Revenge, Title For NorthWood
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
NAPPANEE - It took just 22 seconds for things to go sour for Lakeland Saturday in the girls basketball sectional championship against NorthWood. That's precisely how long it took for star forward Brooke Crawford to pick up her first foul of the game.
Crawford, who fouled out of each of Lakeland's first two sectional games, ended up fouling out of this game with nine seconds to play in the third quarter, and NorthWood went on to rout the Lakers 59-39 to claim the Panthers' 11th consecutive sectional championship and 15th title in 20 years.
For NorthWood, much of the defensive game plan was centered around stopping Crawford as Tiffany Glingle and LoriDawn Klotz frustrated her all night and kept her from scoring with reckless abandon as she has so many times this year. Crawford finished with just 12 points on 5 of 12 shooting and two rebounds.
"Obviously, our gameplan was on Crawford and on Fry," NorthWood coach Steve Neff said. "LoriDawn started on Crawford, and then Tiff came in and she really put her heart out there. (Crawford) couldn't breathe without seeing Tiff out there."
That's not to say Crawford didn't do everything in her power to keep the Lakers close.
After Amy Zercher made both free throws from that first foul, Crawford answered on the ensuing possession with a three-pointer to put Lakeland ahead 3-2. The Panthers came back with two baskets, but Crawford once again came to the rescue with another bomb to knot the score at 6-6.
Just 12 seconds later, Crawford picked up foul No. 2, but Lakeland head coach Sherry Severson elected to keep her in the game knowing that NorthWood could easily run away from her Lakers with Crawford on the bench.
Sure enough, Crawford gave Lakeland an 8-6 lead on a jumper, but then things turned bad for the Lakers.
Zercher made two free throws with 15 seconds left in the quarter and then the Panthers stole the inbounds pass and Klotz scored on a lay-up with two seconds left to give NorthWood a 10-8 lead after one quarter.
Lakeland quickly tied the score in the second quarter on a basket by Amy Van Derbeck. However, NorthWood scored the next 11 points and held Lakeland scoreless for more than five minutes to take a commanding 21-10 lead. Just as importantly, during that span Crawford picked up her third foul and was sent to the bench for the rest of the half.
"Her third foul was set up exactly for her, and she bit," Neff said. "We got the ball to Natalie on the base. She drove baseline, and we knew that Crawford would not hold up. She obliged."
The Panthers got points from six different players in that span and forced Lakeland into turnover after turnover. When the dust settled at halftime, NorthWood led 25-13 after forcing 12 second period turnovers.
The third period was fairly even but Lakeland never got closer than 11 points while NorthWood led by as many as 18. Crawford picked up her fourth foul with 3:10 to play, then went to the bench a minute later, seemingly to rest for the fourth. However, Severson reinserted Crawford into the game with 1:07 to play and she fouled out 58 seconds later. That was the beginning of the end.
"We knew that they could play without (Crawford)," Zercher said. "When she went out with that fifth foul, we all got together and said that it's not over yet. We have to keep playing and we did."
In the final eight minutes, Zercher took over by scoring 11 points in 1:39 on two three-pointers, a layup and a three-point play to dash any Lakeland comeback hopes.
"Z took over," Neff said. "I wasn't yellin' at her to shoot it. But I was cheering afterwards and so was everybody else. She knows she's got the green light and when she's feeling it, she's going to let it rip. That just flat opened the game up."
Zercher later admitted that those back-to-back three-pointers with a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter were a bit of payback for the loss Lakeland handed NorthWood earlier in the season.
"That whole game was payback," she said. "We knew it was going to be tough coming in, but we knew that was what was going to steer us - revenge. Lakeland wanted it, but we wanted it more. We went out and showed them who's boss."
Zercher ended with 23 points, seven rebounds and seven steals. Natalie Will added eight points and seven boards, and Jamie Gill scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds for the sectional champs.
"We had everything to lose in this game," Neff said. "They didn't have anything to lose. If (people) look at the paper and see that we beat them, they're going to say, 'Oh yeah, they got 'em.' If we would have lost, it would have been their game of the year. (Our kids) kept their heads the entire game and didn't panic."
NorthWood shot just 36 percent from the field for the game, but Lakeland was even worse. The Lakers mustered just 27 percent along with committing 27 turnovers. Those turnovers, along with a 38-30 NorthWood rebounding edge, accounted for the 19 extra shots that the Panthers got.
"In sectionals, you're just happy to get through," Neff said. "This is the hardest hurdle as far as I'm concerned. Everything after that is gravy."
NorthWood will now host the regional on Saturday against Plymouth. The Panthers and Pilgrims have hooked up often in regional action and this will be another revenge game. This time, though, Plymouth will be looking for revenge after an earlier 58-18 loss.
