NorthWood Shocked In Semistate Final
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
The poor shooting that has accompanied the NorthWood girls basketball team for much of the postseason finally did the Panthers in.
After defeating Carroll (Allen) 49-36 in Saturday's morning game, NorthWood fell to West Lafayette in the semistate championship game 37-33 after shooting just 33 percent from the floor and just 3 of 14 from the free-throw line.
This marks the second consecutive season that NorthWood fell one game short of the state championship game. Last year, the Panthers lost to Crown Point in the state Final Four. This year with class basketball, NorthWood fell in the Class 3A Final Four.
Even though the Panthers did much to doom their own fate, West Lafayette helped out. The Red Devils shot 45 percent from the floor and made 5 of 6 three-pointers, including all four attempts in the first half.
"They started off hitting threes much better than we thought they would," NorthWood coach Steve Neff said. "We did a nice job the first part of the game shutting their offense off, but those threes loosened it up. If they don't knock down those threes, they're in trouble."
Despite all of that, it looked as if NorthWood would blow West Lafayette out of the building early. The Panthers jumped out to a 7-0 lead by making their first three shots, and the Red Devils turned over the ball four times in their first five possessions. Amy Zercher started the game with a three-pointer, and Jamie Gill and LoriDawn Klotz followed up with baskets for the early lead.
But West Lafayette head coach Steve Dietrich never called a timeout. The Red Devils worked out the problems on the floor and answered with a flurry as guard Keaton Brumm scored seven points and hit a three-pointer as the first quarter wound down to give the Red Devils a 12-9 lead after one period.
In the second quarter, West Lafayette continued to extend the lead. Kuleni Gebisa and Joni Woods each nailed three-pointers, Rachael Anderson scored three points, and Brumm dished out three assists as the Red Devils took a 23-16 advantage into the halftime break.
West Lafayette held NorthWood to just 16 shot attempts in the first half as Natalie Will, the Panthers' second-leading scorer, didn't get one attempt in the first 16 minutes. Zercher, NorthWood's leading scorer, had just the three-pointer to start the game to account for her scoring.
"I thought our two guards (Will and Zercher) played a little tentative (in the first half)," Neff said. "They did a much better job in the second half."
In the third period, NorthWood made some adjustments and began to press West Lafayette to try to pick up the tempo.
"We regrouped and put a little heat on," Neff said. "We got ahead by one point a couple of times."
In the full-court game, Will and Zercher thrived. The two combined for 11 points in the period as the Panthers outscored West Lafayette 15-7 to take a one-point lead into the final eight minutes of action.
But in the fourth quarter, NorthWood went the first 7:32 without scoring, including five misses from the free-throw line as West Lafayette took a 37-31 lead. By the time the Panthers finally got on the scoring board with 28 seconds to play in the game, it was too much to come back from, even though West Lafayette missed the front end of 1-and-1 free throws twice.
Zercher was the only NorthWood player to score in double figures with 10 points. Klotz ended up making just 2 of 12 shots and scoring six points.
Brumm scored 16 points for West Lafayette to lead all scorers. Lello Gebisa, the Red Devils' 6-foot-5 center who scored 14 points in the opening game against Lebanon, had just two points against the Panthers as NorthWood kept the lane clogged and held her from getting any good shots.
"We didn't shoot blazing, and we didn't shoot free throws well," Neff said. "A few costly turnovers, and that's all it takes. I'm proud of the girls. Our seniors gave us a tremendous record these last three years. It's been a pleasure to work with them."
NorthWood got to the championship game by shaking off a pesky Carroll team 49-36.
The Panthers led by eight at the half and extended that lead to 11 points after three quarters at 27-16. But cold NorthWood shooting helped keep Carroll in the game and the Chargers got as close as four points in the fourth quarter.
But in this game, NorthWood made free throws as Zercher hit on 9 of 10 from the charity stripe to run away with the game.
Zercher led the Panthers with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Will added 15 points.
"Who cares if you score 60 or 100 points," Neff said after the first game. "We get to come back tonight bottom line."
NorthWood ends the season with a record of 23-2 and a Class 3A No. 2 ranking. West Lafayette, ranked No. 5, will play for the state championship on Saturday with a record of 22-4. [[In-content Ad]]
The poor shooting that has accompanied the NorthWood girls basketball team for much of the postseason finally did the Panthers in.
