LINDEN - Fountain Central girls basketball is beginning to find some momentum. The 29-13 win over the Chargers marked the third straight victory for the Mustangs under first year coach Sam Karr. In that stretch of games FC has given up scores of 30, 13, and 13 as their defense has been the key reason for the streak. Tuesday against the Chargers FC held North Montgomery to just 5-31 (16%) percent from the field. The Chargers shooting woes carried over to the free-throw line where they went just 3-12 in the loss.
“We’re starting to run out stuff and get good lucks offensively, but are still missing too many easy layups,” Karr said. “You can see the girls progressing out there on the court though and that’s what’s good to see. I really challenged them at halftime and they came out and had a burst in that third quarter. Our defense is aggressive and when you’re holding teams like we are we should be able to be in a lot of games. I like where we’re at on that side of the ball with our energy and effort.”
Hannah Prickett led all scorers in the game with nine points for the Mustangs. Brailey Hoagland scored six and did her typical job on the boards leading FC with 10. Rylee Simko had five, Kacey Kirkpatrick four, Katie Brown three and KayLee Spragg two.
North Montgomery who continues to struggle on the offensive end with their young team will continue to look to improve according to coach Ryan Nuppnau. He realizes it’s a learning process and things will take time.
“When you hold another team to 29 points you’ve done a good job and put yourself in a position to win,” he said. “We have to put the ball in the basket ourselves if we want to do that though. A lot of that comes down our spacing and not seeing the open person right away. We’re going to keep working at it on that end but it also hurts when you shoot 3-12 from the free throw line. It’s hard when you’re not able to score than it carries over when the clock is stopped and we give ourselves a chance to get back in the game.”
Fountain Central improves to 5-5 on the year with the win as they’ve already played 10 games in the first few weeks of the year. They’ll take the Thanksgiving holiday off before returning home for a game vs Delphi on Tuesday.
The Chargers fall to 2-6 on the year and will also return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Faith Christian.
