LINDEN – North Montgomery girls basketball entertained Danville Friday looking for a chance to move into sole possession of second place in the Sagamore Conference. However, the Chargers would need to have someone step up, as they were taking on the Warriors without their leading scorer Katie Rice who was out with an injury.
The Chargers were up to the task as Danville raced out to a 6-0 lead but led just 8-5 after one thanks to the play of senior Madi Welch who fueled the Chargers back to the three-point deficit.
“I’m really proud of everyone tonight. We’ve gone through a rough week,” he said. “Obviously, when you lose your leading scorer, that changes the dynamics of things.”
“We talked to the girls that we’ve been in this position before. Last year, we were here a lot, as we didn’t know day-to-day who was going to be available,” he continued. “We have to go out and play hard and fight, and we did that today. They fought for a whole 32 minutes, no matter what the score was. They played hard and did the best that we could. I was very proud of their efforts.”
The Chargers trailed 10-7 early in the second quarter when Welch picked up her third foul sending her to the bench. The Warriors took advantage outscoring the Chargers 19-8 through the remainder of the quarter to lead by 14 at the break, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Danville picked up their defense in the third allowing them to outscore North 23-7 in the quarter and extending their lead to 30 after three.
Danville (15-5, 5-1 SAC) grabbed sole possession of second place with a 60-35 victory over North (11-8, 3-2 SAC).
Welch paced North with 16-points including nine points from the line. Freshman Piper Ramey finished with a double double of 10-points and 11 rebounds.
“It was good to see Welch get back into double digits,” Nuppnau said of his senior guard. “She took advantage of them early, getting them into foul trouble a bit. She was taking the ball hard to the basket.”
“Piper stepped up for us,” he said of the Ramey. “Getting a double-double is pretty awesome.”
“I thought Kaydence Young and Maely Gaskin came off the bench and played well. Everyone stepped up and played hard,” he continued. “Hopefully this is a confidence booster and will only help when Katie comes back.”
The Chargers are back in action Tuesday as they face Seeger at home.
Charger boys downed by Warriors
LINDEN – North Montgomery (1-11, 0-3 SAC) was looking to build off some of their recent momentum as they hosted Sagamore Conference rival Danville (10-3, 2-1 SAC) Friday evening.
The Chargers came out with all the momentum as a Jarrod Kirsch bomb at the first quarter buzzer gave the home team a 13-12 lead.
“We played really hard in the first quarter. We didn’t play hard against our county rivals, we played hard against a really good Danville team,” said head coach Chad Arnold. “I think if we didn’t turn the ball over as much as we did (they committed 22 turnovers in the game), it’s a much different score.”
After the Chargers opened up a four-point lead early in the second, the Warriors turned to their bread and butter in recent years, their defense, to outscore North 29-13 in the quarter and open up a 15-point lead at the half, 41-26, on their way to an 80-44 victory.
“I was really proud of Jakob Kirsch in that first half and throughout the game. He played like a senior tonight,” Arnold said of his leader. “He led, he played hard. He did a lot of good things out there on both ends of the floor. When he does that, other guys follow, because he’s our senior.”
The two teams traded baskets for much of the third, before Danville closed it on a 10-3 run, behind a Kelby Harwood three for North to lead 57-36 after three.
Jarrod Kirsch led the Chargers with 22 while brother Jakob chipped in 12. Colton Zachary finished with six, Harwood three and Nolan Graham two to round out the Charger scoring.
“Honestly, quite a few guys played well and Jakob fuels that,” Arnold said. “Jarrod hit some really big shots. Kelby Harwood’s going to be a really good player, and he played well tonight. Ross Dyson played good on the ball defense, and Colton Zachary was super tonight.”
North travels to Lebanon Friday to battle the Tigers as part of another girl/boy doubleheader.
