HILLSBOROUGH — What a win it was on Friday night in Pittsboro as the Northwood girls used a pivotal 17-5 run in the second quarter en route to a huge 53-45 triumph in 3A Big Eight Conference action.
The Lady Chargers, rebounding from a loss on the road at Chapel Hill three nights earlier, improved to 4-1 in league play and to 10-5 overall. Northwood holds a half-game lead in the standings over Southern Durham and Vance County.
Orange, meanwhile, dropped to 3-2 in the Big Eight with the loss and to 9-4 overall.
“I told Coach (B.J.) Condron after the game as we shook hands that I wish my team played as hard as his and I didn’t think that our team was very deserving of the win tonight,” NW coach Cameron Vernon said after the win. “Our girls played swell in the first half and executed and got after it. Then the second half was a complete 180. We didn’t execute, we turned it over, we didn’t rebound, and we didn’t dive on loose balls. Orange on the other hand got after it, got rebounds, dove on loose balls and gave us fits.”
That resulted in Orange scoring 22 points in the final quarter behind 11 points, including two treys from Aaliyah Harris, and five more points from Samantha George who also bombed in a 3-pointer.
Fortunately for the Chargers, Rae McClarty and Gianna McManaman had six and four points respectively as the locals pumped in 18 points of their own to fend off the rally attempt by Orange.
Northwood had taken an early 11-7 lead after one behind four points apiece from Tayakey Bland and McKenna Snively, offsetting five from Erin Jordan-Cornell.
In the second the Chargers went on its torrid 17-5 tear to go up by a commanding 28-12 count at the intermission. Snively canned a pair of treys for six points to spark the spurt while Hannah Kanapkey added a trey, and McManaman and Caitlin Bailey three points each.
Jalay Rainey hit a trey for three of the five Orange points in the period.
The Panthers would use five points from Harris and a trey from Grace Andrews to slice the lead to 35-23 entering the fourth. McManaman had five in the third for the Chargers.
Northwood would hold on for the win as McManaman and Snively closed with 12 points apiece and Bland chipped in 10.
Harris led all scorers with 18 for the Panthers while Jordan-Cornell chipped in eight.
“Looking at the stats we shot 19/42 (45 percent) and Orange shot 14/49 (29 percent), but Orange also had 14 steals against us and out-rebounded us 29-17,” Vernon noted. “We need to do a better job rebounding and taking care of the basketball. I know I sound unhappy and upset, but this team is in great shape in the conference at 4-1 and we aren’t playing basketball to our capabilities. So our staff is going to work really hard the next week to get us ready for a big game at East Chapel Hill next Friday”
Earlier in the week on Tuesday, January 7 in Chapel Hill, it was a disappointing 48-40 loss for Northwood.
Poor shooting and turnovers in the third proved to be the difference as Chapel Hill used a 12-6 run in the frame to take the lead for good at 38-31 entering the fourth.
“Before the season I really felt Chapel Hill was the team to beat in the conference and after tonight I still feel that way, they have four really good and smart players, and those four girls showed it tonight by all of them scoring in double figures,” said Vernon. “They also have some very nice role players who defend and get rebounds.”
Morgan Korfas led the way for the Lady Tigers with 11 points while Riley Corcoran, Cecelia Calhoun and Laney Beale all added 10 points in the win.
Korfas had five points including a trey and Beale four points to send the hosts out to a 15-12 advantage after one period in the books. Bland countered with six points to keep Northwood in the contest.
Natalie Bell would pump in five points including a 3-pointer for the Chargers and Bland added four more to spark a 13-11 run by the locals in the frame to draw NW to within 26-25 at the break. Corcoran led Chapel Hill with four points in the second.
Northwood went cold in the third with Bell sinking a trey and Bland notching three points to account for all of the scoring for the Chargers.
Chapel Hill (2-1, 8-5) didn’t exactly light it up as well, but behind five points from Calhoun including a trey, and four more from Corcoran, the Tigers used a 12-6 surge and never looked back.
Bland led all scorers with 17 points for Northwood while Bell chipped in eight.
“I think the difference was their ability to have a balance scoring night and we did not, and they were able to take our guards out of their game and we only had two girls score more than 4 points (Bell 8, Bland 17),” closed Vernon. “Hats off to Chapel Hill as they played a much better game and their coach did a much better job preparing them than I did with my team. But we are still in great shape in the conference at 3-1 and we will have to work hard to prepare for our next matchup with them.”