BLOOMINGTON
Both Greenwood and Bloomington North were guilty of the expected first-game sloppiness Tuesday night.
Nonetheless, the girls basketball opener for both teams still came down to the final possession.
Junior guard Paige Chitwood’s short bank shot with 1.1 seconds remaining proved the difference as the host Cougars escaped with a 49-47 victory.
It was Bloomington North’s first triumph against the Woodmen, who had won the past four openers by an average of 28.3 points.
Forward Leah Moore, who sustained a season-ending knee injury in last season’s opener against the Cougars, led Greenwood with 17 points. The 5-foot-9 junior also snagged three rebounds and was credited with a block.
Also for the Woodmen, senior guard Ryan Bauer scrapped her way to nine points; the starting backcourt of sophomores Alex Kincaid and Bailee Taft each provided eight points.
Kincaid finished as her team’s top rebounder with seven.
Bloomington North prevailed despite committing 28 turnovers to Greenwood’s 20.
The Woodmen attempted a total of 20 shots behind the 3-point arc, but cashed in on only two.
Second-year coach Lee Taft is confident his team will improve in all aspects.
“We’ve talked about the little things like how to receive a basketball. How to get open and cut,” Taft said. “I think it was undisciplined in how we needed to attack transition defense. How we wanted to execute on offense.
“But again we’ve started out slow with several injuries. We’ve had people struggling to get healthy, and I think we’re going to be OK. But it’s a year where we’re going to be in a lot of situations like that, and we need to learn to finish those games.”
Bauer’s bucket down low with 2:23 remaining put Greenwood on top, 46-45.
The Cougars’ 5-10 forward Abigail Cannon knocked down two free throws with 41.1 seconds showing to put her team ahead. Moore would tie it at 47-all by hitting the front end of her two free throws with 11.5 seconds to play.
Kincaid had an opportunity to put the Woodmen back in front, but she misfired on both charities at 9.2 seconds.
A frenzied final few seconds concluded with the basketball in Chitwood’s hands.
Her 8-footer high off the glass fell through the basket, and time expired before Greenwood could muster a response.
