LINDEN — Tri-West opened the game on a 12-0 run, and never trailed in a 75-21 Sagamore Conference win over North Montgomery on Tuesday night.
“We no-showed,” Chargers coach Ryan Nuppnau said. “We came out scared. And Tri-West is a very good team. Kirby for them is a heck of a player, and she can create on her own and they got going.”
Kirby, just a sophomore, scored 16 of her game-high 24 points in the first half, as the Bruins (7-3, 4-1 SAC) cruised to a 33-13 halftime lead, and completed the sweep of Montgomery County teams.
Offensively, North Montgomery had 21 first half turnovers, and suffered scoring droughts of more than six minutes to start each of the first two quarters.
“This is just a disappointing outing for us,” Nuppnau said. “We couldn’t handle the ball, we couldn’t make sharp passes, and we couldn’t make good decisions. We had at least eight turnovers in the first quarter, and when you turn it over that many times in any quarter you take opportunities out for scoring, and take opportunities out for wearing them down defensively.”
Madi Welch and Sidney Zachary sparked a 10-2 run late in the first half, but the Chargers (7-4, 1-1 SAC) were unable to match the same intensity to start the second half, as they watched the Bruins lead grow to 61-17 after three quarters. North Montgomery connected on just 3-of-20 shots in the second half, while Tri-West buried 14-of-19 field goals.
Zachary led the Chargers with seven points, while Welch added five. Saylor chipped in 17 for the Bruins.
North Montgomery is off until next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. when they host West Lafayette, while Tri-West travels to Frankfort on Friday at 6 p.m.
Tri-West 75, North Montgomery 21
TW 12 21 28 14 — 75
NM 3 10 7 4 — 21
TW (7-3, 4-1 SAC): Emily Starnes 2 0-2 4, Grace Sandlin 3 0-0 7, Isabelle Saylor 7 1-1 17, Adrie Thompson 4 0-0 9, Katie Nickoli 0 0-0 0, Jaclyn Grubbs 1 0-0 2, Kyla Marvel 1 0-0 2, Izzy Cotteleer 1 2-2 4, Becca Van Slyke 2 0-1 4, Emma Swadner 1 0-0 2, Kenna Kirby 10 4-5 24; Totals 32-58 7-11 75.
NM (7-4, 1-1 SAC): Madi Welch 1 2-2 5, Hadley Broadwater 0 0-0 0, Maddie Moseley 1 0-0 2, Lydia Dugard 2 1-1 5, Sidney Zachary 3 1-1 7, Grace McClaskey 0 0-1 0, Emily Sennett 1 0-0 2, McKenzie Schroeder 0 0-1 0; Totals 8-39 4-6 21.
3-Point Shooting: TW 4-11 (Saylor 2, Thompson, Sandlin), NM 1-7 (Welch).
Rebounding: TW 30, NM 28
Turnovers: TW 16, NM 36
