Maddy Payne prepares to score inside for NorthWood Thursday night. The sophomore had 14 points as the Panthers topped Concord in their NLC opener in Nappanee.

NAPPANEE – The NorthWood girls basketball team took about a half Thursday night to shake off the rust from a nine-day layoff from game action.

The Panthers then took another half to shake off a much-improved Concord team for a win in their Northern Lakes Conference opener.

The 1-2 punch of Savannah Feenstra and Maddy Payne combined to deck the Minutemen 54-45 in the league lid lifter for both teams in the Panther Pit.

Feenstra sparked a second-half surge that put the Panthers in control for good. The do-it-all 6-1 forward, the lone senior for NorthWood, scored a game-high 21 points in the win.

Feenstra scored eight points in a 10-0 Panther run to open the final half. The scoring spurt, which capped a 15-0 outburst going back to late in the second period, turned a 26-21 deficit into a 36-26 lead for the hosts. Feenstra had 14 of her points in the second half as the Panthers ouscored Concord 28-19 over the final 16 minutes.

Payne, a smooth sophomore with huge upside, scored 14 points. The 6-0 forward had six key points in the final quarter to help seal the win for her team.

“Savannah just has the ability to lead us in so many different ways,” noted NorthWood coach Adam Yoder. “She just does so many things right. I’m happy for her tonight. What a great way to start her senior season in the NLC.”

NorthWood, which had not played since edging past Triton 30-28 at home on Nov. 21, came out slow. The hosts trailed 11-6 early on and were down 15-14 after the opening period as they had six turnovers and Concord hit three treys. The Minutemen took a 26-21 lead late in the first half before NorthWood scored the final five points of the second frame to tie the game at 26-26 at halftime. Karlie Fielstra drained a big triple from the baseline just before the final horn to send the Panthers to the locker room dead even.

“We did not say anything special at halftime,” said Yoder. “Everyone was calm. We did not talk about being rusty, but we knew that would probably be the case. That’s how it goes with a long layoff, But we have that by design to get in practices and get ready for the grind in December and January.

“We knew that if we put a good third quarter together we could take control and the girls did that. I thought we controlled the game in the second half, despite missing free throws and layups. We did a much better job going to what was working. The girls did a good job getting the ball to Savannah and Maddy.

“We got the ball where we wanted to offensively and that showed my a lot of growth. I’m happy. I thought this was a toss-up game for us. Concord is going to win its fair share of games this year. They only lost by one point to Fairfield and four to Angola last Saturday (in a tourney at Angola) and Angola beat Northridge. They are tough to play against.”

Savannah Feenstra heads to the hoop. The senior had a huge night with 21 points.

Concord, which lost 49-30 to NorthWood last season, got within 40-34 to open the final quarter. Junior Kenzie Bergman hit a bucket and Feenstra converted a three-point play to keep the Panthers in control.

The Panthers, who improve to 6-2, won despite shooting just 10-21 from the free throw line. Concord was even worse from the stripe at 9-21 in the contest.

Bergman and junior Emily Demitruk each scored six points for the Panthers. Sophomore Fielstra had three points and sophomore Kate Rulli and junior Neely Trenshaw two each for the winners.

Feenstra also led her team with nine rebounds and Trenshaw snared six. Trenshaw dished out six assists and Bergman four. Payne had two steals for the Panthers.

Juniors Chandryn Redmond and Alexa Porter each had 13 points to lead Concord. Redmond was the top scorer a year ago for coach Cassie Cepeda’s team.

Concord, which finished 4-19 overall and 0-7 in the NLC a year ago, drops to 3-5.

NorthWood won the junior varsity game 44-21. Kendal Miller and Alea Minnich each had 12 points to lead the Panther JV team. Tesslyn Tarman scored six points for Concord.

NorthWood won the freshman game 42-2.

NorthWood plays at Elkhart Memorial in NLC action Dec. 8. Concord hosts LaPorte Saturday night.

Emily Demitruk prepares to drain a trey.

Neely Crenshaw eyes a free throw try.