Less than 24 hours after posting their biggest win of the season, Columbus North got off to a little bit of a slow start Tuesday night against Rushville.
But it didn’t take long for the Bull Dogs to warm up.
North, which clinched at least a share of the Conference Indiana girls basketball title Monday night at Bloomington South, trailed 9-2 midway through the first quarter on Tuesday. The Bull Dogs then hit their next five 3-pointers and went on to post their second win in as many nights, a 56-51 victory.
“I think we were a little fatigued from (Monday) night’s game just because it was so recent,” said senior Alexa McKinley, who led North with 14 points. “We were a little slow in the beginning, but we got it going.”
McKinley’s 3-pointer got the Bull Dogs (10-4) going. Madison White and Lauren Barker followed with back-to-back 3s to give North the lead. Then after a Lions basket, Emma Long hit another 3-pointer.
Barker added a second 3-pointer of the quarter, and the Bull Dogs led 24-19 after one.
“When we’re hitting 3s, that’s giving us momentum, and I think that helps on the defensive end, too,” Barker said. “Momentum is a beautiful thing, and we’re hitting shots. That definitely is a help, but we just have to keep battling, regardless of whether we’re hitting or not.”
Rushville (14-8) came back to tie the game at 24 early in the third quarter, but North finished the first half on a 9-0 run, sparked by five points by Kanon Matsuno during that stretch, to take a 33-24 lead.
The Bull Dogs built the advantage to as big as 45-31 in the final minute of the third quarter and still led 53-41 with 3:15 left in the game, but the Lions weren’t done. Rushville scored 10 unanswered points to cut the lead to two with 43 seconds remaining.
Matsuno hit the front end of a one-and-one with 40 seconds left to push the margin to three. The Lions had a chance to tie, but Annika Marlow’s 3-pointer was off the mark, and White grabbed the rebound, was fouled and converted the one-and-one with 20 seconds remaining to ice it.
“I definitely think we were tired, but that’s what’s going to make us better, especially in sectional play,” Barker said. “I think we really fought through it, and these games are going to make us better. I think it was a good win for us.”
Barker finished with 12 points, and White added nine. Kylah Lawson had eight points and nine rebounds, and Matsuno scored eight points.
“I think we’re playing really well,” McKinley said. “We just need to make sure we get some rest between the next few games and then sectional.”
North travels to Roncalli on Thursday, then can win the conference title outright in Saturday’s regular-season finale at home against Terre Haute North. The Bull Dogs play Bloomington South again on Tuesday in the first round of the East Central Sectional.
“We have a very busy stretch of games, and if we survive it, I think it makes you stronger because we have to play another stretch of games before long,” North coach Pat McKee said. “Hopefully, we can recover and do the good things we’ve been doing even more extensively.”
