Savannah Feenstra scored 14 points for NorthWood Friday night in a 51-37 conference win at Elkhart Memorial.

ELKHART – Maddy Payne and Savannah Feenstra took care of the inside for NorthWood Friday night.

Karlie Fielstra took care of the outside for the Panthers.

It all added up to a convincing 51-37 win for the Black Swish over host Elkhart Memorial in a Northern Lakes Conference girls basketball affair.

Payne and Feenstra set the tone from the opening tip by dominating the paint as the Panthers won their fourth straight game.

The pair scored 12 points, six each, in the opening frame as NorthWood led 7-0 en route to a quick 16-8 lead after the first quarter.

The 6-0 Payne and the 6-1 Feenstra each finished with 14 points versus the smaller Memorial frontline. Sophomore Payne scored the the first two buckets of the night on a layup and a rebound putback and Feenstra, the lone senior for the Panthers, drained a trey as the stellar duo scored their team’s first 12 points of the contest.

Fielstra, playing on the court where her father Larry had a ton of success as the Memorial girls coach from 2003-2011, provided quite the spark off the bench. The sophomore guard canned a career-high eight points, including a pair of key treys in the opening half.

NorthWood, which improves 7-2 overall and moves to 2-0 in the NLC, looked sharp after an eight-day layoff.

Kenzie Bergman lines up a jumper.

“We spent a lot of time the last eight days talking about being mentally sharp and the girls came out and showed that off at the start tonight,” said NorthWood coach Adam Yoder. “I’m very pleased with that. We came out and executed very well with Maddy and Savannah taking control.”

Memorial, which saw its three-game winning streak stopped, trailed 21-8 early in the second period. The hosts regrouped to rally with an 11-3 run to get within 24-19 at halftime.

The Panthers, who beat Memorial for the fifth straight time, dominated the third quarter to take complete control. NorthWood outscored the hosts 11-2 in the pivotal period to take a 35-21 advantage into the final frame.

“I thought that we took back control inside and rebounded better in the third quarter,” noted Yoder. “The message at halftime was rebounding. I thought that we disrupted them in the half court and we definitely wanted to focus on taking away Sierra Peete. She makes them go.

“I thought that Karlie gave us real good stuff off the bench tonight. She hit a couple of big threes there in the first half.”

Karlie Fielstra had a strong game for the Panthers.

Karlie, whose father Larry guided Memorial to a 161-40 mark with eight straight Class 4-A sectional championships during his outstanding tenure, is the third Fielstra daughter to play for the Panthers. Older sisters Taylor and McKayla were both outstanding guards for the Black Swish.

“Maddy and Savannah controlled the game inside, but I see growth from our team across the board. I like what we have done the past few games.”

Junior guard Kenize Bergman had seven points for the Panthers. Junior Neely Trenshaw and sophomore Kate Rulli each added four points. Rulli also had four assists.

Feenstra had a stat stuffer night for the winners. She finished with six rebounds to go with seven assists and a pair of steals.

Payne, who also stars on the volleyball court, led NorthWood with seven rebounds.

Kambria Dale, one of seven seniors, led Memorial with 15 points. She hit a trio of treys in the game. Senior Sierra Peete had 10 points for Memorial, which drops to 4-4 overall and is 0-1 in the NLC.

Memorial is without Cydney Lapczynski. The senior, who was the second leading scorer for the Crimson Chargers last season, suffered a broken ankle earlier this season. She is expected to be sidelined until around sectional time.

NorthWood won the junior varsity game 51-14. Alea Minnich led the way with 16 points. Kendal Miller had nine points and Maddie Kuhn eight for NorthWood. Madison Wheeler led Memorial with six points.

NorthWood hosts Jimtown (1-11) Thursday in a varsity only non-conference game at 6:15 p.m. at Nappanee Elementary School. Memorial plays at Elkhart Central (8-4) Tuesday night.

Maddy Payne was a force inside for the Panthers.