Victoria Keenan has a way of just taking over a basketball game.

After being shutout in the first quarter of the District 11 consolation game against Parkland, Keenan gladly took the reins, leading Northampton to a 53-47 win over Parkland, making the Kids the three-seed out of District 11 and dropping Parkland to number-four.

Keenan finished the night with 24 points, 11 of which came in the final eight-minutes of the game. She hit from outside, hit on drives through the Parkland defense and hit after stealing the ball from opponents. At one point, Keenan delivered back-to-back, three-point shots to tie the game at 39-39.

“Coach told us at halftime that we had to play with pride, so I tried to bring that out and tried to come up with a good run for the girls, so we could keep the lead and get a good win,” said Keenan.

“She has the ability to do that,” said coach Jeff Jacksits. “She’s one of those players who plays every part of the game well and looks for opportunities. She never insists on being the one who gets the shots, but she knows when to step up and she did that tonight.”

With Parkland having won both regular season meetings with Northampton, picked the perfect time for a little revenge. The win keeps Northampton closer to home for their first round game in the PIAA Tournament, when they play Central out of District 12 Friday night at Freedom High School. Parkland has to travel to William Tennent High School in Warminster to play Central Bucks South out of a strong District One.

The win over Parkland wasn’t easy, with the momentum swinging back and forth throughout the game. Parkland led after the first and third quarters, but Northampton led at the half, and when it meant the most, at the end of the game.

“It’s easy to get down on each other for turnovers and missed shots and stuff, but we turned that around and started helping each other out and working more as a team than we were earlier,” said Keenan.

Senior Aja Blount had 19 points for Northampton, doing most of her damage from right around the basket. With Northampton up 40-39 midway through the fourth quarter, Blount took a pass under the basket and went up for a shot, and got fouled in the process. The shot was good and Blount drained the free throw to put the Konkrete Kids up by four. On the night, Blount hit all five of her free throws.

Going into states, Keenan believes she and her teammates will need to step it up even more if they’re going to do damage in the tournament.

“I think we can play better than we have,” admitted Keenan. “We can work on things and work on not turning the ball over and keeping our teamwork going better, but we can do those things and I think we have the ability to surprise some teams.”

Following the Northampton/Parkland game, Easton and Nazareth squared off for the District 11 Championship, with Easton winning their first district title in 18 seasons, beating the Blue Eagles 38-34.

Easton will play Central Bucks East following Northampton’s game at Freedom Friday night, while Nazareth will play Council Rock North at Easton Middle School in first round action.