Trailing by 17 after Northview closed the third quarter scoring the final pair of buckets, Napoleon battled back to pull within four points in the final minute, but eventually fell to the Lady Kats 50-44 Tuesday.
Northview closed the first period with a 10-0 run and never trailed after that, picking up the Northern Lakes League win in the Grand Canyon.
“We didn’t execute in the first half, defensively,” said Napoleon girls basketball coach Corey Kreinbrink. “Basic rotations we were not executing and that dug us a big hole. We can’t come out that way to start a game and beat a quality team.”
The Lady Kats made six 3-pointers in the first half, with Jenna Clausius and Grace Krahl each sinking a pair for a 31-17 lead at intermission.
Sophie Chipps scored all 6 of Napoleon’s points — on back-to-back possessions — in the third quarter, but it was Madison Greene scoring the final two baskets of the period for the 40-23 lead heading into the final canto.
Greene finished with 20 points to pace Northview.
“She kept getting easy pick ups underneath the basket,” said Kreinbrink of Greene. “At times, we didn’t know what to do with her and then other times when we double teamed her we gave up wide open 3s. They took advantage of a mismatch.”
The Lady Cats got back in the game from beyond the arc.
Chipps, who started the fourth quarter with a steal and lay-up, sank a triple to close the gap to 42-28. Karleigh Sonnenberg buried two more 3-pointers — the second coming with 1:24 remaining and cutting the lead to 47-38.
Makayla Kruse added a triple with 59 seconds on the clock to pull within 7 points and Northview went cold from the foul line, making 1 of 6 until hitting the final two to seal the win with 1.5 seconds remaining.
“The girls keep playing,” said Kreinbrink. “There are things we are getting better at, but we struggle with consistency and that is something we have to get better at.”
Krahl added 15 for Northview (8-6, 4-4 in the NLL), which was 17 of 26 from the field for 65% and 9 of 19 from the foul line.
Chipps paced all scorers with 21, while Kruse added 9. Napoleon was 13 of 44 from the field for 30% and 11 of 20 from the foul line.
The Lady Cats won the battle of the boards (30-19), with Ella Tassler grabbing six rebounds and Kora Burill pulling down five boards.
Napoleon (6-10, 3-6) travels to Springfield Friday for a NLL doubleheader with the boys game to follow.
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