NorthWood Pulls Away For Comfortable Win
NAPPANEE – It took an offensive outburst to end the defensive struggle. In a tight game heading into the second half, NorthWood used its defense to facilitate its offense in a 41-26 girls basketball win against Triton.
NorthWood held just a 20-16 lead at the half in two periods mired in turnovers and hurried shots. A pair of Triton giveaways allowed NorthWood to make a 12-12 game a 20-14 cushion. The theme would carry over in the second half.
NorthWood created four turnovers in a two-minute stretch in the third quarter, highlighted by an Arika Flickinger steal and feed to Taitlyn Trenshaw, whose lay-up gave the Panthers a 28-18 advantage. Another Trenshaw bucket moments later gave NorthWood its biggest lead of the game at that juncture, 12 points, and the curtain was closing fast.
“Most of those turnovers were in the half court, and we definitely tried to wear them down with our press,” NorthWood head coach Adam Yoder said. “It’s going to be a low scoring game whenever you play Triton. They move the ball so well and they play their zone so well. You just are not going to get into a track meet and turn it into a 50 or 60-point game unless you are extremely skilled at every single spot. Maybe you can get them to turn it over 26 times, which is a hard thing to do.”
NorthWood would coax Triton into 26 turnovers in the game and recorded a whopping 15 steals. The Panthers also did a fantastic job from the free throw line, hitting 17-of-20 attempts. Andrea Tuttle hit 8-of-9 free throws and made a couple nice running jumpers during the third-quarter run to lead NorthWood with 16 points.
Trenshaw ended with 11 points and five steals and Savannah Feenstra had 10 points and six rebounds, five on the offensive glass.
Triton, already playing short-handed with Hannah Wanemacher on the bench dealing with mono, still has Jaela Meister hobbling around on a bum knee. The bench, also an issue with just two available, forced coach Adam Heckaman to keep his girls on the court as long as possible.
As NorthWood’s half court press caused Triton fits in the backcourt, Triton’s shot selection began to shrink. The Trojans made just one basket in the third quarter, and with Meister picking up her fourth foul just minutes into the second half, Triton’s aggressiveness quickly disappeared.
Meister finished with 14 points, three boards and two steals as that knee continued to flare. Charlotte Morris played admirably in the paint, recording 10 points, three boards and a pair of steals in her finest contest of the season.
“I thought the girls did a great job battling tonight,” Heckaman said. “Honestly, this is one of our most complete games. We had a lot of mistakes, way too many, but they played hard the entire time. They were alert most of the time on defense and got to the spots. Offensively, we started to get some more players involved and we started getting people looking to score baskets. That’s going to go a long way as we continue throughout the season.”
The JV game at one point had Triton with just three available players on the court, trying to make due in a 38-25 final in favor of NorthWood. Megan McFarland led Triton with 12 points, which had Abigail Powell leave the game injured and Sara Stevens unavailable for four quarters because of varsity needs. Powell would come back later and finish with eight points.
NorthWood (4-3) will open Northern Lakes Conference play next Friday, Dec. 4, against Concord. Triton (0-6) will host the Triton Tournament this Saturday. Triton will play Wawasee in game one at 10 a.m. and play either Leo or Lebanon in the night game.