By ANDREW FEEBACK
SPIECHERVILLE – For three quarters of Tuesday night’s opening round sectional basketball game, the Southern Wells Lady Raiders had an answer for everything the Northfield Lady Norse threw at them.
The final quarter told a much different tale, as the Raiders saw their season come to an end with a 60-43 loss.
Through the first three quarters, the Raiders never trailed by more than 5 points, had just nine turnovers and withstood 18 first-half points from Northfield’s leading scorer, Hannah Holmes.
But a 15-0 run by Northfield to begin the final frame was insurmountable.
“In the first three quarters, we did a better job defensively on their post players, getting after it and keeping them out of the paint,” coach Jessica Killingbeck said. “Then they went on that run, started hitting shots and were able to get it into the paint. We got stagnant offensively, because they went on that run, and we weren’t able, mentally, to recover from that.”
Southern Wells ended its season 6-15.
Northfield improved to 12-8 and advanced to the sectional semifinals.
The Raiders led briefly in the second quarter, 16-13, and went back and forth with the Norsemen before setting into halftime down just 26-24.
They never took the lead in the third quarter, but the 3-point shooting of Kamryn Leas and Faith Blair kept them in it, trailing just 39-38 entering the fourth.
Emily Pennington hit a shot in the paint, and Holmes converted a 3-point play.
Back-to-back triples from Ainsley Dale and Addy Rosen suddenly stretched it to 50-38.
The Raiders took a timeout, but the damage was done. Two free throws from Riley Tappy gave them their first points of the quarter, but not before Northfield had scored the first 15.
Southern Wells’s only field goal in that span was a 3-pointer from Blair with just over two minutes left for their final points of the season.
Blair led the Raiders with 11 while Tappy added 10.
Holmes finished with 27 to lead all scorers. Northfield also got 12 apiece from Rosen and Pennington.
Although it was a tough outcome, Killingbeck felt her team improved throughout the course of the season.
“This group probably, from the beginning of the season to the end, had the most improvement out of the past few years that I’ve seen,” she said. “The bright side is, we return a lot. We’re really going to miss Tappy and Hannah and Liv, but we’ve got girls who will step up.
“We’re tired of losing,” she continued. “We talk about what we’re going to do in the offseason so we can move forward and be a better basketball team, but we had fun this season. This is a great group of kids, they’ve got great attitudes, they work hard all the time, even when things aren’t going their way. You saw it tonight, they never give up. That’s a great quality, and they’re going to be great people because of that.”
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NORTHFIELD 60, SOUTHERN WELLS 43
At Northfield High School
NORTHFIELD (12-8): Addy Rosen 4-9 1-3 12, Camryn Kuhn 0-0 0-0 0, Ainsley Dale 2-4 1-2 6, Samantha Powell 0-0 0-0 0, Eden Hoover 1-3 1-2 3, Emily Pennington 5-13 0-0 12, Elli Baker 0-2 0-1 0, Hannah Holmes 13-17 1-1 27, Jaycie Kron 0-0 0-0 0, Kirsten Rife 0-0 0-0 0, Zarla Dunn 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25-48 4-9 60.
SOUTHERN WELLS (6-15): Hailey Duncan 1-2 0-0 2, Jadyn Yencer 0-0 0-0 0, Avah Miner 2-7 1-2 5, Zoe Needler 1-3 2-3 4, Raigyn Leas 0-2 0-0 0, Olivia Durham 0-0 0-0 0, Riley Tappy 3-7 4-4 10, Kamryn Leas 2-7 0-0 6, Hannah Leas 2-7 0-0 5, Faith Blair 4-7 0-0 11, Kenzie Paxson 0-0 0-0 0, Ashlie Needler 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15-43 7-9 43.
Northfield 11 15 13 21 –– 60
Southern Wells 11 13 14 5 –– 43
Three-point Goals: Northfield 6-18 (Rosen 3-5, Pennington 2-5, Dale 1-3, Holmes 0-2, Dale 0-2, Baker 0-1), Southern Wells 6-22 (Blair 3-5, Kamryn Leas 2-6, Hannah Leas 1-4, Raigyn Leas 0-2, Tappy 0-3, Miner 0-1, Zoe Needler 0-1). Rebounds: Northfield 28 (Holmes 12, Dale 6, Pennington 5, Baker 4, Rosen 1), Southern Wells 18 (Miner 4, Zoe Needler 3, Ashlie Needler 3, Kamryn Leas 3, Blair 2, Hannah Leas 1, Raigyn Leas 1, Tappy 1). Turnovers: Northfield 13, Southern Wells 13. Fouls: Northfield 10, Southern Wells 14. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
