HOWARD — The East Knox Bulldogs couldn’t buy a basket.
Hosting Mid-Buckeye Conference foe Northridge on Thursday, the East Knox girls basketball team went nearly 18 minutes of play between field goals. The drought put the Bulldogs in a deep hole, eventually losing, 46-37.
It started promising for East Knox (5-11, 3-7 MBC), as the Bulldogs gathered six offensive rebounds on their initial possession, eventually scoring on a three-point play by Hayley Gray.
Her basket would be the last one until three minutes into the third period, when Josie Burwell hit a 10-foot jumper.
In between those scores, the Bulldogs missed 22 consecutive shots.
“I don’t focus on shooting,” said East Knox head coach Jim Davis. “If you focus on missed shots, then they’ll continue to miss shots. Our problem was our energy level. When our energy is up, we’ll get a 3-pointer from one of the kids and we’ll start a run.”
East Knox stayed in the game due to the fact that Northridge (6-10, 2-8 MBC) couldn’t hit a shot, either. With Bulldogs in their faces, the Vikings went just 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) from the field in the first half. Northridge’s top scorer, Sara Pribonic, didn’t hit a shot in the entire game.
The Bulldogs shot well from the free-throw line in the first half, going 7-for-7. The single points added up to keep them in the game — East Knox trailed, 18-9, at the break.
Shortly after Burwell’s bucket, Gray hit a 3-pointer to bring the Northridge advantage to 21-14. Gray, who recently returned from a head injury that sidelined her for nearly a month, ended the game as the Bulldogs’ leading scorer with 10 points. On Thursday, she showed signs of her old self on the court.
