TOWAMENCIN – In front of a large home crowd, the North Penn Lady Knights basketball team seized a victory from the Indians of Souderton on Friday night. Kicking off the celebration of the retirement of Donald “Doc” Ryan, the Lady Knights fed off the energy and anticipation that filled the building and blanketed their opponents the entirety of the game.

The Knights were led by Junior Mikaela Giuliani with 17 points and sophomore Irise Ye with 12 points. Playing in a full court man press the entire game, the Knights were able to stifle the Indians quicker lineup that features four guards. Utilizing that size advantage, the Lady Knights pounded the ball inside, scoring a high percentage of their points on layups and post ups. They also rebounded the ball on the defensive end very well, led by Giuliani who controlled the paint with her size.

North Penn went on a 9-2 run to start the first quarter, started by a three pointer by sophomore Sam Carangi, and ending with a layup by sophomore Jess Huber off a steal by Ye and a Souderton timeout with 3:48 left in the quarter. The two teams traded baskets until the end of the quarter, 13-7. The Lady Knights continued to take advantage of their size in the second quarter, with Ye leading the pressure defense, forcing steals and converting them into layups or finishing her free throw attempts. However, Souderton was able to get back in the game at the free throw line, pulling North Penn into foul trouble and capitalizing in the one-and-one. The half ended with the Lady Knights clinging to a six point lead, 26-20.

Coach Maggie deMarteliere liked the pressure her team played with, pointing to their post play as a strength.

“I thought our pressure in the first half was pretty effective. I thought when we got the ball inside, our offense was very effective.

The Knights came out of the half looking sluggish, and their offense looked stagnate, relying too heavily on their post play. Souderton was able to force turnovers because of North Penn’s predictability, and then came alive on the offensive end, specifically with their three point shooting. Despite three made threes, the Knights pressure held strong through the end of the quarter, and they were able to push the ball in transition, led by senior guard Taylor Thames, and get second chance points off on the offensive glass, led by Giuliani.  Closing out the quarter with a 40-31 lead, the Knights finished off the game at the line. Souderton tried to make one final run, hitting three consecutive three pointers, but the Knights defense proved too strong, and the game ended with a score of 55-42 and a North Penn victory.

The play that the Lady Knights exhibited was the kind of toughness that would help to propel them to victory throughout the rest of their season, but Coach deMarteleire knows that her team will have to play a little more controlled moving forward.

“Forcing turnovers is very important for our team, but unfortunately we ran into foul trouble tonight,” said deMarteleire. “But our prospects moving forward for the season are good.”

With this win the Lady Knights improved to 8-3, 4-2 in conference, and they look to build on their win when they face Hatboro-Horsham at home on January 13.