ZIONSVILLE — Columbus North girls basketball coach Pat McKee said the Bull Dogs played well for the first 23 minutes of Wednesday’s game at Class 4A No. 10-ranked Zionsville, but it was the last nine minutes that cost them the game.
Jenna Borger got the offense going early by scoring the first 13 points for North, but the Bull Dogs made some costly turnovers down the stretch that helped the Eagles pull away for a 48-30 win.
Zionsville opened the game with two early buckets before a steal and lay-in by Borger set up a 15-2 run that included three 3-pointers from the senior. North held the Eagles to six points in the opening quarter.
“We came out, had energy, moved the ball and Jenna hit some shots,” McKee said of the first quarter. “We did a lot of really good things. Obviously, if we could replicate that more often … but they’re a really good team. You’re not going to hold them to six points every quarter.”
The Eagles (15-4) found their rhythm in the second period and took an 18-16 halftime lead after outscoring the Bull Dogs (15-5) 12-1. North got back on track and took a 27-24 lead to start the third quarter.
Maddie Nolan got hot for Zionsville and scored nine third-quarter points to help the Eagles end the period on a 9-0 run to take a 33-27 lead to start the fourth. Nolan continued to stay hot and scored another eight points in the fourth quarter on her way to a game-high 22 points.
The Bull Dogs started the fourth quarter with a made free-throw before Zionsville went on a 15-2 run to close the game. North didn’t score a single field goal in the final period, and ended with 11 second-half turnovers.
“I was still OK in the second quarter for that matter,” McKee said. “Most of the third quarter, I thought we did some good stuff. We were right there in the game against a really high-quality team. Unfortunately toward the end of the game, the last eight or nine minutes, we made some mistakes.”
Borger finished with 16 points to lead the Bull Dogs.
