NorthWood Basketball: Stellar Start Ignites Win
ELKHART – The seniors set the tone for the NorthWood girls basketball team Wednesday night.
The rest of the squad did a pretty good job following their lead too.
The Panthers used a dominating display at the start to handle host Elkhart Central 51-33 in a non-conference matchup in North Side Gym.
NorthWood blitzed the Blue Blazers to the tune of a 15-0 surge to open the contest and were never seriously threatened.
Junior Savannah Feenstra scored a team-high 11 points to lead a balanced attack for NorthWood.
Sophomore Riley Hershberger had 10 points and senior Taitlyn Trenshaw and sophomore Mackenzie Bergman each added nine as the Panthers improved to 4-1.
Sophomore Trinitee Harris led Central, which drops to 2-1, with 12 points.
“I credit the leadership in our locker room from our three seniors tonight,” said NorthWood coach Adam Yoder, whose team has won its last three games after a home loss to Class 4-A defending state champion Penn. “They had us ready to go tonight. All three of them (Taitlyn Trenshaw, Nicole Flickinger and Erin Graber) all bring something different and important to this team.
“We got off to a great start tonight. We hit some shots and were passing the ball well. Central looked shell shocked at the start and that’s a credit to our girls. It took them (Central) a quarter to settle in.”
NorthWood got a pair of early treys from senior point guard Taitlyn Trenshaw to take control right from the opening tip. Central, which struggled with turnovers and poor shot selection early on, did not score until a rebound basket by Raleyah Ross with 37.2 seconds to play in the first quarter. Hershberger scored seven points in the opening frame as the Panthers led 17-2.
The Panthers, who beat Central 61-51 in overtime last year, led 27-9 at halftime. The Blue Blazers put together a small run in the third frame to pull within 30-18. Bergman then calmly drained a 3-pointer to get the momentum back for NorthWood. The Panthers led 36-22 at the end of the third quarter en route to the convincing win.
Central had opened its season by blowing out Concord (60-22) and Jimtown (79-22) could not get going versus the Panthers.
“Our gameplan tonight was not let Mady Miller get hot from three, keep Harris and Hunt (Krisen Hunt) from getting to the basket and rebound the best we could,” noted Yoder.
“The thing is that our passing is so much better this season than it has been in the past. And Taitlyn is handling the ball so well and doing a great job brining along our younger guards.
“To start the season at 4-1 is a nice accomplishment for these girls.”
Sophomore Kira Robinson netted eight points and sophomore Neely Trenshaw four for the Panthers.
Central, which went 7-17 last season for its most wins since the 2007-08 season, also got eight points from senior Jordan Ware.
NorthWood won the junior varsity game 40-27. Emily Demitruk scored 10 points and Lexi Parisi eight to pace the Panthers. Jayda Miller led Central with six points.
NorthWood hosts Norwell Saturday afternoon. Central plays at South Bend Clay Friday night.