Lydia Hess attempts a three-pointer for Cardington in their Friday win over visiting Northmor.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
A late surge by the Cardington Lady Pirates was enough to boost them past visiting Northmor by a 44-37 margin on Friday night and keep them at the top of the KMAC standings.
The Pirates led 16-7 early in the second quarter, but Northmor battled back to lead by as many as six points in the third. However, Jill Bertke would score the final five points of that period to bring Cardington within a one-point margin at 27-26.
Cardington then opened the fourth quarter with buckets from Bertke and Magi Hallabrin and a three-pointer by Kinstin Henthorn to open up a 33-27 advantage. Northmor coach Freddie Beachy felt the game started to slip away from his squad in those final minutes of the third.
“Probably the last three minutes of the third quarter when Bertke scored their points,” he said. “We were just thinking late. It’s a learning process of rotation when we’re playing defense. We’ve got girls going out to stop and they’re a little slow getting over and they burned us. You know what, they beat us by 32 the last time, so way better. I told them in the locker room, I’m never satisfied with a loss, but sometimes when you play good, sometimes you still lose.”
Northmor would get five straight points by Maizy Brinkman to get within a 33-32 count with 4:21 left in regulation, but the Pirates responded with a 10-1 run sparked by four Bertke points to pull away for the win.
“In the fourth quarter, I kind of got on them in the huddle and I was like, it’s now or never,” said Pirate coach Kevin Fitzpatrick. “We just started getting after it, pressuring and got some good deflections. Jill Bertke, our freshman, made some big buckets and Magi Hallabrin had a couple nice steals and led ahead for some easy lay-ups. I was proud of our team. We got after it in the fourth quarter.”
Cardington controlled the game in the early going. Lydia Hess and Henthorn connected on early threes and, with the score 6-5, the team scored seven straight points — four by Madison Caulkins — to lead 13-5 before a Shelby Cooper basket brought Northmor within a 13-7 margin at the end of the opening stanza.
A free throw from Genevieve Longsdorf and a steal and score from Abigail Hardwick boosted the Pirate lead to 16-7 30 seconds into the second period, but the Pirates would then go nearly six minutes without scoring.
Northmor would take advantage of that slump, as Madison Simpson scored five points to lead a 10-point Lady Knight run. Cardington would regain the lead late in the half on a Bertke basket, but Northmor had gotten within an 18-17 margin.
Five points by Claire Tackett and three from Reagan See helped the Golden Knights surge past Cardington, whose offensive struggles continued in the third quarter. Northmor opened the period on a 10-3 run to take a 27-21 advantage, but Bertke’s strong finish to the quarter gave Cardington the momentum again and they were able to hold it through the fourth.
Fitzpatrick noted that his defense paved the way for his team to outscore Northmor down the stretch.
“Early on, we were getting those chances; they just weren’t going in,” he said. “Our defense led to some great offense there at the end and we got some really crucial plays where we got some steals and got that lead up to three possessions and four possessions and I felt a little better, but I was never comfortable.”
Both Simpson and Tackett scored eight points to lead the Northmor offense. Beachy was proud of his team’s effort in the game, noting that the team is playing in games the way they practice.
“You know, they fight,” he said. “That’s what I like. Our practices are hard. They kind of get a little feisty at practice going against each other, but that’s the way we have to play. We don’t have a whole lot of shooters, but I’ll take the toughness and scrappiness any time. I just told them I thought we played really good except for like four minutes and that four minutes hurts you.”
For Cardington, led all scorers with 15 points. While Fitzpatrick didn’t think his team’s win was that pretty, he was more than willing to take it.
“I use this motto: an ugly win is better than a pretty loss any day of the week, so I’ll take it,” he said. “We’re still where we want to be and we still have a great chance to come out on top. We were in this situation last year. We just couldn’t finish the deal. Hopefully this year, our kids will feel they can finish it.”
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
