If there’s been a constant theme in Columbus North’s seven-game girls basketball winning streak, it’s been defense.
The Bull Dogs held their opponent to less than 30 points for the fifth time during that seven-game stretch Saturday afternoon. They limited Terre Haute North to seven second-half points in a 41-25 victory that kept them unbeaten in Conference Indiana.
“I think our girls played hard,” Columbus North coach Pat McKee said. “We player-identified (defensively on the Patriots) before the game, but at halftime, we reminded people of that stuff, and we did pretty good with that.”
Sierra Norman scored 10 points in the first seven minutes, and her back-to-back 3-pointers gave the Bull Dogs (10-3, 3-0) to an early 16-5 lead. Terre Haute North (5-9, 0-2) scored six consecutive points to cut the lead to 16-11, but Columbus North’s Tessa Lomax hit three straight baskets from inside to push the lead back to 22-11 with 5:50 left in the first half.
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The Bull Dogs still led 26-16 after a Madison White 3-pointer with 2:30 left in the half, but the Patriots scored the last basket of the second quarter and the first basket of the third quarter to cut it to 26-20. Columbus North then scored 11 in a row to build a 37-20 lead and shut out Terre Haute North for more than nine minutes.
“We always want to start off the game with some good energy, and that will help us in the end,” Norman said. “We just really made sure we were in the right spots and did the right things all the time and with energy. We need to execute more, but we did a pretty good job overall.”
Norman led the Bull Dogs with 14 points and five steals. Tessa Lomax added 10 points and six rebounds.
Nadia Lomax also finished with six rebounds for Columbus North, which matched the Patriots 23-23 on the boards. The Bull Dogs forced Terre Haute North into 21 turnovers.
“There’s still things we can improve, but there’s more good than bad right now, and hopefully, we’ll continue to do the good, minimize the bad and continue to get better,” McKee said.
