DOYLESTOWN- In a conference match-up between North Penn (10-2) and Central Bucks West (9-3), the Knights came out on top winning 59-40, but that wasn’t the only good news for North Penn. Going into the game, senior Sam Carangi was only 9 points away from reaching a career milestone: one-thousand points. In what may have been the hardest 9 points she has ever had to make, Carangi let everyone wait on the edge of the bleachers as she took nearly the whole game to hit the magic number.

In the first quarter, North Penn set the tone by putting up a lead of 18-7.  With 9 more points looming over Carangi’s head, she did not rack up any in the first half, but she didn’t need to. Senior Jess Huber and junior Bri Hewlett were both big assets to the Knights’ early lead that gave them the momentum for the rest of the game.

“I think we really came ready to play. CB West is a great team. They were first in the conference, so we knew this was a big win we needed,” said Carangi.

The second quarter was back and forth between the Knights and the Bucks, each team answering the other on the scoreboard, but the Knights maintained a solid 25-18 lead going into the second half. Of the Knights’ 25 points, Carangi contributed 2, leaving 7 more points to the second half.

“We had a really great start, but we did in our last [loss] too, because we let them come back in the second half. This time we didn’t want a rerun of that, so we stayed focused the whole time,” said Carangi.

As Carangi mentioned, the Knights wasted no time in the third quarter and quickly increased their lead 44-27. Carangi earned four points in the third quarter, which left her with the last eight minutes to earn her last three.

In the final quarter, the Knights still had an impressive lead, but Carangi had three more points to go, and the clock kept ticking. While the Bucks did have a strong defensive effort on Carangi, she thinks it was her nerves that were making the last three points so difficult.

“I never airball, and I airballed three times today,” Carangi laughed. “It really does get in your head, but I tried my best to let it not bother me.”

Carangi was able to put a rebound back up into the net, leaving her with one single point until she hit 1,000. With under two minutes left in the game, a foul sent her to the line for two foul shots, but she only needed one. Shooting in front of a crowd, half of distracting Bucks fans and half of her supportive little cousins, Carangi missed her first.

After refocusing herself on a shot that she has made a hundred times before, Carangi began her second attempt. After the ball left her hands, the next thing it touched was the net, and her team stormed the court.

After Carangi managed to get out of a giant team hug that surrounded her, she hugged her coaches and was congratulated by her family who came onto the court with a poster, balloons, and flowers.

“I always looked up to players who hit 1,000 when I was little, so to be like them now is a really good feeling,” said Carangi.

After the celebration, the game resumed, but the Knights’ lead ensured them the win.

“I was happy [Carangi] made her second shot and got her thousand points tonight. Everyone played well, everyone contributed tonight, and it was a great team win,” said Head Coach DeMarteleire.

SCORING

NP 18 25 44 59

Jess Huber (24), Bri Hewlett (15), Sam Carangi (9), Jess McKenzie (4), Irisa Ye (4), Jenny Hulmes (3)

CBW 7 18 27 40

Maggie Rakowsky (17), Diane Nicholson (6), Tori Abelson (6), Maddie Burke (5), Izzy Treon (3), Kelly Atkinson (2), Abbey Spratt (1)

For more of Anissa Garidzy’s coverage of Carangi’s 1000th point milestone, check out her video on NPTV here: