PITTSBORO — Natalie Bell was expected to be a dominant force on defense for the Northwood High School women’s basketball team this year, but her game isn’t limited to the defensive end of the floor.
The 5-foot-2 senior showed she also possesses offensive prowess in the Chargers’ season lid-lifter against Seaforth High School, knocking down a game-high 19 points en route to the win.
Visiting Northwood cruised to a 67-24 victory to spoil the first-ever basketball game in Seaforth history last Tuesday. It was a predictable outcome on paper, with the Chargers’ veteran team coming off of an NCHSAA 3A Final Four appearance last year versus a squad of freshmen and sophomores in a brand new school.
It was a devastating reality on the court.
Bell and senior transfer Olivia Porter each drained a trio of 3-pointers, and Northwood knocked down eight in all, compared to just a pair of threes for Seaforth. Northwood had three players in double digits — Bell, Porter (15) and senior Myla Marve (10). Peyton Collins and Gabby White had 11 each for the Hawks, scoring all but two of the team’s points.
The Chargers’ offensive execution was — as expected of a team with a history of playing together — much sharper. They showed a more productive presence in the paint, and controlled the perimeter, despite the Hawks’ tenacity and never-say-die demeanor.
First-year Northwood head coach Kerri Snipes was pleased with the outcome, if not all aspects of the game, giving a tip of the cap to the upstart Hawks for that.
“I felt we moved the ball well,” Snipes said after the win. “Definitely we were passing the ball. Nobody was selfish. We were working together as a team.”
“There are some things we need to work on, rebounding for sure, especially on the defensive end,” Snipes said. “We’ve got to get better with that, and just sharpen up our defense as well. There were a couple of times where they broke our defense down pretty easily so we just need to work through that a little better.”
Snipes was complimentary of the scoring barrage of her “pretty talented guards,” Bell, Porter and sophomore Skylar Adams (9 points), and said senior post player Caroline Allen (8 points) got some looks. “(Porter) did really well on the defensive end guarding one of their better players, Gabby (White). All around I think the effort was there for us, which ended up getting us the win,” Snipes said.
But she didn’t discount the age factor.
“We do have a lot of seniors and juniors that have been in the program for a number of years and playing varsity as well,” Snipes said.
“They’ve got a lot of young girls, so that’s the difference between the two teams,” she said. “They’ve got a really good group of girls, very talented, so I think they’re definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with in coming years, for sure.”
Snipes said playing against a new school stirred a bit of a buzz among her players, especially since they are friends with some of the Seaforth athletes. She’s hoping that adding the cross-county rivalry to the schedule will pique greater interest in the sport among young girls and help in recruiting to strengthen the programs.
Seaforth first-year head coach Charles Byrd said his Hawks were down, but not out.
“I wouldn’t say I expected it to go that way,” Byrd said after the loss. “It definitely didn’t go the way I wanted it to, though.”
In the post-game huddle, he told his team that “this is a learning process. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board and get ready to work hard tomorrow in practice.”
Byrd acknowledged his team might have been a bit awestruck, combined with first-game jitters. His players grew up watching the Northwood teams, anticipating playing for the Chargers one day.
“I think the biggest thing tonight was just getting them to believe they could play at a high level, and play on the floor with them,” Byrd said. “That’s going to be the biggest thing all year, reiterating … that we belong on the floor” despite the concentration of freshmen players.
“Near the end of the game, the girls started to play harder than they had played for the other three quarters in the game. I like how they played hard,” he said. “They showed some fight late in the game. If we could just build on that going forward, I think we’ll be in a better position in the remainder of our games.”
He said he wants to emphasize that on game day, the players need to remember the small things, like the skills and techniques they employ every day in practice, sticking to their game plan, running their offense, running the floor and sticking to the things they do well.
“I definitely think we’re going to see growth,” Byrd said. “We’re continuing to work hard. I think this team has a ton of potential.”
Northwood set the tone early in Tuesday’s game.
Porter fired in a long three-point jump shot from the corner in the opening seconds, junior Gianna McManaman blocked a shot by the Hawks’ Ellie Johnson and Adams fired up a three-pointer to grab a 6-0 lead with 5:30 on the clock in the first period. White drove to the basket for a layup at 5:07 to put Seaforth on the board, but Porter followed immediately with another three-pointer, and Bell tickled the nets with a pull-up jumper in front of the basket for an 11-2 lead.
And so it went throughout the game. In the third period, Northwood went on a 14-point run to widen the score to 42-11. Northwood never took their foot off the gas, outscoring Seaforth 15-8 in the final period, punctuated by a nifty steal by Adams, who went coast-to-coast to toss in a basket.
The Chargers (1-0), have a tough schedule ahead, with 4A Wakefield (1-0) upcoming on Tuesday, Jordan-Matthews (0-1) on the road on Wednesday and conference foe Orange (0-1) at home on Saturday.
The Hawks played Harnett Central (0-1) at home on Tuesday.