TOWAMENCIN- The second quarter made it look like the Knights and Rams were going to have to battle in a back and forth and game.  But the Knights came out of the half with more motivation and energy to outscore the Rams 29-20 in the second half.

The North Penn Knights (6-6) beat the Pennridge Rams (7-7) 56-46 thanks to high quality utilization of the 2-3 zone and 4 players scoring double digits in an all-around well performance from the Knights.

“We’re getting into the second half of our season now and we’ve seen all these teams before so it’s really important for us to determine how we’re gonna play.  For a lot of our early games, we let the other team dictate the tempo and how the game was going to be played and I think now we really have to pick it up because we have some ground we have to cover and we have to make up to get to playoffs.,” Head Coach Jen Carangi said.

Junior Carley Adams got the ball rolling with a steal and layup on the other end, and gave North Penn the early 2-0 advantage.  Pennridge’s Julia Kreider went 2/2 at the free throw line and gave the Rams a 6-5 lead with 4:24 left in the quarter.  Senior Alayna Faison assisted to sophomore Rachel Dunn to tie the game and then Dunn made a jump shot to give North Penn the lead.  The Rams tied it up again, but it didn’t last long after junior Alaina Mullaly gave a spot-on assist to Adams off the bounce pass.  The Knights had a 16-10 lead at the end of the quarter.

The Rams tied the game at 16 with 6:03 left in the 2^nd quarter off a jump shot from Evelyn Loughery.  She also gave the Rams the lead with a layup as the Rams had the 18-16 advantage.  Adams made a three-pointer to get the lead back for the Knights but once again Loughery gave the lead right back to the Rams.  Sophomore Alli Lindsay made a three to tie the game at 24 and then with 48 seconds left, Dunn made a three as the Knights took a 27-26 lead at halftime.  Coach Carangi noticed the Knights starting to get sloppy and addressed in the halftime speech.

“She basically told us we know what kind of team we are and we can play better than we were.  And then we came out with the energy.  Just wanted to do it for us, do it for her, and do it for our whole team,” Adams said.

The halftime adjustments worked well as the Knights came out of the locker room ready to put away the game fast. Especially Mullaly, who scored 7 points just in the third quarter, including North Penn’s first 5 points in the 3^rd quarter, after only one point in the first half.

“I knew going into halftime, I wasn’t happy with my scoring ability because I left in the first half with only one point and I knew it was a close game.  Somebody had to step up, start scoring, and I think as soon as I hit my couple shots, everyone else followed and that’s where the team came in and people made big plays after each other and I think it was really important everybody else kept following,” Mullaly said.

The Knights took a 41-31 lead into the final quarter after Dunn went 2/2 at the free throw line to close the 3^rd.  The Knights put the finishing touch on the game after a Hail Mary inbound pass from Mullaly to Adams and the Knights came out with the 10-point win.

The Knights will be back in action at Souderton on Thursday for a matchup with the Indians.

“Just get ready.  We play Souderton, they’re in first place, they’re good, they’re at this point I think still undefeated so we just gotta get ready to play,” Coach Carangi said.

North Penn: Adams 14 pts, Dunn 12 pts, Mullaly 10 pts, McGriff 10 pts, Doran 5 pts, Lindsay 4 pts, Sharkey 1 pt

Pennridge: Kreider 12 pts, Loughery 12 pts, Cramer 12 pts, Mart 8 pts, Muredda 2 pts