Northview’s size made a big difference Friday night against Bowling Green.
After an action-packed first quarter, the Wildcats began to pull away in the second quarter and never
looked back, resulting in a 59-36 Northern Lakes League girls victory.
Northview (10-2, 7-0) remained atop the NLL while BG (8-5, 2-5) fell five games behind the pace.
"We played a lot better tonight than we did against Rossford," said Northview head coach Jerry
Sigler, referring to a 39-32 Wildcat win Tuesday. "We were a little more focused tonight. We
overlooked Rossford and we knew we couldn’t overlook these guys (BG). There was no way we were going to
let that happen."
After only being down 15-12 after the opening period, BG looked to be in position to possibly pull off an
upset.
But BG struggled to contain the size and speed of the Wildcats, who have four starters who are 5-foot-11
or taller, compared to the Bobcats’ starting five, which has only one starter to match that height.
As a result, Northview dominated the boards, out-rebounding BG 33-16.
Being able to win the battle on the boards allowed the Wildcats to run a high-tempo offense throughout
the first half, resulting in transition baskets and causing BG to wear down as the game went along.
In the second quarter, the game turned. It went from being back-and-forth to being one-sided in favor of
Northview.
The Wildcats out-scored BG, 17-7 in the second quarter, which included an 8-2 scoring run capped off by a
buzzer-beating two-point basket from Northview’s Skylar Rose, who finished with 15 points.
"They’re (Northview’s) defensive effort in the second quarter took us out of some offensive sets
that we wanted to try to run," BG head coach Jeff Nichols said. "When that happened, our kids
kind of got a little frustrated and things started to build and go against us."
As a result of the Wildcats’ tough man-to-man defense, BG converted only 32 percent (13-of-41) of its
field goals and committed 16 turnovers.
The Bobcats had only four players score, with only one posting double-digits.
Hayley Williford scored 18 points, which included four 3-pointers.
BG’s poor shooting, combined with the free throw shooting (10-of-11) for Northview, put the Bobcats in no
position to attempt a legitimate comeback.
"We’ve been shooting fouls extremely well, and that’s what won the game for us against Perrysburg
… and Rossford," Sigler said. "We spend a lot of time doing that because there is a lot of
consequences if they don’t make them. A lot plays into that when you go to the foul line. We do a lot of
conditioning work too, so it makes it easier for them when they go to the line."
The second half was a continued story of the second quarter for the Bobcats.
After BG got back to within 15, Northview went on a scoring run of 14-2 which spanned nearly seven
minutes between the third and fourth quarters, putting BG away for good.
The run was sparked by Northview 5-foot 11 junior, Miriam Justinger. She finished with a game-high 21
points including a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
"About everything we tried to do defensively worked as far as rotating, but they (Northview) just
made some shots," Nichols said. "They’re a really good basketball team and you can’t have
those kinds of stretches against a good basketball team. But I’m pleased with the kids’ effort. They did
a nice job."
Northview won the junior varsity game 38-33. Hanna Williford led BG with 19 points.