"Obviously, we know Plymouth pretty well," Neff said. "We've played them in the regional at least four years in a row. Some things never change. Class (basketball) has changed. We play Plymouth in the regional." [[In-content Ad]]
NAPPANEE - It took just 22 seconds for things to go sour for Lakeland Saturday in the girls basketball sectional championship against NorthWood. That's precisely how long it took for star forward Brooke Crawford to pick up her first foul of the game.
Crawford, who fouled out of each of Lakeland's first two sectional games, ended up fouling out of this game with nine seconds to play in the third quarter, and NorthWood went on to rout the Lakers 59-39 to claim the Panthers' 11th consecutive sectional championship and 15th title in 20 years.
For NorthWood, much of the defensive game plan was centered around stopping Crawford as Tiffany Glingle and LoriDawn Klotz frustrated her all night and kept her from scoring with reckless abandon as she has so many times this year. Crawford finished with just 12 points on 5 of 12 shooting and two rebounds.
"Obviously, our gameplan was on Crawford and on Fry," NorthWood coach Steve Neff said. "LoriDawn started on Crawford, and then Tiff came in and she really put her heart out there. (Crawford) couldn't breathe without seeing Tiff out there."
That's not to say Crawford didn't do everything in her power to keep the Lakers close.
After Amy Zercher made both free throws from that first foul, Crawford answered on the ensuing possession with a three-pointer to put Lakeland ahead 3-2. The Panthers came back with two baskets, but Crawford once again came to the rescue with another bomb to knot the score at 6-6.
Just 12 seconds later, Crawford picked up foul No. 2, but Lakeland head coach Sherry Severson elected to keep her in the game knowing that NorthWood could easily run away from her Lakers with Crawford on the bench.
Sure enough, Crawford gave Lakeland an 8-6 lead on a jumper, but then things turned bad for the Lakers.
Zercher made two free throws with 15 seconds left in the quarter and then the Panthers stole the inbounds pass and Klotz scored on a lay-up with two seconds left to give NorthWood a 10-8 lead after one quarter.
Lakeland quickly tied the score in the second quarter on a basket by Amy Van Derbeck. However, NorthWood scored the next 11 points and held Lakeland scoreless for more than five minutes to take a commanding 21-10 lead. Just as importantly, during that span Crawford picked up her third foul and was sent to the bench for the rest of the half.
"Her third foul was set up exactly for her, and she bit," Neff said. "We got the ball to Natalie on the base. She drove baseline, and we knew that Crawford would not hold up. She obliged."
The Panthers got points from six different players in that span and forced Lakeland into turnover after turnover. When the dust settled at halftime, NorthWood led 25-13 after forcing 12 second period turnovers.
The third period was fairly even but Lakeland never got closer than 11 points while NorthWood led by as many as 18. Crawford picked up her fourth foul with 3:10 to play, then went to the bench a minute later, seemingly to rest for the fourth. However, Severson reinserted Crawford into the game with 1:07 to play and she fouled out 58 seconds later. That was the beginning of the end.
"We knew that they could play without (Crawford)," Zercher said. "When she went out with that fifth foul, we all got together and said that it's not over yet. We have to keep playing and we did."
In the final eight minutes, Zercher took over by scoring 11 points in 1:39 on two three-pointers, a layup and a three-point play to dash any Lakeland comeback hopes.
"Z took over," Neff said. "I wasn't yellin' at her to shoot it. But I was cheering afterwards and so was everybody else. She knows she's got the green light and when she's feeling it, she's going to let it rip. That just flat opened the game up."
Zercher later admitted that those back-to-back three-pointers with a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter were a bit of payback for the loss Lakeland handed NorthWood earlier in the season.
"That whole game was payback," she said. "We knew it was going to be tough coming in, but we knew that was what was going to steer us - revenge. Lakeland wanted it, but we wanted it more. We went out and showed them who's boss."
Zercher ended with 23 points, seven rebounds and seven steals. Natalie Will added eight points and seven boards, and Jamie Gill scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds for the sectional champs.
"We had everything to lose in this game," Neff said. "They didn't have anything to lose. If (people) look at the paper and see that we beat them, they're going to say, 'Oh yeah, they got 'em.' If we would have lost, it would have been their game of the year. (Our kids) kept their heads the entire game and didn't panic."
NorthWood shot just 36 percent from the field for the game, but Lakeland was even worse. The Lakers mustered just 27 percent along with committing 27 turnovers. Those turnovers, along with a 38-30 NorthWood rebounding edge, accounted for the 19 extra shots that the Panthers got.
"In sectionals, you're just happy to get through," Neff said. "This is the hardest hurdle as far as I'm concerned. Everything after that is gravy."
NorthWood will now host the regional on Saturday against Plymouth. The Panthers and Pilgrims have hooked up often in regional action and this will be another revenge game. This time, though, Plymouth will be looking for revenge after an earlier 58-18 loss.
"Obviously, we know Plymouth pretty well," Neff said. "We've played them in the regional at least four years in a row. Some things never change. Class (basketball) has changed. We play Plymouth in the regional." [[In-content Ad]]