balance scoring was across the board for the Bull Dogs with 11 girls scoring in the game. Lauren Barker led the team with 14 points, Kathryn Wilson with seven and five other players added six apiece.
“It wasn’t big numbers, but it was balanced numbers,” White said. “We have a lot of options on the offensive end. We showed that today. Part of that is sharing the basketball, which I thought we did a good job of.”
Columbus North will play its final game of 2022 today and its third game in three days when they take on Jennings County.
