Alyssa Guy (10) of North Union prepares to shoot the ball with an Elgin defender in her face Thursday. Guy picked up seven points during the Lady Cats’ 62-42 victory. The Lady Cats are now 7-3 for the season. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
The North Union girls basketball squad found itself stumbling over the holiday break with back-to-back losses.
However, a solid showing to kick off the new year righted the ship for the Lady Cats as they cruised past Elgin, 62-42, on Thursday.
Head coach Bre Nauman said it felt good to get back to winning.
“I think it was a sigh of relief for everybody,” she said. “We faced really good teams in Olentagy and Cardington. We knew they were going to be tough.”
The Lady Comets didn’t make it easy NU.
North Union took the early lead with the help of some low post work from Sydney Bacon and Gabby Zeigler.
Bekah Muselin, however, kept the Lady Comets in the hunt with some drives to basket to pick up five points.
That helped Elgin stay within 10-7 at the end of the first period.
The Lady Cats’ defense wavered in the second quarter, giving Elgin many open shots.
Muselin tallied eight points, while Tirah Nelson added a pair treys to help the push the Comets to a 25-23 halftime lead.
Nauman said the Lady Comets threw some defenses at the Cats they are not used to seeing.
“Since this is the first time we have been face-guarded, I felt the girls were not used to that and were confused as to what to do,” she said.
After some halftime adjustments, the Lady Cats came out with a big three from Madison Amstutz to open the third-quarter scoring.
“We weren’t sure what to do in the first quarter, but once we got our rhythm back we were good to go,” Nauman said.
Amstutz found her rhythm from beyond the arc, burying three treys during the quarter.
Journey Blevins provided the low post play, picking seven points off second-chance opportunities.
Nauman said her team has plenty of dual threats.
“Maddy (Amstutz) has been playing consistently well,” she said. “She is a weapon as a point guard and a shooter.
“Every single one of my kids can shoot outside or drive. They were just feeling the rhythm of this game.”
Finding their rhythm allowed the Cats to take a 47-37 margin at the end of the third set.
They carried that momentum into the final quarter.
NU’s defense shut down Elgin’s shooters as they only picked up five points in the final stanza.
North Union’s Kori Marvin found herself in double figures after picking up four points.
Blevins stayed hot with the addition of six.
The combination of solid scoring and defense helped the Lady Cats stretch their lead to 20 by the end of the game.
Nauman said she was happy that her team worked to its strengths.
“We did a great job of knowing what was going well for us and using it to our advantage,” she said.
The Lady Cats (7-3) will return to action Saturday at Northwestern.
North Union
Amstutz 5-0-14, Blevins 6-1-13, Marvin 5-2-12, Ziegler 3-3-9, Guy 3-0-7, Bacon 2-1-5, Hoffman 1-0-2. Totals 25-7-62.
Three-point goals: Amstutz 4, Guy 1.
Elgin
Muselin 9-3-23, Kagel 4-0-9, Nelson 2-0-6, Schoen 1-0-2, Dillon 0-2-2. Totals 16-5-42.
Three-point goals: Muselin 2, Nelson 2, Kagel 1.