NorthWood Basketball: Panthers Down Riley
NAPPANEE – The NorthWood girls basketball team started strong to post a season-opening win Thursday night.
The host Panthers controlled the game from the start to top South Bend Riley 58-36.
NorthWood led 13-4 after the first quarter and 30-14 at halftime in the season opener for both teams.
Junior Mackenzie Bergman led the way for coach Adam Yoder’s team with a team-high 15 points for the winners.
Sophomore Kate Rulli had 13 points and senior Savannah Feenstra added 12 for the Panthers. Rulli also grabbed 10 rebounds to finish with a double double and Feenstra had nine caroms.
Bergman paced the defense with three steals. Junior Neely Trenshaw and sophomore Maddy Payne each dished out six assists for NorthWood, which finished 16-10 last season.
Senior Asia Strong led Riley with a game-high 19 points. The Wildcats finished 8-16 a year ago, the program’s 12th straight losing season.
The NorthWood junior varsity team beat Riley 43-8. Alea Minnich and Brelynn Wise each netted 10 points to pace the winners.
NorthWood plays at Penn Saturday afternoon. The Kingsmen opened their season Thursday night with a 40-25 win over LaPorte. Action Saturday at Penn begins with the JV game at noon.
Riley returns to action with a conference game at Penn on Nov. 10.