Great shooting propelled Mount Gilead to a 62-50 win over visiting Northmor Saturday afternoon.
The Indians got six three-pointers from Holly Gompf and three more from Dakota Shipman in lighting up the nets in the contest. Head coach Ryan Stover felt the efforts of those two girls, as well as Maddie Fitzpatrick, were key to his team’s win.
“I feel Holly, Dakota and Maddie stepped up today,” he said. “They made sure everyone was in the right spots and that we had good movement. Our ball movement was the real key. We were able to go inside-out and help Holly get some of her threes.”
After the two teams battled to a 6-6 tie over the opening minutes, MG got two free throws from Zoie Barron and baskets by both Fitzpatrick and Gompf to take a 12-6 lead. While the Golden Knights were able to get three-pointers from both Addie Farley and Reagan Swihart down the stretch in the quarter, they still trailed 17-12 after eight minutes as Gompf drained a three-pointer to barely beat the buzzer.
Fitzpatrick opened the second quarter with a pair of baskets. After Lexi Winger scored from the field for Northmor, the Indians got a free throw from Samantha Sullivan followed by a basket by Shipman and a three-pointer by Gompf to lead 27-14.
Farley would hit two three-pointers and a two-point shot and Macy Miracle added a put-back to bring the Golden Knights within a 30-24 score, but Fitzpatrick gave MG a buzzer-beating shot for the second straight quarter to send the Indians into the half up by eight.
“Just a lack of focus,” said Northmor coach Freddie Beachy of his team giving up buzzer-beaters in consecutive quarters. “We forget where their shooters are at — that’s our biggest problem.”
Four points by Julianna Ditullio helped keep the Golden Knights within a 36-30 margin in the opening moments of the third, but MG was able to get three three-pointers by Shipman in the period, as well as one by Gompf, to open up a 51-37 lead by the end of the period.
Beachy noted that teams have had a lot of recent success from deep against his squad — something that mystifies him.
“Seems like that’s the going thing now,” he said. “Everybody makes threes when they put it up. We’re in their face and it’s going in. I don’t get it.”
After a basket and free throw by Shipman and a three-pointer by Gompf boosted the Indian lead to a 57-40 score, Northmor was able to get three points by Ditullio and two from Miracle to close within 12 with 4:48 to go. That would be as close as the game got, though, as MG maintained a double-digit lead over that time.
Stover noted that the win will be helpful to his team as it jockeys for seeding position in the final week before the tournament draw is set.
“We’re sitting okay,” he said. “We needed that win and hope to win Wednesday for seeing. We’re playing for the tournament now and that’s a good start.”
Northmor’s Farley led her team with 24 points, while Ditullio had eight. For Mount Gilead, Gompf finished with 25 points, while Fitzpatrick had 16 and Shipman finished with 14. Stover was very pleased with that scoring.
“To have those three girls with that scoring is really impressive,” he said. “We did it at both ends of the floor.”
