NorthWood Basketball: Panthers Spread Around The Love
BOURBON – NorthWood girls basketball head coach Adam Yoder wanted to see how his young and impressionable team responded to adversity. After taking one on the chin Saturday against Norwell, the Lady Panthers responded in a big way with a 48-23 win at Triton Tuesday night.
It was shooting, and making, shots that was key for NorthWood in a team that hasn’t lacked hustle on the defensive side of the court. In a Siberian 1-19 three-point performance Saturday, NorthWood at least got the numbers up a little Tuesday in hitting 4-of-12 from deep, and was 16-32 overall from the floor in the contest.
NorthWood let its defense do the talking early, holding Triton to just one field goal in the first quarter while running out to an 8-0 advantage to start the contest. A 24-9 halftime advantage only further bloomed as Triton’s offensive struggles again reared its ugly head in the third quarter in scoring just two points. The mixture of good defense and tentative Triton offensive possessions made for a quick night at the Trojan Trench.
“We didn’t hit a couple early, but nobody panicked,” said Yoder about his team’s three-point shooting. “Once we got a couple to go in, we settled down. That was good to see.”
NorthWood had three reach double figures on the scoresheet, led by Neely Trenshaw’s game-high 11 points. The sophomore guard hit 3-of-4 three-point attempts, her catch-and-shoot make along with senior sister Taitlyn Trenshaw’s three in the second quarter helped NorthWood open up a double-digit lead that would never return under 10.
Taitlyn Trenshaw had 10 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals while Savannah Feenstra chipped in 10 points and four boards. Riley Hershberger did a lot of the dirty work for the Lady Panthers, getting seven rebounds, four steals and three assists to go with six points and a block.
“The defensive effort, it’s hard for those kids not to gamble sometimes,” Yoder said. “I encourage that sometimes. But tonight was a night to make them earn everything they got. (Triton) might have got four or five there at the end, but we nearly shut them out in the third quarter. That was a solid defensive effort. I thought our defense has been playing really well pretty much the whole year.”
Triton had Kaitlin Bailey finish her night with a respectable six points and five rebounds, making the most of bench work as the Triton starters got some rest. Nicole Sechrist, Sara Stevens, Hannah Wanemacher and Whytnie Miller all had four points for the Lady Trojans. Courtney Jennings added four rebounds.
NorthWood moves to 5-2 on the season and will have a nice break before opening Northern Lakes Conference play Dec. 2 at Concord. Triton (1-5) will have a the holiday to recover before hosting its Triton Tournament Saturday morning. Triton will face Wawasee (2-3) opposite Leo (4-1) against Lebanon (3-2).
In the JV game, a shot at the buzzer by Chelsea Johnson was waived off, giving NorthWood a 34-32 win. Bailey and Abigail Powell each finished with 10 points for Triton while Lexi Parisi had nine points and Kira Robinson had eight points for NorthWood. Madison Payne hit the game-winner for NorthWood with under 10 seconds left in the game.