Northwood girls snag vital win over East Chapel Hill

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CHAPEL HILL — Mckenna Snively poured in 20 points and Tekeyah Bland added 14 more as Northwood captured an important 58-51 victory over East Chapel Hill in 3A Big Eight Conference play in Orange County on Friday night.

Northwood improved to 5-1 in Big Eight play with the win and sits atop the league standings with a half-game lead over Southern Durham, while moving to 11-5 overall.

“Big time win against an 11-3 (3-2) East Chapel Hill team on their home court after having a long week to prepare and were able to watch a lot of film,” said NW coach Cameron Vernon after the huge triumph. “I was concerned with East’s ability to rebound offensively but we had our best rebounding effort all season with Tekeyah Bland, Caitlin Bailey and Chandler Adams being beasts inside. Our guards attacked the boards which really eliminated their ability to get second chance points.”

Adams back from an injury was huge while Bland continued to be Bland as the freshman post player added seven rebounds and three blocks for the Chargers. Gianna McManaman chipped in nine points and four assists to the cause.

“Snively had a big game and Bland was consistent again on offense while McManaman is starting to figure it out as a freshman point guard,” Vernon said. “Chandler Adams now coming back from her preseason knee surgery is going to be a boost for us especially giving us some depth and another option inside.”

The opening period was like a pair of heavyweights feeling one another out as the defensive pressure caused the teams to slug it out for points. Bland would tally four points for the Chargers but Kayla Characklis countered with six for the Wildcats who managed a 9-8 advantage after one period of play.

Northwood continued to fight in the second period and Snively became hot, sinking a pair of treys on the way to eight points while McManaman added a three-pointer and Bland three points. Catherine Watters countered with a pair of treys from East Chapel Hill and Shaniah Wells five more but NW outscored the hosts 13-12 to tie the game at 21-all at the break.

Slowly but surely the Chargers would creep ahead as Bland tallied four points in the third to go with a trey each from Snively, Natalie Bell and Hannah Kanapkey to send the locals up 36-33 entering the fourth. Characklis has six for the Wildcats in the stanza.

The fourth was high scoring but Northwood used seven points from Snively including a trey, and four more from McManaman, and three from Bland to use a 21-18 surge in the frame to close out the win. Watters had a pair of three-pointers for East Chapel Hill in the final eight minutes while Wells chipped in four more.

Watters had 18 for the Wildcats in the loss while Characklis chipped in 14 and Wells nine.

“We were able to hold Characklis to under her season average of 18 points a game (14), but the Watters girl really stepped up nailing 6 threes and a lot of them we had a hand in her face,” Vernon sad. “Tonight I was really proud of how we executed our sets and the thing is we didn’t shoot the ball well from inside the arc 15-49 (30 percent) though we were 7 of 13 from three (53 percent) and we were excellent from the line 21-29 (72 percent). Natalie Bell had some great hustle plays that don’t show up in the box score. The league is up for grabs and we are in great shape at 5-1. Big test Tuesday against a very athletic Vance County team.”