Greenwood girls basketball coach Bill Torgerson knew before the season that the three-game stretch his team would face to open December was going to be a tough one.
In the second of those three challenges against Columbus North on Tuesday, the Woodmen were overwhelmed by Columbus North’s pressure defense early and never recovered in a 64-37 defeat.
Columbus North’s pressure defense clearly got to the Woodmen (6-5), who turned the ball over a dozen times in the opening quarter and 17 times before halftime.
Jenna Borger scored off consecutive steals early in the game to get the Bull Dogs on the board, and by the time Greenwood finally scored on two Leah Moore free throws with 35.8 seconds left in the quarter, North had ripped off 17 straight points to put itself comfortably in front.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“I was surprised, not by the pressure, but by the way that we handled it,” Torgerson said. “A bad start snowballed on us.”
Life got no easier for Greenwood in the second quarter. The Bull Dogs (5-2) opened with a 3 from Borger to pull ahead 23-2, then capped the half with an Alexa McKinley bomb from long range to go into the locker room with a 37-6 cushion.
Even when the Woodmen were able to avoid turnovers, they couldn’t get shots to fall. Moore had the team’s lone first-half field goal, as a seemingly endless stream of layups and 3s alike rimmed out.
“The times that we did what we wanted, where we threw a diagonal pass and got a three-footer, we didn’t make it,” Torgerson said.
Columbus North maintained a lead of at least 30 for most of the second half before Greenwood got a little closer with a late burst.
Borger led the Bull Dogs with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Moore had 14 points and nine boards to pace Greenwood.
