Columbus North’s Kaylie Harmon looks for an open teammate against Martinsville at Columbus North, Friday, Nov. 10, 2023.
Paige Grider | For The Republic
Friday night’s win was all about balance for Columbus North girls basketball.
The Bull Dogs had four players between 10 and 13 points and six players between four and seven rebounds in rolling to their first win of the season, a 55-27 triumph against visiting Martinsville.
“It’s always fun to win,” North coach Brett White said. “I’m more happy about the way we got there. We had four people in double figures. I felt like we shared the basketball better, and we took care of the basketball better, too, so all positives to build on.”
The Bull Dogs (1-2) were led in scoring by a pair of freshmen, Kaylie Harmon with 13 and Avery Johnson with 12. Junior Hadassah Hurt, who came off the bench after missing Thursday’s practice with an illness, also scored 12, and sophomore Miley McClellan added 10.
Rebounding was much the same story for North, which had a 36-20 advantage on the boards. Paige Terry led the Bull Dogs with seven rebounds, while Sydney Johnson had six, Kaitlin White and McClellan five apiece and Kenna Conrad and Hurt with four apiece.
“That’s what it’s going to take for us,” Brett White said. “It’s going to have to be a collective effort on the backboards because we don’t have great size. When all of us are going after the basketball, we’re going to be a lot more successful rebounding.”
Conrad and Sydney Johnson made their first varsity starts in place of Hurt and Olivia Johnson, who has an injured ankle. They helped North race out to a 17-2 lead late in the first quarter.
The Bull Dogs built the lead to 29-8 with two minutes left in the first half before the Artesians (1-2) scored the final four points of the half. North scored the first 12 points of the third quarter to make it 41-12 before Martinsville went on a 13-2 run to make it closer.
“We had a little bit of a lull there where we weren’t defending well,” Brett White said. “We quit sharing the basketball as well.”
For most of the night, however, the sharing was contagious.
“In practice, we’ve been moving the ball really well,” Harmon said. “That’s been one of our main focuses. So I think that’s really what helped us win that game. I think our first two games, we were just all trying to figure it out at first, but I think this game really helped us come together as a team and show that we can move the ball and make each other better.”
The Bull Dogs bounced back after dropping their first two games to Franklin and Mooresville.
“I was really proud of us,” Avery Johnson said. “We’ve came off of some rough games our last two games, so I was proud of us for coming out and playing strong. I thought we played as a team tonight, and everyone did well. We were shooting a lot better tonight. We just need to move on from here and just keep on building up.”
Columbus North 55, Martinsville 27
Martinsville;5;7;8;7;—;27
Columbus North;17;12;14;12;—;55
Martinsville (1-2): Marina Routenkranz 2 2-2 6, Emma Potter 0 1-2 1, Layla Mallery 3 0-2 8, Brynlee Hamblin 1 1-2 3, Trinity Jones 0 0-0 0, Haylie Lingle 1 0-0 3, Mya Lewis 2 0-0 6, Allyson Greenwell 0 0-0 0. Totals: 9 4-8 27.
Columbus North (1-2): Kenna Conrad 1 0-0 3, Ava Wilson 0 0-0 0, Riley Sims 0 0-0 0, Audrey Nordman 1 0-0 3, Kaylie Harmon 5 0-0 13, Paige Terry 1 0-2 2, Kaitlin White 0 0-0 0, Miley McClellan 4 2-2 10, Avrey Johnson 5 0-0 12, Sydney Johnson 0 0-0 0, Hadassah Hurt 4 3-4 12. Totals: 21 6-11 55.
3-point goals: Martinsville 5 (Mallery 2, Lewis 2, Lingle); Columbus North 7 (Harmon 3, A. Johnson 2, Nordman, Hurt).
