Northmor’s girls held a 10-point lead at the half against visiting Ridgemont in a non-league Tuesday night contest, but a combination of hot Gopher shooting and some missed short-range shots by the Golden Knights allowed the visiting team to rally for a 58-42 win.
“I don’t know if they forgot basketball is four quarters and not two,” said Northmor coach Freddy Beachy. “We’ve got a lot of young players and we made mental mistakes, breaking down on defense and missing lay-ups. That team shot lights out from three.”
Long range shots were what kept Ridgemont in the game during the early going. While Northmor dominated the action in the first quarter, getting 12 points from Addie Farley, the Gophers were able to connect four times from long range and only trailed 17-12 after eight minutes.
Ridgemont was able to get within a 19-16 score early in the second period, but the Golden Knights finished the quarter on a 9-2 run. Lexi Wenger hit one-of-two free throws and followed that up with a basket. Macy Miracle then scored from the field to make it 24-16. After a Gopher bucket cut that lead to a six-point margin, Northmor finished the quarter with back-to-back shots from Farley and Reagan Swihart to lead 28-18 going into the intermission.
Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, who had won three in a row and four of their last five coming into Tuesday, that lead would not hold up for long. While buckets by Miracle and Julianna Ditullio kept them in front 32-25 two minutes into the third, Ridgemont would go on a 14-2 run that put them in front on the scoreboard.
When the period ended, the Gophers had surged to a 42-36 lead thanks to connecting on six three-pointers over those eight minutes — three coming from junior Jen Jordan, who scored all 18 of her points after the half. “They made shots,” said Beachy.
“You’ve got to give them credit. When we miss, they make a three and we miss, a 10-point lead evaporates fast.”
Northmor would fight to stay in the game in the fourth quarter, getting a basket from Swihart and one free throw each from Miracle and Farley to stay within six at 46-40 with just under five minutes to play. However, they went into an extended drought, giving up 12 straight to the Gophers, before Taylor Linkous was able to close the game with a pair of free throws.
Farley led Northmor with 15 points, while Miracle had nine and Wenger scored eight. After the game, Beachy noted that his team has been playing well, but just made too many mistakes down the stretch to keep their winning streak alive.
“Sometimes, we have a lack of focus,” he said. “We missed lay-ups and you can’t have that in high school basketball. But we had a good stretch and have won three of our last four.”
