SENIOR NIGHT WIN FOR LADY INDIANS

By Kevin Phillips

NORTH EAST-North East honored seniors Saylor Bare, Tess Keatley and Summer Mencer for Senior Night before taking on visiting Joppatowne in UCBAC Susquehanna Division girls’ basketball action Thursday night.

The Indians gave their seniors one more memory as they held off a late-game charge from the Mariners to earn a 47-44 victory in an evenly-played game.

“It feels great. You don’t want to get a loss,” Bare, who scored eight points, said laughing. “It will be good when I think about my Senior Night that we got the win.”

“It’s awesome. We’ve been preaching to these girls about commitment and building the program, and they have been playing hard for years,” North East head coach Matt Haack added.

“To see them come out tonight and hold on to that big win, it just means the world.

I’m very, very happy for my seniors tonight.”

After a back-and-forth first half, the Indians trailed Joppatowne by two points at 20-18 at halftime, and the game continued to trend that way as the score was tied at 28-28 midway through the third quarter.

From that point until midway through the fourth quarter, North East went on a 16-5 run that increased their lead to 44-33, and Reagan Hassell paced the surge with six points.

One of the main reasons why the Indians were able to go on the game deciding run was that their defense ratcheted up the pressure, forcing turnovers and creating points in the transition and in the half-court set.

“We got more aggressive on defense. The girls forced the issue by pressuring the guards and started jumping in the passing lanes, and we were able to extend that lead a little bit and get that momentum in our corner,” Haack said. “The crowd was awesome and did a great job supporting our girls.”

The Mariners responded with a 11-3 run for the remainder of the game as they even cut the North East lead to two points in the final minute, but Jasmine Chrystal made it a three-point game at 47-44 when she made one of two free throws with less than 10 seconds remaining.

Joppatowne had one last chance to tie the game in the waning seconds, but its desperation three point shot hit the backboard, allowing the Indians to hold onto a senior night victory.

“They have been working hard all year. They have been cheering everyone on, and I’m so glad they got this win,” Hassell, who had ten points, said. “They deserve it.”

In addition to Hassell’s 10 points, North East got 10 points from both Alaina Foran and Katy Hammer, and that balance was a result of the Indians moving the ball around.

“We did a good job moving the ball around. We had a lot of turnovers, and in the times we were patient, we did a good job of getting some outside shots and dumping it in the post a little bit, trying to get to the rim,” Haack said. “Getting the passing going and spreading out a little bit was critical for us to try to build a little bit of a lead.”

The Mariners got a gamehigh 23 points from Samiah Head.

Indians fall to Bobcats in 65-48 loss

continued from A-1 made one of two free throws, the Bobcats took control of the game as they went on a 21-4 run for the rest of the quarter to build a 50-33 lead.

North East cut their deficit to 12 points midway through the fourth quarter on a Luke Keefer three-pointer, but Bel Air responded with seven unanswered points to put the game away.

Keefer scored 15, James Traynham scored 14 and

Jebez Griffin scored 10 for the Indians, and Grimes said North East will need to continue fighting like they did against the Bobcats as the season progresses.

“Be resilient. Face adversity and know every call is not going to go your way,” Grimes said. “If you want to survive as the season goes on and get into the playoffs, you’re going to have to battle and stay resilient.”

Bel Air’s Trey Dennis had a game-high 24 points.

Tome Titans hard work shows in 69-36 defeat of MIL Rival, Providence Griffins

By Karina Serio

NORTH EAST - More than once this year the Tome School followed up a solid first half performance by coming out flat in the second half. That wasn’t the case last Tuesday as the Titans built on a 15-point halftime lead and kept extending en route to a 69-36 win against Providence Christian at home.

The victory left Tome Head Coach Doe Gold feeling as if all the hard work was starting to materialize on the court. “It's too early to tell if things are starting to click for us. They still gotta play with some more heart and some more intensity,” said Gold. “They are starting to see the style of basketball I want. It has to be consistent, they have to stay consistent, they have to grind it out, they have to stick to the program, they have to stick to the script. I want to see fewer mental errors. I can understand if a team plays good defense and they get a steal, but just to throw the ball to the other team that's not good.”

While Senior Warren Hersh’s 15 points and Junior Nolan Peel’s 13 led the Titans, it was the double digit performance of freshmen Spencer Cain and Herald Beljour that left Gold thinking about the future.

My freshmen aren't doing too bad. I'm really excited about the big man in the guard [Cain] and I'm really excited for them to be here for the next four years. It's gonna be fun to watch,” said Gold. “Spencer could arguably be the best person in this league, easily. He can do it all, shoot jump shots and go to the hole. He just has to play with heart and confidence.” continued from

For Providence Kai Jackson drained 14 points and Bryce Unruh added eight.

The production out of his underclassman left Tome Coach Jermaine Palmer in an upbeat mood after the win. “Tonight's game was a lot of practice that we got in. We executed our plays and we just wanted to beat tristate,” said Palmer. “It means they are learning and that the proces im doing here at Tome is working. The girls are committed to the team and we just keep fighting for everything we get.”

Jules Harris and Etta Harris led Tristate with five points each.