Abbey Price of North Union drives through an Urbana defender for a lay-up during Wednesday’s game. The Lady Cats struggled to find the bottom of the basket during their 54-41 loss. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
With the regular season nearing a close, the North Union girls basketball team wanted to win out its conference schedule .
NU had to get through the top team in the Central Buckeye Conference Mad River Division, Urbana, on Wednesday to do so.
The Lady Cats, though, fell short of that mark. dropping a 54-41 verdict.
NU coach Bre Nauman said her team let a few games earlier in the season against Indian Lake and Graham, both in the Mad River Division, slip through its fingers.
The Cats wanted to come out with a different approach against Urbana.
“We talked about changing our mentality, body language, bench energy and playing for someone else other than yourself,” she said. “It has been pretty good for us.”
That mindset turned into high-energy defense for the Lady Cats to open the game,.
However, a 9-0 run by Urbana put NU in an early hole.
“We fought back and tried to crawl out of it, but Urbana came right back,” Nauman said. “I felt like this was a game of punches.”
The Cats fought back by going on a 7-0 run of their own.
Baskets by Abbey Price and Ashlee Kohler pulled NU to within 9-8 with a little over a minute left in the first quarter.
Urbana buried a late three to stretch its lead to 14-8 at the end of the set.
Lady Cat shooters found several open shoots in the second quarter.
Jada Davis and Aubrey Benedict each tallied a trey, while Kohler continued to find buckets by driving the paint.
NU struggled work the glass, picking up 24 rebounds, while the Hill Climbers tallied 32.
Urbana took a 25-20 lead into the half.
Nauman said her young team is still trying to find its way.
“Still being a young team with a few senior leaders, I feel like they are trying to do as much they can,” she said. “However, we rely a lot on our young kids and they are still trying to find their way.”
The third quarter was the Lady Cats’ downfall.
Benedict, Price and Davis all contributed to the six points NU tallied during the period.
Urbana worked down low for 16 points and extended its lead to 39-26.
Nauman said her team struggled with Urbana’s defensive shift.
“We struggled with their 2-3 zone that shifted into a 3-2,” she said. “Turnovers killed us.
“We forced stuff that we saw late and didn’t make the right pass.”
With time running out, NU shooters let the ball fly.
Davis tallied a pair of three-pointers.
Jordyn Hoffman added a trey and a pair of layups from the low post to help NU score 15 in the quarter.
Overall, the Lady Cats struggled from the field, hitting only 27% of their shots.
Nauman said her team was worn down.
“We were tired because we were playing tough defense with ball pressure,” she said. “When you play that way you get tired,” Nauman added. “We don’t know what it is like to shoot when you are exhausted, so we had a lot of short shots.”
With only one CBC game left on the book, NU (10-8) can take the second spot in the CBC with a win. They will return to action Feb. 9 against River Valley.
Urbana
Murphy 8-2-20, Stoops 6-0-12, Cotner 5-0-10, Rooney 2-1-6, Donahoe 2-0-4, Shelpman 1-0-2. Totals: 24-3-54.
Three-point goals: Murphy 2, Rooney 1.
North Union
Davis 4-0-11, Hoffman 4-0-9, Kohler 3-3-9, Price 3-1-7, Benedict 1-2-5. Totals: 15-6-41.
Three-point goals: Davis 3, Hoffman 1, Benedict 1.