LINDEN — The defense rests.
Or in the case of Fountain Central’s girls basketball team, the defense never rests, as they relied on their defense and some timely fourth-quarter free throw shooting, to defeat North Montgomery 37-31.
The second win in two nights moves FC to 7-2 for the season, while the Chargers, off a weekend sweep and their first Sugar Creek Classic title, falls to 7-2.
“We have to count on our defense,” Mustangs coach Sam Karr said. “We had to limit Piper Ramey’s touches. She is the best player in the area and we had to make sure others beat us and not her. We were able to control the tempo offensively and that let us look for back door cuts and layups. We were also able to hit some free throws. Sometimes the best defense is on offense. No bad shots.”
The defense forced 22 Chargers turnovers, and then the visitors scored 16 points off the miscues.
“We just didn’t have the energy,” North coach Ryan Nuppnau said. “We didn’t have the drive and we went through the motions early, so we fell behind. We couldn’t get the offense moving and our weak-side defense gave up some buckets. It’s disappointing, especially after winning two big championship games in the Classic.”
The Chargers did come back to tie the game early in the third quarter after falling behind by 10 in the first half, but they never got the lead back, mostly due to the Mustangs taking care of the ball.
FC finished with 13 turnovers, and the Chargers were only able to score four points after the takeaways, and then they hit some big fourth-quarter free throws to take the win.
Henley Good was the leading scorer for FC with 12 points. The sophomore had five steals and three assists. For the game, the Mustangs were 13-of-35 from the field and 10-of-16 from the line.
The Chargers saw Ramey score 13 in the last three quarters and the senior added six steals and three helpers. Macee Norman added 10 points and a game-best eight rebounds. North was 11-of-31 from the field and 8-of-12 from the line.
“We have to eliminate the silly turnover and we have to realize that if we want to go from good to great, we have to beat those teams above our level. We have to be ready to take care of business every game.”
“We have found a mental toughness,” Karr said. “These kids just don’t like to lose.”
The Mustangs are idle until only Dec. 3, when they travel to Attica. They have Southmont on the road Dec. 16.
The Chargers head to Speedway on Dec. 3 and will host Crawfordsville on Dec. 20.
