Who says you need your eyes open to make a shot? With her eyes closed, North Adams’ Tatum Groom still managed to sink this floater in the lane for two of her 11 points in the Lady Devils’ 57-50 win over Portsmouth Notre Dame in Saturday’s Winter Hoops Classic at Eastern Brown. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)<address> </address>

Who says you need your eyes open to make a shot? With her eyes closed, North Adams’ Tatum Groom still managed to sink this floater in the lane for two of her 11 points in the Lady Devils’ 57-50 win over Portsmouth Notre Dame in Saturday’s Winter Hoops Classic at Eastern Brown. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

<p>Saturday was a big day for North Adams sophomore Emma Pistole (10), who scored 13 points, one of four players in double figures in the Lady Devils’ win over Portsmouth Notre Dame. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)</p>

Saturday was a big day for North Adams sophomore Emma Pistole (10), who scored 13 points, one of four players in double figures in the Lady Devils’ win over Portsmouth Notre Dame. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

<p>North Adams’ Karlie Kennedy (4) goes up for a shot attempt during the Lady Devils’ 57-30 win on Saturday over Portsmouth Notre Dame. Kennedy scored 10 points in the victory. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)</p>

North Adams’ Karlie Kennedy (4) goes up for a shot attempt during the Lady Devils’ 57-30 win on Saturday over Portsmouth Notre Dame. Kennedy scored 10 points in the victory. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

Two of the top girls programs in the last decade found themselves matched up on January 25 in the Eastern Brown Winter Hoops Classic. Playing as the home team, the North Adams Lady Devils faced off with the Portsmouth Notre Dame Lady Titans, looking to extend a six-game winning streak and pick up an important non-conference victory.

On Saturday, the Lady Devils struggled early, especially around the basket where nothing seemed to fall, but righted the ship in the second half, putting up a 23-point third quarter to claim a lead they never relinquished on their way to a tough 57-50 win that improved them to 12-4 overall and did stretch that winning streak to seven.

Even with the numerous missed “bunnies”, the North Adams girls managed to lead through most of the first quarter, going on top early on buckets by Karlie Kennedy, Katelynn Boerger and Ava Pistole. An Emma Pistole basket at the two-minute mark of the first period gave North Adams an 8-4 advantage, but the Lady Titans closed the first period with back-to-back three-pointers from Jaysa Bryant and Bree Hicks to grab a 12-9 lead at the end of one.

Notre Dame extended the run to 12-0 when they repeated the performance to open the second quarter with consecutive three-point baskets from Lauryn Trinidad, putting North Adams in an 18-9 hole. Facing that deficit, the Lady Devils threw together a run of their own, 9-2 to cut the Lady Titans lead to a single score. North Adams got baskets on consecutive possessions from Boerger and Kennedy, then a Tatum Grooms score off an out-of-bounds play. With 1:15 to play in the half, Kennedy drained a three from the wing, but the Lady Titans scored the half’s final two hoops to take a 24-18 lead into the halftime intermission.

It goes without saying that Coach Davis found some inspirational words at halftime and they worked as the Lady Devils exploded in the third quarter, opening with a 6-0 run to tie the game on a Kennedy steal and assist to Grooms for the old-fashioned three-point play. After a pair of free throws gave the lead back to Notre Dame, Kennedy banked in another three from the wing to put her team in front for good.

The Lady Devils added to their lead as the third quarter went on, with Grooms and Boerger providing the offensive spark and a putback by Emma Pistole closed out the third quarter to give North Adams a 41-36 lead.

The two teams swapped baskets to open the final quarter, with another Boerger basket putting the Lady Devils up 47-40 with 4:50 to play. A steal and coast-to-coast score by Emma Pistole pushed the lead out to nine as time continued to run out on the Lady Titans. A perfect spin move and score in the lane by Grooms made it 55-44 and the North Adams girls put the game on ice with baskets by Pistole and Grooms in the final minute of the 57-50 win.

Scoring all her points on 10 field goals, Katelynn Boerger led four Lady Devils in double figures with 20 points, with Emma Pistole adding 13, Tatum Grooms 11 and Karlie Kennedy 10.

“We play a lot of kids when we have to and you just never know who has to step up,” said Coach Davis. “Tatum had to handle the ball a lot today, something she’s not used to but it might be that way moving forward. Our bench did the job again tonight, which we always need. Karlie did a great job the first half, she just plays through stuff and keeps going 100 miles an hour. Everyone has to chip in and I thought we got good games from everyone tonight.”

Jaysa Bryant led the Lady Titans with 16 points, followed closely by Kaylyn Darden with 14 and Lauryn Trinidad with 11.

As of press time, the Lady Devils stood 8-1 in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, holding a two-game advantage over second place Eastern Brown, but faced a tough week of conference outings, beginning with a trip to red-hot Whiteoak on Monday night and a home date with Eastern Brown on Thursday. Sandwiched in between will be a non-conference trek to Batavia on Wednesday, January 29.

North Adams currently sits at #5 in the Division V Southeast District RPI.

Notre Dame

12 12 12 14 —50

North Adams

9 9 23 16 —57

Notre Dame (50): Bach 1 0-0 2, Bryant 4 7-10 16, Hicks 1 0-0 3, Trinidad 4 0-0 11, Darden 5 4-4 14, Strickland 1 2-2 4, Team 16 13-16 50.

N. Adams (57): Shelton 0 1-4 1, Grooms 5 1-1 11, Kennedy 4 0-0 10, Boerger 10 0-0 20, Emma Pistole 6 1-3 13, Ava Pistole 1 0-0 2, Team 26 3-7 57.

Three-Point Goals:

Notre Dame (5)- Bryant 1, Trinidad 3, Hicks 1

N. Adams (2)- Kennedy 2