PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL: Northridge surges past Penn; Warsaw ousts Concord

Jan. 31—DUNLAP — After six long years, the Northridge girls basketball team has finally achieved some postseason success.

The Raiders knocked off Penn, 59-52, in a quarterfinal game of the Class 4A, Sectional 4 tournament Tuesday at Concord High School. It snapped a six-game postseason losing skid for the program, giving them their first playoff victory since winning a Class 4A regional championship over Merrillville in 2017.

"You got to get lucky along the way; some of those years, we weren't healthy," said Northridge coach Doug Springer of the postseason losing skid. "But, that's in the past. This is this team. We're healthy right now."

Northridge (20-5) will play Goshen (12-10) in the first Sectional 4 semifinal Friday at 6 p.m. back at Concord. The second semifinal contest will feature Warsaw (18-5) against Elkhart (13-9).

Warsaw also won a quarterfinal game Tuesday, beating the host Minutemen, 61-21. Goshen and Elkhart drew byes into the semifinals.

GAME 1: NORTHRIDGE 59, PENN 52

After losing to Penn in the sectional quarterfinals of both the 2020 and 2022 seasons, the Raiders were able to exorcise their playoff demons against the Kingsmen.

It was an entertaining game from start to finish between two of the better teams in the area. Penn (16-7) led for the first five minutes, going up by as many as five at 10-5. Northridge would counter with a 10-0 run from there, taking the lead on an old-fashioned three-point play from junior Gaby Gates. The lead then stretched to five on a traditional '3' from sophomore Rielyn Goodwin.

Penn wouldn't go away, though, clawing back to make it just a 17-15 Raider lead after the first quarter.

The second frame was a back-and-forth affair, with a total of five lead changes occurring over the eight-minute span. The last came when Kingsman senior Julia Economou made a shot to spur a quick 6-2 run to end the first half, putting Penn ahead, 29-25, at halftime.

A '3' from Penn junior Lauren Walsh put her team up, 35-29, with 5:33 remaining in the third period. The entire game changed in Northridge's favor 11 seconds later, as senior Savannah Boerema canned a three-point shot — and was fouled while doing it. She sank the ensuing free throw, cutting the Raider deficit from six to two.

"The four-point play by Savannah Boerema really ignited us and gave us life," Springer said.

After a Kingsmen missed shot, Northridge took the lead for good when senior Eva Fisher drilled a corner '3' off a pass from junior Morgan Cross, putting the Raiders up, 36-35, with 4:54 to go in the third.

The three-point make also put Fisher past the 1,000 career point mark, making her just the third player in program history to reach that milestone (2019 alum Morgan Litwiller at 1,254 points and 2018 alum Brooke McKinley at 1,159 points).

Fisher finished with eight points total in the game, bringing her career total to 1,004 heading into Friday's sectional semifinals.

"A special, special accomplishment for her," said Springer of Fisher. "That says an awful lot about her, especially when you look at the fact that she didn't score a lot as a freshman and then missed a couple of games this year due to health protocols. It's a great tribute to her."

The run didn't stop after Fisher's '3', as Cross then scored five more points to make it a 12-0 spurt overall for Northridge, forcing a Penn timeout.

Cross finished with a team-high 17 points, 11 of which came in the third quarter and six in the fourth.

"A 5-foot-6 kid put us on her back," said Springer of Cross. "She, literally, put us on her back. She was pretty unstoppable at times."

A 24-10 overall advantage in the third quarter gave Northridge a 49-39 lead going into the fourth.

The Raiders iced the game away in the final three minutes from the free throw line, scoring eight of their 10 fourth-quarter points from the charity stripe.

Complimenting Cross's 17 points and Fisher's eight was 10 points from Gates, eight from Goodwin, seven from junior Sabrina Miller, six from Boerema and three from sophomore Ella Mohamed.

"This was pretty much everyone's first sectional game, other than Eva and Savannah, but not for us," Springer said. "Everybody else came in a little bit last year when we were in foul trouble, but nobody had played extended minutes. For them to come in and do what they did ... I'm just really proud of them. We're going to enjoy this (Tuesday) and then start preparing for Goshen (Wednesday)."

GAME 2: WARSAW 61, CONCORD 21

It was a tough ending to a challenging season for the Minutemen, who close the year with a 5-18 record.

Warsaw scored the first 19 points of Tuesday night's game, including four '3's' from freshman Brooke Zartman that helped her set the single-season program record for most three's in a season. Zartman finished the game with 22 points, all of which came in the first half.

The Tigers led, 26-5, after the first quarter and 43-9 at halftime.

Concord came out and played hard to start the third quarter, going on a 6-0 run while forcing Warsaw to miss their first 12 shots of the half. The Tigers then closed the frame on a 7-0 surge, though, to induce the running clock rule for the fourth quarter.

"We didn't give up, and that's what we ask of the girls," Concord coach Cassie Cepeda said. "Hats off to Warsaw: they're a great team; (Warsaw coach) Lenny (Krebs) has done a great job over there. I'm just really proud of our girls' effort to compete until the final horn."

Sophomore Hayden Casey led Concord's offense with six points while senior Ashlyn Fish netted five, the only two Minutemen players to reach that scoring threshold.

Four seniors graduate for Concord, all of which started Tuesday: Fish, Riley Ragland, Lauren Smith and Kendal Taylor.

"A lot of times, it's bigger than basketball," said Cepeda of the senior group. "You build relationships with them, so its tough to say goodbye."

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.