TOWAMENCIN – The North Penn Lady Knights put on a dominant display against the Quakertown Panthers Friday night, winning the conference matchup by a score of 72-39. Honoring Senior captain Taylor Thames, the Lady Knights were able to move into second place in their conference with the win. Leading the way for the Knights was sophomore Sam Carangi with 20 points, while freshman Bri Hewlett had 11 points and sophomore Irisa Ye had 10 points.

Defensive energy and pressure became the game plan for the Knights from the opening tip. Coming out in a full court trap, Ye scored the first points of the game off of a trap with Carangi, and the game was under way. The Lady knights went on a furious run the entirety of the first quarter, propelled by Carangi’s 11 points and three three-point shots in the period. While they picked up seven fouls, the Lady Knights aggressive play resulted in a 25 point lead, ending the quarter up 27 -5.

The second quarter started out very similarly, with North Penn going on a 13-3 run, capped by a Hewlett layup at 4:32. The defensive pressure keyed that run, and coach Maggie deMarteleire recognized the importance of strong, aggressive team defense when speaking of the win.

Defensively I thought we came out and really scrapped,” said deMarteleire. “ I thought our trapping tonight was better than it was Tuesday night.”

The two teams traded baskets the rest of the quarter, but two layups by Junior Mikaela Giuliani and a three pointer by Carangi, fed by Giuliani on a beautiful cross court pass, extended the Lady Knights lead to end the half, up 55-21.

It became a tale of two halves, however, for North Penn, as the Lady Knights came out sluggish to say the least. After scoring 55 points in the first half alone, the Knights only scored 17 in the second half, with only five in the fourth quarter. These types of slow finishes have started to become a theme for the Knights as lately as well, as their offense seems to stagnate. Coach deMarteleire showed concerned with her teams breakdowns of late, but expressed optimism in her team moving forward.

“Obviously, I need to do a better job with my halftime talks or something, because this is the fourth game in a row that we have come out at the half and not played that well. We need to come out and take care of the ball,” said deMarteleire. “We do so much right, and then we turn around and give it back. But I thought our trapping tonight was better than it was Tuesday night, and we just have to play better half court offense.”

Despite slowing, North Penn pushed ahead, only allowing Quakertown to score 18 second half points. While slowed by fouls, which leaned lopsidedly 17-9 in favor of Quakertown, the Lady Knights’ defensive pressure was still solid, and they were able to secure the blowout, finishing the game with a score of 72-39.

The Lady Knights will be closing out the season with four conference games in the coming weeks, and with a record now of 13-4 overall, 8-2 in conference, North Penn is finishing out the season the right way, hoping to carry their momentum into the postseason.

“I think we are in pretty good position,” said deMarteleire. “We have good, balanced scoring and unselfish team play.”

The Lady Knights will look to continue their momentum this Sunday, January 25th, against Episcopal Academy.