SOUDERTON- What a difference a year makes.  After being blown out by the Indians twice last season, the Knights won both of their games this regular season against their crosstown rivals.

“It’s great, especially after last year where we struggled and there were times where we didn’t get the wins.  It’s real nice to be able to do that because they are a rivalry for us,” Head Coach Jen Carangi said.

The North Penn Knights (9-4) beat the Souderton Indians (9-5) 37-34 in the first game of a double-header at Souderton Area High School.

On the opening possession of the game, Alaina Mullaly made a three to give the Knights a 3-0 lead.  Both teams went back and forth with lead exchanges throughout the first quarter but at the end, the score was 12-9.  Then Souderton kept North Penn an arm’s distance away as North Penn kept up but never took the lead in the 2nd quarter.  The Indians maintained their three point lead heading into halftime, 21-18.

Eventually the Knights did retake the lead as with 3:56 left in the 3rd quarter, Val McGriff made a layup to tie the game at 25.  She then knocked down her free throw after being fouled to give the Knights a 26-25 lead.  Jordan Zimmerman then hit a three to give the Indians a 28-26 advantage over the Knights.  Carley Adams made the last bucket of the quarter to send the game to the final quarter, all tied at 28.

With 7:10 left in the game, Alli Lindsay made a three to give the Knights a 31-28 lead.  The Indians went scoreless for the first 5 minutes and 29 seconds of the 4th quarter, as Olivia Schneider made a free throw with 2:11 left in the game.  A bucket from Mikaela Reese got the score back to one with about 12 seconds left in the game.  With 1.8 seconds left in the game, Alli Lindsay stepped to the foul line and made a free throw to extend the Knights lead to 37-34 for the win.

“I knew that at the end, that we needed these free throws to seal the deal.  My team was in my mind, my coach, we wanted to win this game.  We had a rough game against Pennridge [Tuesday] that we thought was going to be better.  So, I thought we needed this win to get us back on track.  This is halfway through our year, so if we got this win, it would hopefully help us in the future and get us all prepared for bigger games,” Lindsay said.

The Knights will play Saturday at noon against Gloucester Catholic.

“We got a big one on Saturday against Gloucester Catholic.  They have some kids who are major D1 recruits, so we’re gonna keep doing what we do and hope it pays off on Saturday,” Coach Carangi said.

Souderton: Schneider 4 pts, Fenchel 5 pts, Harter 6 pts, Alderfer 6 pts, Reese 6 pts, Zimmerman 7 pts

North Penn: Doran 2 pts, Plaza 2 pts, Dunn 4 pts, Lindsay 6 pts, Adams 6 pts, McGriff 7 pts, Mullaly 10 pts