TOWAMENCIN – Fans were given a strong showing by the Lady Knights on Tuesday evening as they hosted the Pennridge Rams in a game that started out as a nail biter, but ended as a rout. The North Penn girls came into the game with a record of 10-1, with their one loss coming against Central Bucks South last Friday. Pennridge arrived with a despairing season record of 1-10. Although these teams have been statistical opposotes, Tuesday night did look competitive early on, but the Lady Knights turned on the defense in the second half on the way to routing the Rams 78-44.

The first three minutes of the first quarter were a blur of passes, turnovers, and the exchange of points. Pennridge quickly found themselves with a 9-5 advantage over North Penn. Both teams were playing very well implementing efficient and aggressive executions on both sides of the ball. North Penn’s Lauren Crisler went to the foul line three times alone in the first quarter.

The Maidens began to slowly pull away from the Rams however. Junior Vicky Tumasz had a couple of key three pointers to give North Penn the lead, thanks to the skilled passing from teammates Jen Halcovage and Erin Maher. The Rams continued to fight though, aggressively creating turnovers and continuously answering North Penn, The Lady Knights took a 32-23 lead into the half.

Coming out of the half, North Penn immediately went on a tear, scoring three straight baskets on breakaways and turnovers forcing the Rams to call a timeout and reevaluate their second half game strategy. The break in play did not prove to benefit the Rams though, as they had trouble rebounding their own shots  allowing the Maidens to score 29 points in the quarter, almost as many points they had in the first half alone, and enter the  final frame of play with a 61-32 lead.

North Penn was able to remain composed, and ended the night with a basket by Laura Kane that consumed the final seconds of the game which game .

“We didn’t play that well in the first half,” Said senior Jen Halcovage after the game. “Just defense, communication- we weren’t talking that much to each other. In the second half we fixed out defense which really helped us.”

Halcovage and her team look forward to improving as they push for the post season over the next couple games. “I think we can play a lot better coming off of our loss last weekend. We have to start following instructions and get things back together. We have a lot of talent and we can be better.”

The Lady Knights next travel to CB East for a Thursday night contest.