PITTSBORO — It was blowout city in Pittsboro Tuesday night, Feb. 18.
The Northwood girls entertained Cedar Ridge in first round action of the 3A Big Eight Conference tournament and simply destroyed the visitors from Hillsborough.
Northwood, now 20-5 on the season and top seeds in the tourney, outscored the 1-23 Cedar Ridge squad 24-7 in the opening stanza and 20-4 in the second to turn the game into a complete rout at 44-11 at the intermission.
The Chargers came out and held the Red Wolves to one point in the third and only eight in the fourth to cap the 60-20 triumph.
“I thought we came ready and focused to play and executed well on both sides of the ball in the first half,” said NW coach Cameron Vernon. “We really got after it on defense the entire game and were able to play a lot of people. It was a total team effort.”
While Northwood held Cedar Ridge to 24 percent (8-of-34) shooting for the game and forced 21 turnovers, the Chargers shot 48 percent (24-of-50) and turned the ball over just six times.
“We challenged their shots the entire night and on the offensive end ran the court well and got some easy transition baskets,” continued Vernon. “But we also did well in our sets, and turning the ball over just six times while forcing 21 turnovers was a key stat in the contest.”
All told, nine different Northwood players reached the scoring column, including Mckenna Snively with a game-high 14 points while Te’Keyah Bland added 13, Gianna McManaman and Natalie Bell nine apiece, and Hannah Kanapkey eight.
Snively added five rebounds, two assists and three steals in the win, while McManaman chipped in five boards, four assists and a steal, Bland five rebounds, one assist and one steal, and Rae McClarty four steals.
Nadia Oswald paced Cedar Ridge with 12 points and two steals.
Inclement weather kept the Lady Chargers from the quest to win a tournament title to go with the regular season league crown, but the Northwood girls were scheduled to open the 3A NCHSAA state playoffs on Tuesday, February 25 in Pittsboro versus Southern Alamance.