Sydney Parish of North Union drives the baseline to the basket as an Indian Lake defender attempts to block her lane. Parish tallied four points during the Lady Cats’ 46-43 loss. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
North Union girls basketball team struggled to find the bottom of basket against Central Buckeye conference opponent Indian Lake on Wednesday.
The Lady Cats went 17-64 from the field.
Despite that less-than-stellar performance, NU kept the contest close, losing 46-43.
Coach Bre Nauman agreed it wasn’t her team’s best night of shooting.
“We struggle when we can’t score,” she said. “But I think they finally realized if the shots aren’t falling, they need to get to the hoop and try to finish.
“They realized that a little too late.”
North Union jumped out to an early lead when Sydney Parish opened the scoring with a three-pointer.
Both squads struggled to find any scoring consistency and were in a 4-4 stalemate through the first four minutes.
Stephanie Alstaetter, the Lady Lakers; post player, tallied 11 points to push Indian Lake up by a 15-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Lady Cats attempted to answer back in the second quarter with some heavy shooting from beyond the arc.
Jada Davis struggled to find the bottom of the basket, going 0-6 from three-point land.
Nauman decided to put on the press to help slow down the Lakers’ offense.
The switch seemed to pay off as the Lady Cats gained some momentum,
The timer counted down toward the half after a pair of steals by Davis.
Jordyn Hoffman hit her first trey during the quarter.
Audrey Benedict and Davis added a pair of buckets to put the NU’s halftime deficit at 24-16.
Nauman said her young team’s ability to overcome struggles during a game is something they are trying to work through.
“We are very dependent on Hoffman and Davis’ shooting,” she said.
“Both of them can get to the hoop.
“You’ve got to shoot when you are open, but when you can’t put the ball in the hole you are going to have a hard time winning any game,” she said. “We have to learn how to deal with that.”
The Lady Cats switched their defense between a 2-3 zone and press to keep the Lakers off-balance during the third period.
The tactic slowed down Altstaetter, who tallied 23 points for the game.
The Lakers, though, were able to increase their gap to 35-26 by the end of the set.
Heading into the final stanza, Nauman said she knew NU was still within striking range.
“We don’t look at it as being down by eight,” she said. “We look at it as a stop and a score. We looked at it as we were in this game, but we played too loose and didn’t start strong.”
Abbey Price, who had been on the bench for the majority of the third quarter due to foul trouble and injury, returned in the fourth quarter.
She put in some work on the offensive boards, laying in three stickbacks that started to close the gap.
Benedict did the same with a pair of buckets.
North Union kept its press on and went on a six-point run.
Taran Moran scored twice, narrowing the gap to 42-36.
The Lakers answered and upped their lead to 46-40 with less than a minute to play. Hoffman responded with her second trifecta to make it 46-43 with only eight seconds to play.
Benedict was able to pick off an inbound throw and dished the ball to Davis.
Davis threw up her shot, but it missed the mark.
Nauman said that is she could have asked of her team.
“We turned our defense into offense and all I can ask for is to try and get a steal or a five-second violation,” she said. “That would have given us an opportunity and we did it (got the steal).
“It was a 50-50 chance to make that shot,” said Nauman. “We got the opportunity, but we just didn’t get it (the basket).”
The Lady Cats now sit at 8-6 for the season and are scheduled return to action when they travel to Graham on Saturday.
Indian Lake
Altstaetter 5-13-23, Kimey 4-1-9, Talbot 3-2-9, Huffer 1-0-3, Tussing 1-0-2. Totals: 14-16-46.
Three-point goals: Talbot 1, Huffer 1.
North Union
Hoffman 4-4-12, Price 5-1-11, Benedict 4-0-8, Davis 2-0-4, Moran 2-0-4, Parish 1-1-4, Totals 18-6-43.
Three-point goals: Hoffman 2, Parish 1.