Everett defense evades NBC offense in 47-21 win | Local
EVERETT — Everett coach Keith Moyer pointed out how tough the 2020-21 season has been for all teams and how those adversities are what make this season a success after Thursday’s 47-21 win over Northern Bedford.
A year ago, the Lady Warriors only completed 11 training sessions in the shortened season. This year it’s a completely different story.
Just like the results.
“We’re getting better and better. We struggled last year,” said Everett coach Keith Moyer. “We had 11 training sessions for a whole season. It’s hard to get into a flow and we had a lot of new faces. This year we are already well above that. We go to the gym and the kids shop. They work hard. I like the progress we are making.
“Hats to NBC for they are the most improved team we’ve seen in the last 12 months.”
Both Everett and Northern Bedford entered Thursday’s game amid a four-game winning streak. The game was tight at halftime, but the second half was a whole different story.
Everett increased his defensive pressure and the Lady Black Panthers suffered the consequences. Everett beat Northern Bedford 25-2 in the last two quarters.
Northern Bedford’s only two points came from the free throw line where the visitors were 2 to 4 in the second half.
“They (Everett) threw us out there pretty well – they switched to a 1-2-2 (defense) and slowed the pace of the game,” said Jon Ewart, Northern Bedford coach. “They slowed us down, threw us off rhythm and played a really good defense – they turned us around.”
While that second half was a dream half for Everett, the first half was an absolute sprint.
Everett held a small 9-7 lead late in the first quarter and extended that lead to 22-19 at halftime.
Cloe Price scored seven of Everett’s points in the first quarter while Ashlyn Hicks scored the other two.
Price answered Northern Bedford’s Ashley Kichman early in the game. The Lady Black Panther was fouled early when she scored from inside the paint. She added the free throw to lead 3-0. Northern Bedford missed two free throws before Price cut the NBC lead 3-2 to one point.
Northern Bedford ended the game with a 10-18 shot from the free-throw line while Mariah Hall took a 1-3 off the line lead 4-2, but Price and Hicks gave the hosts a 6-4 lead.
Evie Long hit from the paint while Lydia Ritchey helped the Northern Bedford to a 7-6 lead in the first quarter with 13 seconds left, but Price started an eight-point run as the period went 9-7 ahead.
Everett’s Lainie Treece scored five quick points early in the second quarter to take a 14-7 lead, but the visitors leveled the game with a seven-point run of their own. Ritchey hit two free throws while Long scored a bucket and Kichman added a three-pointer. Long and Hall added another four points after a price bucket as the visitors took their final lead of the night at 2:46 in the first half, 18-16.
Treece and Price led the night with 17 points each, and they added a 6-1 combined run as the first half ended with Everett leading 22-19.
Hicks, Treece, Price and Lilly Mills all scored in Everett’s 10-1 run in the third quarter, while Price, Treece, Mills and Olivia Hillegas all scored 15-1 in the fourth quarter.
Kichman and Ritchey had free throws for Northern Bedford in the second half.
“We struggled to recover on offense. I think we only had 15 shots in the second half,” said Ewart. “That goes to them (Everett) who take a lot of things from us and turn the ball around for us. (If) you’re not getting a lot of shooting opportunities, you’re not going to get too many opportunities from the offensive rebounds.
“In the first half, most of their (Northern Bedford) points came from offensive rebounds or second-chance opportunities,” Moyer said. “We didn’t give those up at all in the second half — it was a shot and it was done… We did a great job on defensive rebound in the second half and we didn’t do well in the first.
“Everyone has contributed their part. Everyone has a role, they’ve taken it and they’re doing it well – I’m happy.”
Kichman led the Lady Black Panthers by seven points.
Northern Bedford, 8-4, was due to play at Fannett-Metal on Monday but that game has been postponed due to COVID-19 protocols. The Lady Black Panthers play in Glendale on Wednesday. The Fannett-Metal game will be rescheduled on January 28th.
Everett, 9-3, hosts Bedford on Saturday.
EVERETT 47, NORTH BEDFORD 21
North Bedford 7 12 1 1 – 21
Everett 9 13 10 15 – 47
North (21) – Makayla Hall 0 0-0 0; Emily Heck 0 0-2 0; Mariah Hall 0 3-5 3; Ashley Kichman (1) 1 2-3 7; Lydia Ritchey 0 5-8 5; Leah Swanseen 0 0-0 0; Evie Long 3 0-0 6. Overall: (1) 4 10-18 21. Everett (47) – Ashlyn Hicks (1) 1 0-2 5; Sarah Shaffer 0 0-0 0; Kylee Harman 0 0-0 0; Cloe Price (1) 5 4-5 17; Olivia Hillegas 2 0-0 4; Brenna free time 0 0-0 0; Lainie Treece (1) 5 8-9 17; Lilly Mills 2 0-0 4; Rebekah Mills 0 0-0 0. Overall: (3) 13 12-16 47.
JV – North Bedford, 45-15. High Scorer – NB: Swanseen, 14; E: Kristin Federn, 6.