NM beats Caston behind Donaldson’s 20, sets up Hoosier North title showdown vs. Culver

Douglass has 17, Steininger adds 3 treys for Lady Comets

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Adyson Steininger (photo provided) Madi Douglass (photo provided)

FULTON — The Caston girls basketball team held North Miami forward Kayden Donaldson scoreless in a 32-30 loss in the Miami County Invitational consolation game Dec. 30.

She had much more of an impact against the Lady Comets in the rematch Thursday.

Donaldson scored a game-high 20 points, including 15 in the second half, and Laney Musall added 12 as the Lady Warriors prevailed 52-41.

Madi Douglass scored 17 to lead Caston. Adyson Steininger hit three 3-pointers for nine, and Grace Colvin had eight.

North Miami improved to 12-8 overall and 6-1 in the Hoosier North. Their win eliminated Winamac and North Judson from conference title contention. Coincidentally, Winamac and North Judson played each other Thursday with Winamac winning 54-36.

Caston dropped to 9-11, and they finished conference play 4-4. They have lost their last four meetings with North Miami.

“I thought we had great focus,” Caston coach Josh Douglass said. “I thought we played extremely hard. We were still fighting for loose balls at the end. … I thought they gave tremendous effort.”

North Miami will host Culver for the conference title Wednesday.

Porscha Pickett scored five of her seven points in the third quarter, including an off-balance runner in the lane that put North Miami up 26-24. Layla Hampton then found Donaldson for a 3 in transition from the left wing.

A Grace Sailors block would eventually lead to a Donaldson third-chance putback that capped a 7-0 run and put North Miami up 31-24.

North Miami coach Nathan Curtis recalled he was unhappy with Donaldson’s effort during the first game with Caston.

“Kayden’s been a good shooter all year,” Curtis said. “That game, I’m not sure what was going on with her. I actually benched her in that game for awhile in the first quarter because she was basically walking up and down the floor. I said, ‘Hey, I don’t care if we lose this game by 50. If you’re not going to play hard, you can sit here on the bench.’ It put a little fire into her. I don’t know what her problem was; she wasn’t looking to score in that game. … I’ve really been on her because we go as her and Laney go offensively.”

Allison Craig powered home a layup for Caston, but Musall answered with a top-of-the-key trey. Steininger answered with a 3, but after Donaldson missed a 3, Pickett ran down the rebound and found Donaldson cutting to the hoop for a layup and a seven-point lead. A Sailors cutting layup bumped the lead to 38-29 after three quarters.

A Donaldson 3 from the left wing 53 seconds into the fourth quarter got the lead into double figures.

Douglass’ 3-pointer made it 41-32, but Donaldson answered with her third 3 of the half to make it 44-32.

“We did a really bad job there in the third quarter and late fourth of matching up to her,” coach Douglass said of his team’s defense against Donaldson. “And that’s what we talked about is we’ve got to continue to communicate when we get down on that half. We just didn’t. When we get a little bit tired there, we just stop talking to each other.” 

Douglass split a double team and kicked it out to an Steininger after an offensive rebound for a 3 kept Caston within nine, but two Hampton buckets sandwiched around two Pickett free throws would get North Miami to their largest lead at 50-35.

The game was tied at 10 after one quarter and at 16 at halftime.

Musall, playing with a brace to protect her injured right knee, scored all six North Miami points in the second quarter, including a fadeaway answer to tie it after Douglass gave Caston a 16-14 lead on a driving layup.

Craig hit a pick-and-pop 3 to start the scoring in the second half, but Musall hit a 3 off a Donaldson assist, and Pickett buried a corner 3 to put North Miami ahead 22-19. But Colvin answered with a transition 3. Donaldson powered home a layup and was fouled but missed the free throw.

Colvin then found Douglass on a back door cut, who split defenders and then finished with her left hand. The back-and-forth game was tied again at 24.

“In the first half, I thought we had some good looks,” Curtis said. “We weren’t hitting any shots. I told them we have good enough shooters. Our shots were going to start falling. But I felt like in the first half, our ball movement wasn’t what it needed to be there. We stressed getting the ball inside to Grace and the inside-out game, and that kind of opened things up.”

In the end, this might have been more about a strong North Miami team bouncing back from a 15-point home loss to Manchester Tuesday than a subpar performance from Caston.

“They’re just so long and athletic,” coach Douglass said of North Miami. “It just makes it tough. They’re a good team. They won their sectional last year. They have a great chance to win their sectional again this year. We just had a mental lapse there in that third quarter there that cost us.”

North Miami 52, Caston 41

NORTH MIAMI (12-8, 6-1)

Laney Musall 4 1-2 12, Porscha Pickett 2 2-2 7, Layla Hampton 2 0-2 4, Kayden Donaldson 8 0-1 20, Grace Sailors 4 1-2 9, Laina Kling 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 20 4-9 52

CASTON (41) (9-11, 4-4)

Hadlie Coffing 0 0-0 0, Camila Hernandez-Rios 0 0-0 0, Grace Colvin 3 0-0 8, Madi Douglass 6 3-11 17, Allison Craig 2 0-0 5, Ellie Zartman 0 0-0 0, Natalie Warner 1 0-0 2, Adyson Steininger 3 0-0 9, Gigi Berry 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 15 3-11 41

Three-point field goals:

North Miami 8 (Donaldson 4, Musall 3, Pickett),

Caston 8 (Steininger 3, Douglass 2, Colvin 2, Craig)

Total fouls: North Miami 9, Caston 8

Turnovers: North Miami 14, Caston 10

Score by quarters

North Miami 10 6 22 14 – 52

Caston 10 6 13 12 – 41