Emma Long
After losses to Carmel and Center Grove earlier in the week, the Columbus North girls basketball team was hungry for a win when it hosted Lawrenceburg Saturday afternoon.
The Bull Dogs raced out to a 47-17 halftime lead and cruised from there to a 66-32 victory.
“I feel like our team today played with confidence and was making little hustle plays,” said senior Emma Long, who scored all of her game-high 14 points in the first half. “We just played together and made the extra pass. We’re playing as a team together, and that’s what makes us good. We had a tough game against Carmel, but we came back against Center Grove. We didn’t get the win, but we still played as a team, and then today, we just played really well, played as a team and did everything we could.”
The Bull Dogs (11-7) made a single-game school-record 14 3-pointers. Long and fellow senior Lauren Barker each hit four 3s.
“That helps a lot when we’re making our shots,” Long said. “When we’re more confident in ourselves, that’s when we make shots.”
North made 11 of its 3s in the first half, including seven in the second quarter, when it outscored the Tigers (10-8) 27-6.
“We talked about making the extra pass,” North coach Brett White said. “We made the extra pass, and that gave us wide-open 3s. We’re capable of making 3s, regardless, but wide-open 3s for sure.”
Barker, Elise Preston and Miley McClellan all finished with 12 points for the Bull Dogs. Hadassah Hurt added seven.
“I thought the girls came out and played with confidence from the very start,” White said. “Our defense was really good, and that led to some really good offensive possessions and then we made some shots on top of that.”
Columbus North 66, Lawrenceburg 32
Lawrenceburg;11;6;10;5;—;32
Columbus North;20;27;8;11;—;66
Lawrenceburg (10-8): Brooklyn Craig 0 0-0 0, Aubree LaBazzo 3 0-0 6, Natalie Knigga 2 4-8 8, Kamryn Ferreira 1 2-4 4, Lizzie Redar 5 0-0 11, Nicole Houze 1 0-0 3. Totals: 12 6-12 32.
Columbus North (11-7): Kathryn Wilson 1 1-2 3, Lauren Barker 4 0-0 12, Olivia Johnson 1 0-0 2, Elise Preston 4 1-4 12, Kenndey Horn 2 0-0 4, Kenna Conrad 0 0-0 0, Kaitlin White 0 0-0 0, Miley McClellan 5 0-0 12, Emma Long 5 0-0 14, Sydney Johnson 0 0-0 0, Hadassah Hurt 3 0-0 7. Totals: 25 2-6 66.
3-point goals: Lawrenceburg 2 (Redar, Houze); Columbus North 14 (Barker 4, Long 4, Preston 3, McClellan 2, Hurt).
