Donaldson scores 15, Deardorff, Hampton also in double figures as NM beats N. White

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

DENVER — The North Miami girls basketball team took care of the ball, and as a result, they took care of visiting North White Saturday.

Kayden Donaldson scored 15 points, and Layla Hampton and Kinley Deardorff added 10 each as the Lady Warriors cruised to a 55-37 win over the Lady Vikings.

Ella Hunt led North White with 21 points, and Adriann Conn added 10, all in the second half.

North Miami improved to 1-1. North White, who is starting with three straight Hoosier North opponents, dropped to 0-3. They already have lost to Caston and have a game coming upo this Friday against Winamac.

North Miami scored the first six points of the game, and they never trailed. Their biggest lead of 41-16 came after a steal and layup and 3-point play from Porscha Pickett with 4:28 left in the third quarter.

North White went on a 13-0 run covering the third and fourth quarters, chiseling into the deficit and getting within 41-29 in the fourth quarter before North Miami answered with a 12-0 run to end any doubt.

North Miami was coming off a 49-46 loss to Western in their opener four days earlier in which they committed 33 turnovers. This time, they had just eight turnovers while forcing 18 North White miscues.

“What I was most impressed about after our first game was our lack of turnovers,” North Miami coach Nathan Curtis said. “We kept it under 10. I thought it was going to be a slow start there. Porscha turned it over the very first possession of the game, and I’m like, ‘Here we go,’ you know. But they got it together and took care of the basketball. I was most impressed with the way we were able to take care of the ball.”

Conn and Hunt combined to score 21 of North White’s 24 points in the second half. Hunt, a junior point guard, hit four 3-pointers. When the 5-6 Conn scored on a putback the lead was down to 12 with six minutes left.

That’s when North Miami cemented the win.

The 12-0 run included a post layup from the 5-10 Donaldson, a Laina Kling transition layup off a nifty assist from Audi Medina, a 3-pointer from the top of the key from Deardorff, a Hampton layup and a 3-pointer from the left corner from Medina.

Meanwhile, North Miami had only one turnover in the fourth quarter. Avoiding turnovers had been a theme in practice.

“All practice, that’s basically what we were trying to do was just kind of pick on each other and make sure that the next game that we did not have that many turnovers,” Donaldson said.

Five different North Miami players made a 3-pointer.

“I’ve got six girls that can shoot the basketball,” Curtis said. “Shoot it at any time. I’m OK as long as it’s within our offense. I don’t want them taking bad shots or forced shots, but they all have the green light to shoot it. Those just happen to be some shots that we had that were open. I’d like to see a middle touch and a little bit of inside-out or high-low a little bit more, but we’ll see plenty of zone this year, starting next week with Rochester.”

The game started with Pickett finding Hampton on a delayed break for a basket and Donaldson scoring on a screen-and-roll and getting fouled. She missed the free throw, but after four straight misses, Donaldson finally converted the offensive rebound to make it 6-0.

North Miami would go on another 11-0 burst covering the first and second quarters as the lead reached 24-7. That run included a 3 from Hampton off a Medina assist, another nifty Medina assist to a cutting Donaldson, a Donaldson 3-pointer from the left wing and then Donaldson finding a cutting Medina for a layup.

Donaldson had as many points as the entire North White team in the first half as the Lady Warriors assumed a 36-13 lead. 

Donaldson said Curtis challenged the players after the Western game.

“Coach Curtis took us to the locker room and asked us how we felt, and we all said the next game we were coming back for a win,” Donaldson said.

North Miami also has three defenders that can pester opposing guards in Kling, Medina and Pickett.

“Laina is just an absolute dog,” Curtis said. “She’s non-stop. She’s a pesky defender, and she disrupts a lot of things. And Audi is too. Audi is just so quick, and she reads things off-the-ball really well. … Audi and Porscha did a really good job getting steals and being in passing lanes.”

Said a smiling Donaldson: “It’s great. Even at practice, sometimes we have to be like, ‘You guys need to calm down just a little bit.’ But during the game, it’s great having them on the team.”

North Miami 55, North White 37

NORTH WHITE (37) (0-2)

Olivia Tribbett 1 0-0 2, Ella Hunt 4 9-10 21, Arianna Valdizon 0 0-0 0, Katy Westerhouse 1 0-2 2, Adriann Conn 5 0-0 10, Scarlett Franklin 0 1-2 1,  Bridget Escobar 0 1-2 1

TEAM: 11 11-16 37

NORTH MIAMI (55) (1-1)

Audi Medina 2 1-2 6, Laina Kling 2 0-0 4, Porscha Pickett 3 1-1 8, Layla Hampton 4 1-3 10, Kayden Donaldson 7 0-3 15, Kinley Deardorff 4 0-0 10, Sydney Lane 0 0-0 0, Lexi McGovern 0 0-0 0, Remy Korreckt 1 0-0 2

TEAM: 23 3-9 55

Three-point field goals:

North White 4 (Hunt 4),

North Miami 6 (Deardorff 2, Donaldson, Hampton, Pickett, Medina)

Total fouls: North White 8, North Miami 14

Turnovers: North White 18, North Miami 8

Score by quarters

North White 7 6 14 10 – 37

North Miami 19 17 5 14 – 55