LINDEN — North Putnam stormed back from an early deficit to bury North Montgomery 56-34 on Tuesday night in girls’ basketball action.
Trailing 9-3, the Cougars (9-8) went on a 14-2 run to end the quarter, and took a 33-16 lead into the half behind nine points from Hannah Sims. The senior led all scorers with 14 points.
“North Put came out with a lot of energy and a lot of excitement,” North Montgomery coach Ryan Nuppnau said. “And we knew they were going to do that. They’re very athletic and very quick, and they anticipate very well.”
Led by back-to-back baskets from seniors Emily Sennett and Maddie Moseley, the Chargers (9-7) went on a 9-0 run to cut the Cougar’s lead to 34-25, but weren’t able to muster enough offensive production down the stretch.
Moseley led the Chargers with 11 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.
“We just need to take care of the ball better, and be stronger with our passes, and be better with our pass fakes to get them leaning one way or the other,” Nuppnau said after the game.
Welch added seven for the Chargers, while Hadley Broadwater and Sennett each chipped in five. Kyla Willis added 10, and Marin Davies nine for the Cougars.
Scoring Droughts
North Montgomery watched the clock tick away without any made field goals in each of the four quarters, which proved to be crippling.
After taking a 9-3 lead on a Moseley triple with 5:19 left in the first quarter, the Chargers didn’t score again until the 30 second mark in the stanza. North Montgomery scored just twice in the second period, on a Moseley 3-pointer at the 3:20 mark, and a Sennett bucket with just 20 seconds left.
The Chargers were held without a field goal for the last 3:06 of the third quarter, and went 3:36 without a bucket in the final stanza.
Poor Foul Shooting
North Montgomery’s struggle at the free throw line continued to follow them to the loss column.
The Chargers were just 4-of-16 from the charity stripe in the loss.
Broadwater Steps Up
Charger sophomore Hadley Broadwater did give North Montgomery a spark off the bench with her team-high five bench points.
“Hadley is getting a lot of confidence,” Nuppnau said. “She is extremely coachable. She wants to learn and you tell her to do something and she goes out and does the best she can.”
Up Next
North Putnam hosts Western Indiana Conference foe West Vigo at 6 p.m. on Friday.
North Montgomery travels to Southmont for a Montgomery County and Sagamore Conference tilt at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
