Northmor girls get win

The Northmor girls’ basketball team rode a strong defensive performance to a 31-27 win over visiting Mount Gilead in a Friday night KMAC contest.

The Golden Knights (5-10, 1-7 in league play) held their opponents to single digits in each of the four quarters and were able to come back in the final minute to pick up the win.

After back-to-back shots from Greer Simpson and Aubrey Thomas gave the Indians (7-7, 4-4) a 27-26 lead late in the game, Northmor regained the lead with 46 seconds remaining in regulation on a Madison Simpson basket.

Northmor would then get the ball back, leading to two Madison Simpson free throws with 15.5 seconds to go that made it a three-point game. MG would not be able to get back on the scoreboard, allowing their opponents to earn their first league win.

“That’s what you call winning ugly,” said Northmor coach Freddie Beachy. “We preach playing defense. They’re a good team; we’re still not there yet. These kids, I’ve said it before, they’re young experience-wise. Last time we played them, we didn’t handle the end of the game that well. We worked on that stuff. We just have to find the formula to put the ball in the basket.”

For much of the game, points were hard to come by for both teams. A three-pointer by Shelby Cooper helped Northmor take an early 4-2 lead, but Greer Simpson scored off an offensive rebound to tie things up at the 4:37 mark of the first.

Claire Tackett would score four straight points, as Northmor took an 8-4 lead, but Mount Gilead then picked up five straight points — two each by Faith White and Kendall Neal — to lead by one midway through the second quarter.

The Indians would suffer a drought of over four minutes, though, allowing Northmor to get five points by Maizy Brinkman and two from Cooper. While MG finished the half with a pair of free throws by White, they trailed 15-11 at the break.

Mount Gilead coach Nick Vukovich simply felt his team didn’t play with the energy needed to win a league game.

“We had no energy,” he said. “We showed zero energy on the offensive end, we showed zero energy on the defensive end. Because of that, we couldn’t get started. We’re not a team that can just show up and play. We have to have high energy. We had very low energy today except for a spurt here and a spurt there, but other than that, we didn’t have it in us today.”

Two quick shots by Madison Simpson early in the third quarter pushed the Northmor lead to a 19-12 margin, but Mount Gilead would battle back. White and Greer Simpson hit back-to-back shots to make it a three-point game. While Alexis See responded with a Northmor bucket, two points by Danielle Pohlkotte and one from Thomas brought Mount Gilead within a 21-19 margin with eight minutes left in the game.

Cassady Irwin hit from the field to tie the game with 5:31 left, but Brinkman followed with a three-pointer. After the teams traded baskets, Northmor held a 26-23 lead with 2:57 to go, but Mount Gilead was able to use a 4-0 run to lead by one. However, they could not score in the final 1:24 of action, allowing the Golden Knights to regain the lead and finish on top.

Beachy noted that his team’s dedication to defense paid off against Mount Gilead.

“We stress defense, we practice defense all the time,” he said. “It kind of hurts our offense a little bit, but if we can hold the other team to just a few points, we don’t need that many. We made big free throws right there at the end and got lucky they missed a couple shots. We’ve got to rebound better; it’ll hurt us.”

Turnovers hurt Mount Gilead throughout the game, something Vukovich said has been an issue this year.

“I bet you 50 percent of those turnovers were unforced and that’s been our M.O. most of the season,” he said. “We’ll play a game and we’re throwing bad passes, we’re dribbling off our foot, we’re traveling…stuff that we normally don’t do. We work on them every day in practice, we’re just not implementing them in games.”

Greer Simpson finished with eight points to lead Mount Gilead. After the game, Vukovich said his squad needs to focus on the basics.

“We’ve got to go back to the lab,” he said. “Go back to the basics, keep reiterating, keep talking about, keep doing it, so it’s in our head that, hey, I’ve got to jump stop; hey, I’ve got to pivot; hey, I’ve got to make a good pass and call out their name when we make those passes. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot right now. That’s what we did tonight. Northmor capitalized on our miscues and that’s what they’re supposed to do and that’s how they found a way to win.”

Northmor got 10 points from Simpson and eight by Brinkman. Beachy noted that his team is working well together.

“All these kids are playing hard,” he said. “The bench cheers every time we score or do something good, which I really like. These younger kids that are dressing but not getting in the game, they’re not pouting. They’re in here and cheering for every kid. That’s got to motivate the other kids who are playing to do something positive. I just like what they’re doing.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS