By RYAN WALKER
Norwell needed a brief identity change to get Northeast 8 Conference win No. 1 on the season. It ended up being 56-45 win over Huntington North at The Castle.
The Knights (7-2), who are typically a fast break, three-point shooting nightmare for opposing coaches, needed to turn it down a notch to pull out a win.
The three-ball wasn’t there anyway, but the Knights only took 14 threes on the night and made two of them. Their season average is 26 three-point attempts per night and making 10 of them, but the Vikings (2-4) did not allow it on the defensive end.
“It certainly wasn’t a 2-3 team when you look at it on paper and when you watch them play,” Norwell head coach Eric Thornton said after the game. “That was the concern going into tonight is that they’re super competitive and they do a great job of taking away what you want to do and making you play their way. That was a struggle at times for us tonight, but it’s good to go through and come out the other side.”
The Vikings threw the first punch, as scores by Haiden Bailey and Gracie Fields helped propel the team to a 12-7 lead in the first quarter. It was also a glimpse of what the Knights had to deal with on the offensive end, shooting a cold 3-14.
Kennedy Fuelling and Makenzie Fuess, Norwell’s top scorers, combined for 2-12 in the period, including 0-5 from three.
Thornton’s group has faced tough defenses this season and wasn’t the first time they’d gone into a shooting slump to begin games. This time, he wanted to change the gameplan and try to get closer to the basket.
In the second quarter, 13 of the 16 points came from inside the arc.
After Huntington North went up 16-10 at the 6:03 mark, Norwell finished the remainder of the half going on a 13-0 run. Addie Norris’ three was the only one for Norwell in the first half. Other buckets came from Vanessa Rosswurm twice, Annabelle Johnson, and free throws from Fuelling.
“We’ve relied on the three in some games because it was there and it was a good shot, but tonight we didn’t rely on it,” Thornton said. “I don’t think we took bad threes, and I thought as the game went on we looked for more penetration and getting to the foul line, trying to get in there and make some plays around the basket, and that’s what we had to do.”
Getting to the free-throw line is exactly what Fuelling did.
Even with having three fouls in the second quarter, leading to some time on the bench, Fuelling sacrificed looks from deep and drove the lane. She picked up four buckets down by each block and scored seven points from the charity stripe. She had a team-high 26 points, but 14 of them were at the line and only missed two of them.
“For (Fuelling) to just be able to mentally still be in the game. She came back in and found a way to get to the line and put some points on the board. That just shows some great senior leadership on her part,” Thornton said.
The Knights went 18-22 from the line in the game and 10-23 in the second half, which helped slow down the Viking’s attempts to make a comeback.
Huntington North at times in the third quarter drained the Norwell lead and got it as low as five in the fourth quarter, but Fuelling and the Knights put the fire out with high-percentage looks.
Forwards Haley Green, Dekota Hubble and guard Lilly Norris had easy lay-ins to help the cause.
In the fourth, Norwell outscored Huntington North 18-13 to successfully make necessary changes in its style and get the first win in NE8 play.
“I thought we really made some tough plays the last three quarters,” Thornton said. “The first quarter was very physical, especially on the ball. I thought our kids had to play through that. There’s been times that we’ve played in a little bit of a hurry, and I thought we got more disciplined as the game went on.”
Norwell won the junior varsity game 54-10. Leading scorer was Macie Saalfrank with 13 points, Haley Williamson 10 and Larkin Smith nine.
Norwell also won the freshmen game 42-12. Leading scorer was Carlee Strunk with 17 points and Elizabeth Dillon with 11. Isabella Swineford tallied 10 rebounds.
Norwell will host Eastbrook next at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6
sports@news-banner.com
NORWELL 56, HUNTINGTON NORTH 45
At Norwell
HUNTINGTON NORTH (2-4): Haiden Bailey 7-15 2-5 15, Gracie Fields 5-13 2-5 13, Marissa Trout 3-10 2-2 9, Grace Michel 2-3 1-1 5, Faith Minton 1-1 0-0 2, Elle McDonald 0-3 0-0 0, Riley Wilson 0-0 1-2 1, Abby Grube 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-45 7-13 45.
NORWELL (7-2): Kennedy Fuelling 6-20 14-16 26, Makenzie Fuess 10 4-9 1-2 10, Vanessa Rosswurm 2-13 2-2 6, Dekota Hubble 2-6 0-0 4, Addie Norris 1-2 0-0 3, Annabelle Johnson 1-4 1-2 3, Haley Green 1-1 0-0 2, Lilly Norris 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 18-56 18-22 56.
Hunt. N 12 4 16 13 –– 45
Norwell 7 16 15 18 –– 56
Three-point FG: Huntington North 2-14 (Fields 1-4, Trout 1-4, McDonald 0-1, Bailey 0-5. Norwell 2-13 (A. Norris 1-2, Fuess 1-5, Fuelling 0-3, Rosswurm 0-3). Rebounds: Huntington North 26 (Trout 6, Fields 4, Bailey 4, Michel 4, McDonald 3, Minton 2, Grube 1), Norwell 30 (Rosswurm 10, Hubble 6, Fuelling 3, Johnson 3, Green 2, L. Norris 1, A. Norris 1, Fuess 1). Turnovers: Huntington North, 20 Norwell 14. Fouls: Huntington North 22, Norwell17. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: 54-10 Norwell.
Freshman: 42-12 Norwell.
