NEW MARKET — North Montgomery girls basketball was coming off their most complete game of the season Tuesday night after a victory over North Putnam. The Chargers looked to carry that momentum into Thursday’s county matchup against Southmont. A win for the Chargers would secure the county crown and also spoil the Mounties senior night. It didn’t take long for the Chargers to build a sizable lead after a 13-4 opening quarter. The Mounties would attempt a late comeback but it would all be for not as the Chargers dethroned the Mounties and were named county champions with 42-34 victory.
“It’s really nice and I’m super happy especially for our seniors,” Charger coach Ryan Nuppnau said. “They’ve gone through a lot and its nice for these girls to check off a goal that they’ve had for a longtime. They’ve put in a lot of hard work and they deserve this.”
The Mounties who fall to 5-6 (0-2 SAC) attempted a late fourth quarter rally by scoring going on a 8-0 run to cut the Charger lead to just 38-32 and had multiple chances to cut it further before Madi Welch scored on a layup to ice the game.
Katie Rice led all scorers with 12 points while Piper Ramey added in 10 points and a team high seven rebounds. Madi Welch added seven points and stuffed the stat sheet by adding six steals and six assists. Jadelyn Phillips came off the Charger bench to score seven as well in the win.
Southmont was led by DeLorean Mason who scored nine in the loss and added six rebounds. Belle Miller scored eight points and grabbed a team-high nine boards.
Mountie coach Dan Burkman talked about the slow start his team got off to as his squad fought till the end, but just ended up falling short.
“There was a combination of a lot things,” he said of the slow start. “Senior night does bring a different flavor to things, but outside of that our hustle and desire wasn’t there in the first half. We started to argue with one another and things never end well when that happens. We turned it around in the second half and I was proud of that. It just cost us at the beginning of the game with not focusing and not hustling.”
The win for the Chargers (11-6, 3-1 SAC) marks back-to-back games where every person who has stepped on the floor has contributed in the scoring column. Nuppnau highlighted that and also gave credit to two individuals who he called ‘the two key players of the game’.
“Both Piper Ramey and Jadelyn Phillips were huge for us tonight,” he said. “They were our keys with Piper being able to control the paint area while Katie was out both on offense and defense. Jadelyn’s confidence with her shot is really coming along. Those seven points are huge for us. If we can continue to get some girls scoring for us, that will really help us out so they can’t key on Katie as much.”
Southmont did celebrate and honor their four seniors before the game. Along with Miller, Dori Frederick, Hanna Nichols, and Jade Gann make up the four seniors for the Mounties. Burkman did talk about those four and what they’ve meat to the program.
“Dori is just a competitor and gets after it,” Burkman said of Frederick. “Then you have Belle who you know what you’re going to get from her and you know what’s coming against her to having to deal with two to three people on her at most times. Jade’s really important to what we’re trying to do and I hope that she understands that. Hanna had her best game that I’ve seen her play tonight in my two years here.”
The Chargers will be back in action on Tuesday as they hit the road to take on Greencastle before matching up with SAC foe Danville on Friday. Southmont will make up their postponed game with the Warriors on Tuesday at home and also host Attica on Thursday.
