The Northwood Lady Chargers atoned at the free-throw line for a less-than-preferable shooting night during their 46-40 victory Friday night against the Chapel Hill Lady Tigers.
Making amends for a dismal shooting night from the floor in which it only connected on 9-of-37 (24 percent) of its field goal attempts, Northwood (11-8 overall, 5-4 Big Eight 3A) converted 25-of-41 chances from the charity stripe, including 12-of-16 in the fourth quarter, as the Lady Chargers finally seized the lead for good midway through the final period and held on in Big Eight 3A Conference action Friday night in Lewis Norwood Gymnasium.
Following Cecilia Calhoun’s pull-up jumper in the lane that gave Chapel Hill (9-11, 5-5) a 4-1 lead with 3:48 left in the opening stanza, Northwood closed out the quarter with a 10-0 run, capped by back-to-back Kaya Hill buckets in the paint over the last 53 seconds, forging a seven-point advantage after one period.
The visitors from Orange County battled back to reclaim a 15-14 lead on Calhoun’s free throw with 2:54 remaining in the second frame. The Lady Chargers evened the score at 17-all on McKenna Snively’s three-pointer from the right wing with 2:08 to go until halftime, but Riley Corcoran’s fast break layup 46.1 seconds before the break gave the Lady Tigers a two-point advantage at intermission.
Chapel Hill increased its lead to as much as five points on three occasions in the third stanza, the last time at 26-21 following a Takaiyah Gattis jumper in the lane with just more than three minutes left in the quarter, prior to Northwood rallying to draw within one at the end of the period. A pair of Chandler Adams free throws with 4:35 remaining to play resulted in the fifth lead change of the final quarter and put the Lady Chargers ahead to stay at 37-36. Myla Marve canned a three-pointer a minute later to boost the victor’s advantage to four, a lead sealed by successful trips to the foul line.
The victory lifted Northwood to its eighth win in the last nine meetings with the Lady Tigers. Adams notched 17 points to pace the winners, who commanded a 35-26 advantage in rebounds while turning the ball over 18 times. Laney Beale led Chapel Hill with 14 points and Corcoran added 11 as the Lady Tigers shot 17-of-50 (34 percent) from the floor but were whistled for 25 fouls and committed 13 turnovers.