DURHAM — Starting the conference season on a high note is always on the checklist of every coach.
Check that off the list for Northwood girl’s basketball coach Cameron Vernon.
Vernon’s Lady Chargers traveled to Northern Durham on Tuesday evening and dealt the Knights a 49-33 beat down in the 3A Big Eight Conference opener for both clubs.
Northwood improved to 1-0 in league play and to 3-3 overall with the victory while Northern Durham slipped to 0-1 in the Big Eight and to 4-3 overall.
While Vernon was happy with the win, he wasn’t pleased with the focus of his young club and the play overall.
“Our first conference win, but I really wasn’t happy with our focus and effort,” said Vernon. “I don’t know if we came ready to play tonight or if we were more concerned where we were eating after the game. We didn’t get after it on defense and we missed so many point blank shots. We have to learn to be focused nightly and come ready to play games especially in conference.”
A sluggish start by the Chargers resulted in an 8-4 lead after eight minutes of action as Maya Hood tallied all of the Northern Durham points in the period.
Northwood freshman Tekeyah Bland took over in the second quarter and pumped in eight points while Jyrea Smith added a trey to ignite a 15-11 advantage and extend the lead to 23-15 at the break. Hood continued to be a one player show for the Knights with seven more points in the second.
Methodically the Chargers continued to grind away and used a 16-12 spurt in the third behind four point from Bland and Mackenna Snively, and a three-pointer from Rae McClarty to pull in front 39-27 at entering the fourth. Hood had five for Northern Durham in the quarter.
In the final period, Zaria Pittman canned six points for the Knights but Snively countered with five as the Chargers closed out the 49-33 win.
Bland had 12 points to lead the Northwood scoring attack while Snively added 11 and McClarty seven. Caitlin Bailey chipped in six rebounds for the Chargers while Smith added four steals.
Hood led all scorers with 18 points for Northern Durham.
“We play in a very competitive league and every night is a dog fight,” closed Vernon. “We will go back to the drawing board and stress this in tomorrow’s practice and hopefully it will be better.”