NORRISTOWN – The Lady Knights approached Wednesday night’s game knowing what it would take to win: toughness. Squaring off against a strong Downingtown West team, the girls went into the game “real nervous, but real pumped” said sophomore Vicky Tumasz. The Lady Knights faced the Whippets earlier this season, a game they would like to forget.

 “We basically got killed the first time we played them. But we’re a different team than last time” said Tumasz. She was right; this time around, North Penn came out on top, earning a 35-31 victory and a spot in the District final.

Downingtown got off to a strong start, taking an early lead on the Lady Knights and controlling the game. North Penn junior Lauren Crisler combatted this trend by putting the team on her back and scoring the team’s first 8 points, to keep the game level.

Once the second quarter rolled around, the momentum shift was noticeable. The Lady Knights came out hot, with sharp passes and tight defense. By halftime, North Penn was up 18-15, and they did not look back from there. The lead was not relinquished, as North Penn took one step closer to a district title.

Crisler and senior Steph Knauer led the way throughout the first half, using their height and toughness to dominate the rebounds and block shots. On the offensive side, Knauer paced the Lady Knights with 16 points, from draining her foul-shots to even knocking down a three-pointer. Crisler added 10 points. North Penn also saw key three-pointers from its two sophomore sharpshooters, Vicky Tumasz and Erin Maher.

One notable strength of West’s that the Lady Knights did well to overcome was the prolific scoring of Brittany Sicinski, the sixth-highest scorer in Southeastern Pennsylvania. She was not easy to deal with for North Penn

 “She was real aggressive, we really had to stay in the paint and help each other out with covering her” said Tumasz. While Sicinski did manage to put up 22 of her team’s 31 points, the Lady Knights did not let her win the game.

While the rowdy student section celebrated wildly on the court, the Lady Knights remained composed.  In typical fashion, they aren’t dwelling on the win.

“We’re definitely happy having won; we’re pumped. But now we’re only thinking about Friday” said senior Emily Hagan. “We’re gonna try to win the first District championship for North Penn girls’ basketball in 20 years.”

 North Penn will face number one-seeded Spring-Ford on Friday.

 The Lady Knights, a nine-seed, are not too worried about the difference in ranking; after all, they have knocked off three higher-ranked teams in the last three games. Still, Spring-Ford is a daunting challenge. “They are the number one team in the state; that does say something. We’ve watched them play, they’re really aggressive” said Tumasz. “We’re going to have to try to contain them, make good decisions, and step to the ball. It will be a tough game but we’re ready”.

The Lady Knights tip off against Spring-Ford at 7 PM at Villanova University.