TOWAMENCIN-The North Penn Lady Knights (1-0) tipped off the 2012-2013 season with a 58 to 46 defeat of Perkiomen Valley (0-1) in the Tip-Off Tournament Friday night. Senior Lauren Crisler led the Lady Knights in scoring with a game-high of 22 points.
While any victory is a good victory, the Lady Knights looked sluggish in their season opener and lacked the precision. According to head coach Maggie deMarteliere, “our decision making wasn’t very good, we didn’t see the floor very well, and it was difficult to see the floor because they are very big up front.”
Indeed it took a while for the Lady Knights to figure out the Perkiomen zone as North Penn held a slight lead of 6-2 after the first quarter. “I think we had some nerves and some kids missed some open people,” continued Coach deMarteliere.
With Captain Erin Maher out with a knee injury for the Lady Knight’s first game, the team was without a very versatile and well rounded player.
“It was either the first two or three minutes of the game, we were kind of just passing the ball around,” Crisler said. “It was 0-0 for a while in the first quarter. Just then I knew if I wasn’t going to be scoring off jumpers, I was going to have to get a lot of offensive rebounds, stuff like that.”
The Lady Knights played better in the second half controlling the boards with senior Jenn Halcovage and freshman Mikaela Giuliani putting up some numbers for the Lady Knights. However, free throws proved to be the savior for the team with the Lady Knights going 27 for 34 from the line.
The Lady Knights look to playing a more consistent game as they continue to the next round of the Tip-Off Tournament.
Box Score:
North Penn 58, Perkiomen Valley 46
Perkiomen Valley 1 12 11 22 — 46
North Penn: 6 16 16 20 — 58
Perkiomen Valley: Mikaela Guiton 8 3-3 19 Katherine Armstrong 2 4-6 8Kelly O’Brien 2 2-4 6 Katherine Leahy 1 2-2 4 Kelsey Giese 1 1-4 3 Lauren Leonard 1 0-1 2 Haley Streeper 1 0-0 2 Victoria Walter 1 0-0 2 Ana Bruni 0 0-2 0 Totals 17 12-22 46.
North Penn: Lauren Crisler 7 8-12 22 Mikaela Giuliani 4 8-10 16 Sierra Simon 2 2-2 7 Jenn Halcovage 0 4-4 4 Jackie Bilotti 0 3-4 3 Tehya Daneker 1 0-0 2 Vicky Tumasz 0 2-2 2 Leiana Dean 1 0-0 2 Totals 10 27-34 58.
Three-pointers: NP-Simon