TOWAMENCIN-  The squeak of sneakers on hardwood… the familiar buzzer followed by a roar of the crowd… They are the sounds of high school hoops season, and North Penn High School got set to usher in that winter sports campaign on Wednesday evening in the gym where this year’s hoops squads hope to hear plenty of those roaring crowds.

This year’s Second Annual Knight Madness event at North Penn pumped up the girls and boys basketball teams for their upcoming seasons, as players on both teams are set to tip off on Friday night.

“It’s a really fun way to get people out to support both girls and boys basketball”, said Lady Knights’ senior Captain Mikaela Giuliani. Both teams came out to hype up the crowd as well as each other hoping to get the season rolling off to the right start.
Kicking off this year’s event, boys assistant coach, Mr. Patrick Brett, announced the members of both the girl and boys basketball teams. Following handshakes between members of both teams, the North Penn Girls Dance Team excited the crowd with their jazz style dance. Dancing to a series of mashed up songs, the girls lit up the floor with their fiery dance moves.
Then, it was time to roll out the basketballs for a competitive shoot-off. Each round, two players formed a team, two teammates for both the girls and boys team. The first round was played by principal Mr. Todd Bauer and assistant coach Glenn Westerlund (boys team) who challenged Mrs. Patty Melchior and Mr. Jason Melchior ( girls team). Luckily for the boys team, their volunteers pulled through with the win. In the second round senior Matt Pickford and Junior Derek Heiserman played against Senior Mikaela Giuliani and Junior Irisa Yi. In this round Pickford and Heiserman picked a strategy where points came easy and quick, while Giuliani and Yi took shots from all around the court. Unfortunately for the girls, the boys came out on top again 35-23. In the final round the winner from the first two rounds played each other. Pickford and Heiserman played against first round winners Bauer and Westerlund, and during the 30 seconds Pickford and Heiserman came out on top 24-22.
Following the shoot off, a half court shot took place where members in the audience paid one dollar for a half court shot, and if the half court shot was made they receive season tickets for free. During this activity many kids took shots missing, but senior Kadar Namey took his shot and made it on his first try, receiving the prize of free season tickets.

“I really have to give it up to [Sam] Carangi who taught me everything I know about half court shots,” quipped Namey.
The next event was a three point contest which consisted of three rounds, on five spots of the three point line. Each player received three shots and then moved to the next spot on the line. Each round was played by one member from the girls and boys team. In round one, senior Justin Cueto and junior Jess Huber battled with Huber defeating Cueto 14-6 giving a win to the girls. Round two was played by Senior JJ Melchior, and Junior Sam Carangi; although Carangi came out strong and made her first two in a row, Melchior soon came back making 10 while Carangi only finished the round with 6. After defeating Carangi in the second round JJ felt “no remorse” for creaming Sam.

“I am the best shooter in the world,” Melchior joked after his win. In the Final round Melchior and Huber played head to head to see who could make the most three pointers; while both players made shot after shot it ended in a tie. To break this tie each player got one shot from each of the five spots on the three point line. In the end Melchior came out on with the win over Huber 4-1.
To finish off the night, The boys and girls played each other five on five. While the boys started off tough, jumping out to a 10-4 lead, the Lady Knights came charging back. While the score was close the boys started to joke around trying to dunk and alley-oop, and during the boys fun the girls got serious and pushed passed the boys winning 14-13 off Mia Melchior’s three point shot. This success against the boys to Mia Melchior is a “translation of how we’ll play against other teams.”

In a continuation of the light hearted spirit of the night, J.J. Melchior added, “none of us could shoot due to the size of the girls ball, but I would say the amount of fun we had topped the girls.”

Things will get serious, though, for the Knights and the Lady Knights when the games start for real later this week.
“I can’t wait for this season. We have so much more potential than most people think, and I cant wait to exceed everyone’s expectations”, said Giuliani.  Although the team is a young one, Mia Melchior is not concerned.

“I have no worries at all,” Melchior stated. “All of these girls are very experienced and have played basketball for [almost] their entire life.”
This upcoming season for the boys will be an exciting one to watch,

“it all starts with your teammates,” stated Pickford who is pumped up to play with his team in the season ahead.
Catch both Girls and Boys basketball at North Penn in their doubleheader this Friday, December 4th against Perkiomen Valley at 6:30pm and 8:00pm.