IU Columbus’ Emma Beaver (left, on the floor) and Abby Fleetwood battle IU Kokomo’s Moriah Crawford for the ball during Tuesday’s game in Circle K Fieldhouse in Columbus.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Tuesday night’s River States Conference battle with IU Kokomo is one the IU Columbus women are going to want to quickly forget and move on to the next game.
The Crimson Pride fell victim to a cold shooting night, and combined with a hot shooting Cougars team, it added up to an 89-41 win for IUK.
“The semester started, and kids are getting acclimated to their new classes,” IUC interim coach James Adams said. “It’s a different vibe when you have other things going on in their brains. We’ll just regroup and prepare move forward. There’s a lot more basketball to be played. I’m 100 percent confident that we can win a few more games this season and hopefully put ourselves in a good position in the conference as we move closer to February.”
The Crimson Pride shot just 22.0 percent (13 for 59) from the field. The Cougars (7-7, 3-2) shot 51.5 percent (34 for 66) and outrebounded IUC 56-36.
“It was just a tough, tough night offensively for us,” Adams said. “I thought we did a lot of good things defensively. We caused some turnovers, we got deflections. It was just a tough night for the girls.”
IUK led 37-21 in the closing seconds of the first half before getting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to push the lead to 19. The Crimson Pride were still within 42-24 after a three-point play by Abby Fleetwood with 8:38 left in the third quarter, but then the Cougars erupted for a 27-0 run to put it away.
Fleetwood finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and three assists to lead IUC. Amaya Collins scored nine points, and Morgan Montgomery added seven points. Columbus North graduate Hadassah Hurt had five points and led the Crimson Pride with four steals.
“We had a notion that we could compete with this team,” Adams said. “We still do. This is a team where we should have not have lost my this much. We should have bee in a position where it was a close game, or we prevail.”
IUC will visit Kentucky Christian Saturday before returning home to host IU Southeast Jan. 20 and Rio Grande Jan. 24.
“The girls are still working hard for me,” Adams said. “I’m very proud of them. They’re trying their very best. It’s just one of those games where they’re not shooting well at all. We just have to get back in the lab and continue to keep getting better.”
