By ANDREW FEEBACK
Defense led to offense for the Norwell Lady Knights in a 62-29 win over the visiting DeKalb Lady Barons Saturday night.
With a combination of full-court pressure and its 1-3-1 defense, Norwell (11-2) forced 34 turnovers and held DeKalb (6-7) to just 28 shot attempts, roughly half of what the Knights put up.
“For us, that’s where we start,” coach Eric Thornton said. “When we’re not scoring, it creates offense for us. We can get a lot of deflections and a lot of steals and turn that into transition points. It’s something this team has become good at, and that was big for us tonight.”
In what felt like a rather low-energy environment compared to most games at the Castle, it took the Knights a while to get going.
They jumped out to an 8-2 lead, with all eight points from Kennedy Fuelling.
DeKalb closed within 13-9 as the first quarter ended.
Norwell broke the game open in the second quarter with a 17-2 run that featured three triples from Makenzie Fuess.
It was 35-19 at halftime, and it stayed that way for the first two and a half minutes of the second half.
DeKalb’s Ashley Cox made one free throw to open the second half scoring, and the next points didn’t come until Norwell’s Vanessa Rosswurm made a layup at the 3:49 mark.
“We have to create our own energy sometimes,” Thornton said. “For our growth, we have really focused on the start of the game and the start of the second half. The start of the game was pretty good, but at the start of the second half, it took us too long to find it. We called a timeout, and I thought from that point on, our kids did a great job.”
DeKalb finished the third quarter with just two points, the other one coming on a free throw from Natalie Fordyce, and by then, Norwell was up 44-21.
The Knights scored the first 12 points of the fourth quarter and did not allow a second-half field goal until Lillie Cone knocked down a 3-pointer with a minute left.
Cone got another bucket in the closing seconds for the Barons’ only two field goals after halftime as they finished 9 of 28 overall.
Fuelling led all scorers with 17 points, while Fuess added 15 and Rosswurm had 11.
Cone topped the Barons with 11.
The Knights will travel to Plymouth on Dec. 28, where they will play two games against Plymouth and Wawasee.
Norwell took the JV game 52-19. Mekynzi Beck was the top scorer for the Knights with nine points. Addison Norris, Larkin Smith and Ayla Nern each scored eight.
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NORWELL 62,
DEKALB 29
At Norwell High School
DEKALB (6-7): Sienna Abbott 0-0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Martin 0-1 0-0 0, Delaney Cox 2-5 0-0 4, Evie Pepple 1-3 0-0 3, Ashley Cox 1-5 6-8 8, Baylee Doster 0-0 0-0 0, Natalie Fordyce 1-3 1-2 3, Lillie Cone 4-10 0-0 11, Scout Warner 0-0 0-0 0, Bree Fordyce 0-0 0-0 0, Amanda Day 0-1 0-0 0, Lexi Long 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 9-28 7-10 29.
NORWELL (11-2): Madyson Sonnigsen 0-0 0-0 0, Dekota Hubble 2-5 2-3 6, Kennedy Fuelling 7-13 2-3 17, Ryland Graft 1-5 0-0 3, Haley Green 0-0 2-2 2, Ashley Waldman 0-0 0-0 0, Lillian Norris 2-8 0-0 5, Addison Norris 0-0 0-0 0, Annabelle Johnson 1-5 0-0 3, Makenzie Fuess 5-10 2-2 15, Ali Riley 0-0 0-0 0, Vanessa Rosswurm 4-6 0-0 11. TOTALS: 22-54 8-10 62.
DeKalb 9 10 2 8 — 29
Norwell 13 22 9 18 — 62
Three-point Goals: DeKalb 4-12 (Cone 3-6, Pepple 1-2, Delaney Cox 0-2, Ashley Cox 0-2), Norwell 10-29 (Fuess 3-6, Rosswurm 3-3, Lillian Norris 1-6, Johnson 1-4, Fuelling 1-7, Graft 1-3). Rebounds: DeKalb 23 (Delaney Cox 9, Ashley Cox 7, Cone 3, Natalie Fordyce 2, Martin 2), Norwell 20 (Hubble 6, Johnson 4, Green 3, Lillian Norris 2, Fuess 2, Fuelling 2, Graft 1). Turnovers: DeKalb 34, Norwell 14. Fouls: DeKalb 8, Norwell 13. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: Norwell 52, DeKalb 19.
