Lauren Barker
After falling to a pair of top-10 girls basketball teams to begin the season, Columbus North appears to be back on the right track.
Although the competition hasn’t been as strong the past two games, the Bull Dogs have posted a pair of blowout wins to get back to 2-2. Tuesday night, they rolled to a 73-40 victory against Southport in their Conference Indiana opener.
“We played two really tough teams off the bat, and it’s been good to get two wins under our belt, and we hope to continue that win streak, ultimately just getting better and playing together as a team,” senior Lauren Barker said.
The Bull Dogs committed 18 turnovers, but forced 33 Southport miscues.
“We accomplished that goal as far as getting that first conference win,” North coach Brett White said. “There’s a lot of things we need to clean up, especially on the defensive end. I thought at times, we didn’t defend the way we wanted to, and 18 turnovers is way too many. But we were also able to create some turnovers and got some easy baskets off that, so we’ll build on those positives.”
Barker led the Bull Dogs with a season-high 20 points. She has gone for 18 and 20 the past two games after scoring only five and three against Hamilton Southeastern and Franklin.
“I would definitely say I’m getting more shots,” Barker said. “I think the team is doing a good job of moving the ball right now and getting players in the right spots to shoot. So I’m just going to continue to square the ball up the best I can and include everyone in that.”
Freshman Miley McClellan moved into the starting lineup and had 11 points and six rebounds, and Kennedy Horn scored 11 points for North on Tuesday. Kathryn Wilson added nine points and six rebounds, and Hadassah Hurt came off the bench to score nine.
“I think we have people that can score,” White said. “Lauren obviously is one of our better scorers, but we have other people that can also shoot the basketball and score, as well. So we like to see that balance, and hopefully, that will continue.”
Columbus North 73, Southport 40
Southport;6;12;13;9;—;40
Columbus North;19;11;21;22;—;73
Southport (2-3, 0-2): Katie Cherry 3 0-0 7, Cece Mitchell 2 6-8 10, Kassie McMasters 6 7-7 19, Nola Linson 0 0-0 0, Lela Scott 0 2-2 2, Marianna Martinez 0 2-2 2, Sophia Nguyen 0 0-0 0, Breana Reed 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 17-19 40.
Columbus North (2-2, 1-0): Kathryn Wilson 4 1-4 9, Lauren Barker 7 2-2 20, Olivia Johnson 0 0-0 0, Elise Preston 2 0-0 5, Reagan Babb 0 0-0 0, Kennedy Horn 4 3-4 11, Kenna Conrad 0 0-0 0, Kayla Jones 12-4 4, Miley McClellan 5 0-2 11, Emma Long 1 0-0 2, Sydney Johnson 1 0-0 2, Hadassah Hurt 4 0-0 9. Totals: 29 8-16 73.
3-point goals: Southport 1 (Cherry); Columbus North 7 (Barker 4, Preston, McClellan, Hurt).
