Ava Wilson
For the better part of three quarters Friday night, the Columbus North girls struggled shooting the basketball, and that carried over to the defensive end.
But in the the fourth quarter, things finally started clicking for the Bull Dogs. Trailing by two points, they scored the first 12 points of the final period and went on to post a 56-47 win against Bloomington North that gave them second place in Conference Indiana.
“We played with energy,” Columbus North coach Brett White said. “That’s the main thing. I thought the first half, we didn’t shoot it necessarily well, and we let that affect us a little on our energy level. We weren’t coming up with loose balls. We weren’t rebounding the way I wanted to. But second half, we were able to do those things. We did get some shots to go, we were able to get out in transition and turned them over a little bit, and that led to better success.”
Sophomore Ava Wilson scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Bull Dog comeback effort. Columbus North (15-6, 4-1) scored 27 in the fourth quarter after being held to 29 through the first three quarters.
“I think it was my teammates just feeding me the ball in the right places,” Wilson said. “I don’t think it’s anything I really did. A lot of my teammates had really good assists, and we were just in a good flow. We got more loose balls to give us more and better possessions, and I think we moved the ball better.”
The Bull Dogs’ only lead the first three quarters was at 6-4 late in the first quarter. The Cougars (10-11, 1-3) led 31-29 going to the fourth.
Avery Johnson, who had the hot hand in Wednesday’s loss to Silver Creek, but was cold the first three quarters Friday, hit a 3-pointer to start the fourth and give Columbus North the lead for good. Wilson then converted a three-point play, followed by back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Bull Dogs a 41-31 advantage with five minutes remaining.
“Ava did a good job of reading the defense and attacking the rim when she had opportunities,” White said. “She is a good perimeter shooter, as well, so she was able to make what I felt like were better decisions in the second half.”
Kaylie Harmon
Fellow sophomore Kaylie Harmon added 18 points for Columbus North.
“I think we just played on each others’ shots,” Harmon said. “We were able to rely on each other, and when one teammate is making a shot, the energy is up and we’re all getting a scoring streak going.”
Kenna Conrad grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Bull Dogs to a 29-26 advantage on the boards. Columbus North committed only seven turnovers, while forcing 12 Bloomington North miscues.
“We talked at halftime about responding and being able to turn things around, even when you didn’t feel like things were going well on the offensive end,” White said. “Sometimes, you have to push through that. You get a couple to go down, and then all of a sudden, you have a little bit more bounce to you and then we were able to make that run.”
The Bull Dogs now await Sunday’s tournament draw and will travel to Ronalli Tuesday and host Rushville Thursday before hosting their sectional.
“It gives us some confidence going into our last couple games,” Wilson said. “It was a good conference win, so that’s always good.”
Columbus North 56, Bloomington North 47
Bloomington North;7;15;9;16;—;47
Columbus North;6;12;11;27;—;56
Bloomington North (10-11, 1-3): Rilynn Williams 2 1-4 6, Ashley Stegmoller 2 1-2 5, Audrey Burton 6 0-0 17, Kate Lehr 6 4-5 16, Lulu Frank 0 0-0 0, Ava Robbenolt 1 0-0 3. Totals: 17 6-11 47.
Columbus North (15-6, 4-1): Kenna Conrad 2 1-3 5, Ava Wilson 7 2-3 19, Hadassah Hurt 2 1-3 6, Riley Sims 0 0-0 0, Sydni Schiefer 2 0-0 4, Audrey Nordman 0 0-0 0, Kaylie Harmon 6 3-3 18, Avery Johnson 1 1-2 4, Sydney Johnson 0 0-0 0, Emma Beaver 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 8-14 56.
3-point goals: Bloomington North 7 (Burton 5, Williams, Robbenolt). Columbus North 8 (Wilson 3, Harmon 3, Hurt, A. Johnson).
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