By RICK SPRUNGER
Norwell’s Lady Knights took care of business in the Class 3A Sectional 23 semi-finals Friday night.
The Knights (20-3) dispatched Peru, 70-25, to set up a championship game with Northwestern (17-4). Northwestern rallied from a 16-point third-quarter deficit to upend Bellmont, 50-44, in the other semi-final.
The Norwell game was over almost before it started.
The Knights forced turnovers on Peru’s first five possessions and eight of its first nine and led 10-0 before the Tigers so much as took a shot at the basket.
“We focused in practice on cutting down turnovers,” said Peru coach Jenna Hayes, whose team committed 20 ballhandling miscues in the first half and 28 for the game. “But we can’t replicate what they do in practice. You can tell they’ve been well trained.”
“We got off to a good start,” commented Norwell coach Eric Thornton afterward. “We were able to get tournament jitters out.”
It was 23-6 after one quarter and, for all intents and purposes, the game was over at that point.
But Thornton still didn’t like what he saw out of his team in the second quarter.
“We didn’t shoot well (3-for-15), but that’s not what bothered me,” pointed out the veteran coach. “I wasn’t satisfied with our effort. I was disappointed with our play in the second quarter, the way we sort of took our foot off the gas. I told them at halftime that we can’t cheat ourselves by playing to the scoreboard.”
And so Norwell came out of the locker room full of fire again and outscored the Tigers, 25-7, in the third period to extend the lead to 58-19.
After that, it was strictly mop-up time.
Kennedy Fuelling paced three Norwell players in double figures with 17 points.
Dekota Hubble added 14 points, and Vanessa Rosswurm came off the bench to contribute 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Cameryn Raber was high for Peru with 10 points.
Norwell finished 27-for-62 from the field for a .435 shooting percentage that includes that 3-for-15 second-period effort.
Peru hit on just nine of 38 attempts for a mere .236 percent while taking 24 fewer shots than the Knights.
Norwell overpowered the Tigers on the boards by a 42-26 margin.
For Norwell fans wondering about the technical foul assessed against the Knights in the fourth quarter, it was for a bench player reporting into the game wearing a different uniform number than the one listed in the official scorebook.
Peru bowed out with a 10-14 mark.
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NORWELL 70, PERU 25
at Norwell High School
NORWELL (20-3): Dekota Hubble 6-8 2-4 14, Kennedy Fuelling 6-21 0-0 17, Lillian Norris 1-3 0-2 2, Annabelle Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, Makenzie Fuess 4-12 0-0 9, Haley Green 0-2 1-2 1, Vanessa Rosswurm 5-8 3-4 13, Ryland Graft 3-4 1-2 9, Ali Riley 0-0 0-0 0, Madyson Sonnigsen 0-0 0-0 0, Addison Norris 1-1 0-0 3, Mekynzi Beck 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 27-62 7-14 70.
PERU (10-14): Brianna Bennett 1-7 1-2 3, Emma Eldridge 1-4 0-2 3, Cameryn Raber 4-12 0-0 10, Addison Robbins 1-8 1-2 4, Brooklyn Garner 0-2 0-0 0, Emily Ream 1-2 0-0 3, Kaylene Kirk 0-0 0-0 0, Madisyn Nordman 1-2 0-2 2, Sydney Azbell 0-1 0-0 0, Peyton Wideman 0-0 0-0 0, Maliyah Dunn 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 9-38 2-8 25.
Norwell 23 10 25 12 — 70
Peru 6 6 7 6 — 25
Three-point shooting: Norwell 9-24 (Fuelling 5-12, Johnson 0-1, Fuess 1-7, Graft 2-3), Peru 5-17 (Bennett 0-1, Eldridge 1-2, Raber 2-8, Robbins 1-4, Ream 1-1, Azbell 0-1). Rebounds: Norwell 42 (Rosswurm 12, Hubble 8, Green 7), Peru 26 (Bennett 5). Turnovers: Norwell 12, Peru 28. Personal fouls: Norwell 8, Peru 9. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: Norwell bench.
