Kori Marvin of North Union dribbles around a River Valley defender during Wednesday’s contest. Marvin had eight points during the Lady Cats’ 55-36 loss. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
The North Union girls basketball team has found itself in a bit of a rut.
After opening the season 6-1 and moving to the top of the Central Buckeye Conference’s Mad River Division, the Lady Cats have dropped four of their last six games.
Their latest stumble came at the hands of River Valley on Wednesday as North Union fell 55-36.
The Cats opened the contest against their former Mid Ohio Athletic Conference rival with a tough man-to-man defense and solid rebounding that kept the battle tight. North Union looked to its low post players to keep the score close.
Sydney Bacon, Journey Blevins and Gabby Zeigler converted baskets as the Lady Cats found themselves only trailing River Valley 10-9 at the end of the first stanza.
River Valley quickly picked up on NU’s defensive strategy and found open shooters.
Those quality looks turned into points for the Lady Vikings.
The three-point shooting of North Union’s Alyssa Guy and Kori Marvin was much needed to keep its intensity high and that intensity turned into four points from Blevins, who led the team with nine points for the game.
Despite the Lady Cats energy, the Vikings found themselves with a 25-21 lead at the half.
North Union’s offensive struggles continued once play resumed.
The Lady Cats, who hit only 14-of-53 shot attempts from the field, struggled to get much of anything to fall despite plenty of opportunities.
The Lady Cats were able to out rebound the Lady Vikings, 28-27.
Ziegler, who tallied seven of those rebounds, tallied a bucket on a solid second effort and picked a point from the free throw line.
Even with the solid glass play, the Lady Cats could only muster four points in the third quarter.
Tlhat allowed the Vikings to extend their lead to 41-25 by the end of the third set.
The fourth quarter saw North Union spread the ball around, picking up 11 points from six different players.
The Lady Vikings, however, had all the momentum as they rode that through the final eight minutes to pick up the victory.
The Lady Cats find themselves at 8-5 for the season.
They will return to action Saturday as they travel to Urbana.
River Valley
Hecker 6-2-18, Stevens 8-0-17, Kyrk 3-0-6, Johnson 2-1-5, Lott 1-0-3, Roseberry 1-0-3, Logan 0-2-2, Clayton 0-1-1. Totals 21-6-55.
Three-point goals: Hecker 4, Stevens 1, Lott 1, Roseberry 1
North Union
Blevins 3-3-9, Marvin 3-1-8, Ziegler 3-1-7, Guy 2-0-5, Bacon 1-1-3, Deickert 1-0-2, Amstutz 1-0-2. Totals 14-6-36.
Three-point goals: Marvin 1, Guy 1
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