NEW MARKET – Emily Link swats the ball away. DeLorean Mason scores a layup.
The main story was Southmont girls’ 54-45 win over North Putnam Tuesday evening in the South gym. But the subplot was certainly the home team’s defense.
The chasing, aggressive, aggravating shield annoyed the Cougars to the tune of 43 turnovers.
“We’re very active, very aggressive,” South coach Dan Burkman said. “When we play right we cover a lot of ground. They stay after it and we like to put the pressure on.”
The Cougars (4-4) had at least nine turnovers in each quarter. The South offense finally caught up to the defensive effort after trailing by 10 points in the second quarter.
“Just taking care of the basketball made us better on offense. I think we were forcing things early on, trying to force it inside when it wasn’t there. We got off to a good start, which is unusual. Then we had a period where we just fell asleep. We were much better after that, especially in the second half.”
South took the lead for good 41-39 on – you guessed it – a steal and layup by Link at the 6:10 mark of the fourth quarter. While it stayed close the next four minutes, South closed the game 8-0 with Mason tallying seven of those.
The Mounties (5-3) jumped to an early 5-0 advantage, the second basket a steal and layup by Link. The Cougars shooting then kicked in. Three different players each hit three pointers to tie it 9-9 with 3:03 left in the first.
North Putnam then bridged the first and second periods with a 14-4 run to go up 23-13 with 5:55 left in the half. The basket by sophomore Jasmine Duvall, who led the visitors with 18, would be their last field goal of the half. South would close to 26-21 at the break.
“I wasn’t expecting (North Putnam) hot shooting coming out in the first half. That was an adjustment to make sure we knew where they were while still maintaining pressure full court.”
The Mounties utilized the isolation and back door pass numerous times in the second half. They finished the third quarter with five straight points for a 37-36 lead heading to the final eight minutes.
Mason led the Mounties with 22 points, 11 in the fourth quarter alone for the senior leader. She also had nine steals and eight rebounds. The freshman Link topped out at 12 points and eight steals.
“I thought DeLo took it upon herself to make things happen. I made it a point to get Layla (Gomez) more involved offensively, especially in the fourth quarter she was more aggressive around the basket and the free throw line. We were a little more patient and took what they gave us.”
Senior Chloe Jenkins had an off night from the field, but was always around the ball and grabbed a team-high nine boards.
“Chloe had a great game. You don’t have to score points to have a great game.”
South shot 18-of-50 from the field and 15-21 from the line. All but one of the field goals were inside the arc. North Putnam 16-41 outside and 6-11 from the line. The Cougars outrebounded South 39-29.
The victory finishes a four-game-in-five-day stretch for the Mounties. They now have a week, including Thanksgiving, before playing at Parke Heritage Nov. 28.
“The stretch was rough. Players are holding up, but I think they’re ready for a little break. It will be nice to have time to prepare for a game.”
