North Montgomery turned a slow start into a 15-point win on Thursday at home against Frontier.
The Chargers used strong defensive pressure to beat the Falcons 51-36 — outscoring the visitors 40-23 after the first quarter.
Senior Piper Ramey led the charge with a unique triple-double — tallying 18 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 steals.
“It was good to see her get going, and she’s kind of the catalyst for us and when she gets going, everyone else follows. It’s good to see her getting after it,” North Montgomery coach Ryan Nuppnau said.
Frontier took a 13-11 after a quarter, but when the Chargers defensive turned up the temperature, it turned into instant offense. North Montgomery outscored the Falcons 16-5 in the second eight-minute stretch and held them to a pair of 3:30+ minute scoring droughts. The Chargers finished the first half on a 11-0 run behind a pair of Ramey baskets and a Madysen Holt 3-pointer. The Chargers led 27-18 at the break.
“That’s one thing this year, we are a little bit faster, little bit stronger, and little bit quicker than we have been in years past, and having a deep bench, we can get a bit more creative on the defensive end to put a little bit more pressure on the ball,” Nuppnau said.
North Montgomery forced 24 Frontier turnovers.
The Chargers connected on just 34% (20-of-58) of their shots, but Nuppnau was pleased with the aggressiveness his team showed on the offensive end.
“The most exciting part of the night was our girl’s confidence to shoot the ball,” he said. “That’s one thing that we’ve really been harping on. We’ve got really good shooters. We still have some young girls on the team, so getting them with that mindset every time I’m going to get the ball, I’m going to catch and shoot, was good.”
A total of seven Chargers scored in the game. Macee Norman added 12 points and eight rebounds. Holt, Lilly Graham, and freshman Sophie Welshimer each chipped in five.
Ashlyn Minniear led the Falcons with 18.
North Montgomery outrebounded Frontier 46-40.
The Chargers are 2-1 and host Attica on Friday.