After defeating Carroll (Allen) 49-36 in Saturday's morning game, NorthWood fell to West Lafayette in the semistate championship game 37-33 after shooting just 33 percent from the floor and just 3 of 14 from the free-throw line.
This marks the second consecutive season that NorthWood fell one game short of the state championship game. Last year, the Panthers lost to Crown Point in the state Final Four. This year with class basketball, NorthWood fell in the Class 3A Final Four.
Even though the Panthers did much to doom their own fate, West Lafayette helped out. The Red Devils shot 45 percent from the floor and made 5 of 6 three-pointers, including all four attempts in the first half.
"They started off hitting threes much better than we thought they would," NorthWood coach Steve Neff said. "We did a nice job the first part of the game shutting their offense off, but those threes loosened it up. If they don't knock down those threes, they're in trouble."
Despite all of that, it looked as if NorthWood would blow West Lafayette out of the building early. The Panthers jumped out to a 7-0 lead by making their first three shots, and the Red Devils turned over the ball four times in their first five possessions. Amy Zercher started the game with a three-pointer, and Jamie Gill and LoriDawn Klotz followed up with baskets for the early lead.
But West Lafayette head coach Steve Dietrich never called a timeout. The Red Devils worked out the problems on the floor and answered with a flurry as guard Keaton Brumm scored seven points and hit a three-pointer as the first quarter wound down to give the Red Devils a 12-9 lead after one period.
In the second quarter, West Lafayette continued to extend the lead. Kuleni Gebisa and Joni Woods each nailed three-pointers, Rachael Anderson scored three points, and Brumm dished out three assists as the Red Devils took a 23-16 advantage into the halftime break.
West Lafayette held NorthWood to just 16 shot attempts in the first half as Natalie Will, the Panthers' second-leading scorer, didn't get one attempt in the first 16 minutes. Zercher, NorthWood's leading scorer, had just the three-pointer to start the game to account for her scoring.
"I thought our two guards (Will and Zercher) played a little tentative (in the first half)," Neff said. "They did a much better job in the second half."
In the third period, NorthWood made some adjustments and began to press West Lafayette to try to pick up the tempo.
"We regrouped and put a little heat on," Neff said. "We got ahead by one point a couple of times."
In the full-court game, Will and Zercher thrived. The two combined for 11 points in the period as the Panthers outscored West Lafayette 15-7 to take a one-point lead into the final eight minutes of action.
But in the fourth quarter, NorthWood went the first 7:32 without scoring, including five misses from the free-throw line as West Lafayette took a 37-31 lead. By the time the Panthers finally got on the scoring board with 28 seconds to play in the game, it was too much to come back from, even though West Lafayette missed the front end of 1-and-1 free throws twice.
Zercher was the only NorthWood player to score in double figures with 10 points. Klotz ended up making just 2 of 12 shots and scoring six points.
Brumm scored 16 points for West Lafayette to lead all scorers. Lello Gebisa, the Red Devils' 6-foot-5 center who scored 14 points in the opening game against Lebanon, had just two points against the Panthers as NorthWood kept the lane clogged and held her from getting any good shots.
"We didn't shoot blazing, and we didn't shoot free throws well," Neff said. "A few costly turnovers, and that's all it takes. I'm proud of the girls. Our seniors gave us a tremendous record these last three years. It's been a pleasure to work with them."
NorthWood got to the championship game by shaking off a pesky Carroll team 49-36.
The Panthers led by eight at the half and extended that lead to 11 points after three quarters at 27-16. But cold NorthWood shooting helped keep Carroll in the game and the Chargers got as close as four points in the fourth quarter.
But in this game, NorthWood made free throws as Zercher hit on 9 of 10 from the charity stripe to run away with the game.
Zercher led the Panthers with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Will added 15 points.
"Who cares if you score 60 or 100 points," Neff said after the first game. "We get to come back tonight bottom line."
NorthWood ends the season with a record of 23-2 and a Class 3A No. 2 ranking. West Lafayette, ranked No. 5, will play for the state championship on Saturday with a record of 22-4. [[In-content Ad]]