GREENSBORO — What a difference a night makes.
Twenty-four hours after destroying Western Harnett 55-9 the Northwood girls basketball team suffered a hard 67-48 loss at the hands of Northern Guilford in Greensboro on Tuesday, November 26.
Northwood dropped to 1-2 on the season with the loss while Northern Guilford, which is certainly poised to be one of the better 3A teams in the state this winter, moved to 1-0 after taking its season opener.
The contest was nip and tuck in the opening half as the teams battled back and forth with lead changers ever present.
Rae McClarty was hot early for the Lady Chargers as the sharp shooting guard canned a trey on the way to seven points in the opening stanza. Gianna McManaman added four as did Tekeyah Bland chipped in four as well as Northwood took a 17-16 lead after one.
Jayla Harris had six points, and Taylor Haynes and Janelle Henderson five points apiece including a trey each to keep the host Nighthawks in contention.
In the second period, Haynes canned a pair of three-pointers to offset a five points by Bland and a trey from Hannah Hanapkey for Northwood. Northern Guilford would outscore the locals 14-12 in the quarter to take a slim 30-29 lead at the break.
“Northern Guilford is a very talented, well coached team,” said NW coach Cameron Vernon. “I thought we played a great first half heading into the half only down by 1. However in the third quarter they went to a matchup zone and we really struggled attacking it offensively and had numerous turnovers.”
The result was a 19-6 surge by the Lady Nighthawks to balloon the one-point halftime lead to 49-35 entering the fourth. Jadyn Newsome erupted for 12 points in that third quarter run for Northern Guilford while Henderson added five.
Newsome would score five points and Haynes four in the final eight minutes of action as Northern Guilford outscored Northwood 18-13 in the period to close out the 67-48 victory. Bland had five points for the Chargers in the fourth while McManaman chipped in four.
Bland closed the night with 16 points and eight rebounds for Northwood while McClarty added nine points and McManaman eight points and five steals.
Northern Guilford was paced offensively by 17 points from Newsome while Henderson chipped in 14 and Haynes 11.
“I told the girls after the game that Northern Guilford coaches made better have time adjustments than their coach did and I have to do a better job to help our girls coming out of the half,” pointed out Vernon. “So we will watch tape and see what we did and did not do in that third quarter and be ready next time it happens. But our girls fought and if we want to be at the level of teams like Northern Guilford we have got to play better and I have to coach better. But this was a great test and a great game for us to measure where our program is right now and what we need to do to get better.”