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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Girls basketball
North Miami 41, Argos 34 (Saturday): Grace Sailors and Kayden Donaldson scored 14 points each, and Laney Musall added eight as the North Miami girls basketball team dealt host Argos a Hoosier North loss Saturday.
Morgyn Barcus scored eight of her team-high 13 points for the Lady Dragons in the fourth quarter. Ellie Bollenbacher added seven.
Sailors outscored the entire Argos team 11-8 in the first quarter. North Miami led 28-17 at halftime. Argos trimmed the lead to 34-24 after three quarters. North Miami held on despite registering only one field goal in the fourth quarter.
Argos dropped to 4-12 overall and 1-5 in conference play.
NORTH MIAMI (41) (8-6, 4-1)
Masters 1 0-0 3, Musall 2 3-6 8, Hampton 1 0-0 2, Sailors 5 4-6 14, Donaldson 5 4-4 14, Piercy 0 0-0 0, Kling 0 0-0 0, Pickett 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 14 11-16 41
ARGOS (34) (4-12, 1-5)
Alydiah Leed 1 0-0 2, Leah Pizzuto 2 0-2 5, Morgyn Barcus 4 2-2 13, Lexi Gibson 2 1-2 5, Ellie Bollenbacher 3 1-2 7, Kinzlee Kelly 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 13 4-8 34
Three-point field goals:
North Miami 2 (Masters, Musall),
Argos 4 (Barcus 3, Pizzuto)
Total fouls: North Miami 12, Argos 12
Score by quarters
North Miami 19 9 6 7 – 41
Argos 8 9 7 10 – 34
Lady Dragons lose to Logansport, beat Wheeler at Logansport tourney
LOGANSPORT — Alydiah Leed hit three 3-pointers and scored a game-high 15 points, and Ellie Bollenbacher added 14 in the fourth quarter as the Argos girls basketball team hung on to beat Wheeler 45-36 in the consolation game of the Logansport Holiday Basketball Tournament on Dec. 28.
Morgyn Barcus also hit three treys and added 14 points and made the all-tournament team.
Argos had been 0-5 in December prior to the win.
“It feels great,” Barcus said. “We’ve been on a long losing streak, so this is a much needed win. It was nice to finally work together. I think we found a flow together.”
Bollenbacher scored Argos’ final eight points.
Reserve Grace Renn poured in three 3-pointers and had nine points for Wheeler. Freshman point guard Kylie Simpson also had nine, and sophomore post Izabela Schumacher had eight points and tore down 17 rebounds.
Argos led by as many as 12 points, the last time at 36-24 after a Leed putback in the final minute of the third quarter.
But Wheeler rallied thanks to Simpson’s driving layup – she picked up her fourth foul with 6:51 left in the third quarter but sat only briefly the rest of the way – and two Renn 3-pointers that got them within 37-33.
That’s when Bollenbacher delivered the mail. She worked a screen-and-roll with Barcus and hit a short jumper. She scored again on a putback to make it 41-33.
After a Simpson bucket on a press breaker, Bollenbacher scored on a hook in the lane to make it 43-35.
One more Bollenbacher driving layup from the right elbow completed the scoring.
“There were openings all day for her, but we looked for some different things,” Argos first-year coach Brian Jennings said. “We focused on letting our guards try to drive a little more. We didn’t get that in the afternoon game (against Logansport), and it’s been a struggle for us all year long. So we wanted to focus on that. We kind of missed her in the post because we were focused on driving. The good thing that happened is we drove a little bit in the fourth quarter and then still found her. So we grew a little bit that way this game. But Ellie’s going to fight and scrap and work, and she did what she needed to do for us in the fourth quarter.”
Wheeler’s only lead was 3-2 in the first quarter, but a Bollenbacher putback and a post banker and a Leed 13-footer in the lane off a Leah Pizzuto assist gave Argos an 8-4 lead.
Argos went on a 9-2 run in the second quarter to take a 20-10 lead as Barcus and Leed hit 3s sandwiched around a short banker from Bollenbacher on an inbounds play.
