PITTSBORO — Northwood jumped out to a 14-3 lead after one period and never let up as the Lady Chargers outscored Jordan-Matthews every quarter while stampeding to a 62-25 non-conference win Saturday night in Lewis Norwood Gymnasium.
Completing a sweep of its county rival for the seventh consecutive year, Northwood elevated its overall record to 5-3, while the Lady Jets plummeted to 1-7 for the season.
McKenna Snively tallied 13 points to lead three Lady Chargers in double figures, with Gianna McManaman tossing in 11 points and Jyreah Smith adding 10. Northwood shot 37% (18-of-49) from the floor and held a 32-31 edge in rebounding while committing 11 turnovers.
“I was really pleased with the energy we showed at the outset tonight,” remarked Lady Chargers’ coach Cameron Vernon. “Building an 11-point advantage after one quarter was a great way to set the tone. Offensively I thought we did a nice job trying to work the ball into our post players, but when that wasn’t there our guards made good decisions penetrating or shooting. It was good to see well-balanced scoring this evening, and if we can be consistent with that it’s hard for defenses to stop us.
“Meanwhile,” Vernon added, “our 1-3-1 three-quarter defense was able to put pressure on Jordan-Matthews and create some turnovers, which is what we have been lacking. Despite an off-shooting night I thought J-M gave a great effort, and coach Byrd is doing a good job in his first year. This is always a fun rivalry to be a part of and I think both programs have a lot of respect for one another.”
Makayla Glover registered a double-double for the Lady Jets with 10 points and 10 boards while Avery Headen finished with eight points. A cold-shooting J-M squad connected on just 18% (seven-of-40) of its field goal attempts while turning the ball over 26 times.
Lady Jets’ coach Charles Byrd commented it was another game where his players got tired early.
“My girls have to continue to push themselves in practice to get in better shape,” said Byrd. “We were a step slow tonight on both ends of the court and we got beat to a lot of loose balls. Starting out slow is something we have struggled with all year, and I’m still trying to figure out how to get them to be the aggressor from the beginning of the game.”
A Jasmine Scotten free throw less than two minutes into the contest gave Jordan-Matthews its only lead of the evening before Te’Keyah Bland and Smith combined for seven points as Northwood closed out the initial stanza with a 14-2 run.
A pair of Bland foul shots with 5:38 remaining in the second period capped an 8-0 Lady Chargers’ spurt that extended their advantage to 19 before Headen’s put-back off the right baseline sparked a 10-3 quarter-ending burst by the Lady Jets’ that narrowed the gap to 25-13 at halftime.
Following Natalie Bell’s conventional three-point play that increased Northwood’s lead to 40-15 with 2:21 left in the third stanza, J-M rallied behind Glover and Headen to pull within 42-23 entering the last eight minutes of play.
But the only points Jordan-Matthews could muster in the fourth period came on Glover’s put-back off the right baseline at the 5:59 mark while the Lady Chargers continued to pull away down the stretch, with the final score representing their largest advantage of the night.