The Lady Chargers took on the Olympians of Columbus East for the first time since 1996. That matchup was played at Hauser High School in the sectional and ended in a 48-38 win for CEHS.
27 years later and the Chargers took revenge on Tuesday night by heading into the hostile Orange Pit and coming away with a 45-36 victory. Tuesday’s win marked the first North Decatur victory over a 4A school since the classification system went into affect.
The game itself was played methodically by the Lady Chargers. The red, white, and blue closed the first half with a 20-14 lead going into the break. Madi Allen had 8 of her 9 total points in the first two quarters, while Ella Kunz connected on three second quarter layups to push the lead to six. [Kunz ended with 11 points on the night]
North’s Kelsey Haley got hot behind the arc in the 3rd quarter, drilling two threes and adding another in 4th. She ended with 9 points.
The Lady Chargers got up as much as 17 as at one point it was 34-17, but the Olympians would not go quietly into the night. East would cut the deficit to as little as 4 points at 38-34 thanks in large part to Charger turnovers on offense.
Free throw shooting lifted the team to victory down the stretch. Clare Kinker was 5/6 from the line in the 4th quarter, adding to her 4 first quarter points.
Sydney Rohls also shot the ball well at the charity stripe going 3/4 and adding a layup to her credit.
Jo Whitaker scored her 2 points in the lane during the 3rd quarter of play.
North Decatur improves to 8-5 (1-0) on the season and will be off until Shenandoah comes to town next Wednesday evening.
Submitted by the school’s athletic department.