Another Leed triple and a Leed free throw with 0.2 seconds left in the half after a backcourt steal made it 24-13 at halftime.
Jennings praised Leed’s versatility afterwards. She can play in the high post when an opponent like Wheeler plays a zone, or she can step behind the arc and hit 3s.
“That’s what’s nice is we can do multiple things and move her around,” Jennings said. “She’s a good shooter from 3-point range. She’s strong. I like her at that high post. The couple times she got the ball in there, I’d like to see her square up and let Ellie duck in there a little bit, and we’re getting there. In their 3-2 defense, we were open right there, and I thought she did a nice job, and there’s even times out of that we’ll let the ball go into the wing, and she’ll dive into the corner from that high post because it makes it hard to guard that. So I thought she did a better job recognizing openings tonight versus this afternoon.”
Leed and Barcus worked a give-and-go off an inbounds p[lay that led to another Barcus trey in the third quarter. Barcus scored again on a drive down the middle of the lane.
“Our team has gone through a little bit of a lack of leadership,” Barcus said. “And it’s definitely made us struggle a little bit. I think in this game, we showed a little bit more, but we still have a long way to go and a lot to work on.”
In the championship game, Northwestern built a 36-7 halftime lead and cruised to a 46-20 win over Logansport.
Argos lost their first-round game to Logansport 38-33 in overtime. Barcus drained four 3-pointers and made all four of her free throws for 16 points.
Argos led 28-23 after three quarters but had only one field goal in the fourth quarter and overtime combined.
Freshman Gracie Risley led Logansport with 16, and Kellyn Cripe added 13.
Northwestern handled Wheeler 62-39 in the other first-round game.
Consolation: Argos 45, Wheeler 36
WHEELER (36) (3-11)
Kylie Simpson 4 0-0 9, Leilani Gaetz 1 3-7 5, Ava Lukawski 0 3-4 3, Emma Steiner 0 0-0 0, Izabela Schumacher 3 2-4 8, Brooklynne Jolliff 1 0-0 2, Ashlynne Trinidad 0 0-0 0, Grace Renn 3 0-0 9
TEAM: 12 8-15 36
ARGOS (45) (4-11)
Alydiah Leed 5 2-4 15, Leah Pizzuto 0 1-2 1, Morgyn Barcus 5 1-2 14, Lexi Gibson 0 0-0 0, Ellie Bollenbacher 7 0-0 14, Mak Smith 0 0-0 0, Kinzlee Kelly 0 1-2 1
TEAM: 17 5-10 45
Three-point field goals:
Wheeler 4 (Renn 3, Simpson),
Argos 6 (Leed 3, Barcus 3)
Total fouls: Wheeler 14, Argos 14
Fouled out: Simpson (WHEE), :05.1, fourth
Turnovers: Wheeler 16, Argos 10
Score by quarters
Wheeler 6 7 12 11 – 36
Argos 11 13 12 9 – 45
First round: Logansport 38, Argos 33 (OT)
ARGOS (33) (3-11)
Alydiah Leed 0 0-0 0, Leah Pizzuto 1 2-4 4, Morgyn Barcus 4 4-4 16, Lexi Gibson 1 1-3 3, Ellie Bollenbacher 2 3-7 7, Mak Smith 0 0-0 0, Kinzlee Kelly 1 1-2 3
TEAM: 9 11-20 33
LOGANSPORT (38) (2-12)
Kellyn Cripe 4 3-5 13, Gracie Risley 6 2-4 16, Madyson Baumgardner 0 0-0 0, Rylinn Spradling 1 0-0 2, Lily Clem 0 0-0 0, Goldie Kitchell 1 4-6 6, Khloe Wells 0 1-2 1, Maeda Bradbury 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 12 10-17 38
Three-point field goals:
Argos 4 (Barcus 4),
Logansport 4 (Cripe 2, Risley 2)
Total fouls: Argos 18, Logansport 18
Fouled out: Leed (ARG), Barcus (ARG)
Score by quarters
Argos 5 5 18 3 2 – 33
Logansport 10 5 8 8 7 – 38
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