The Northampton girls basketball team doesn’t have any hardware to show for their 2016-17 campaign, but it can still be considered a very successful season for the program.

The girls made the league, district and state playoffs, and when all was said and done, they advanced farther than any other area 6A team in the Lehigh Valley.

While the regular season saw some inconsistencies, the Kids really seemed to hit their stride in the district consolation game.

“I think we had a pretty good season with a lot of ups and downs,” said senior Aja Blount, “but I think that we were playing our best basketball during the playoffs and after districts. After our win over Parkland in the consolation game we really became hard to stop in states.”

The win over Parkland was key, as it helped to keep the kids at locations like Easton and Souderton for their state playoffs games. As a result, NHS collected two state wins before a heartbreaking, one-point loss to Boyertown, which needed another last-second shot to eventually advance to the state finals.

All-in-all, it left the Kids wondering what could have been, all while realizing they were one of the top teams in the state when all was said and done. And that was evidenced by the teams they beat in states.

“Even though we didn’t win the league or district, we had a very successful year. I thought we started to really come together during the consolation game against Parkland and then rode that momentum into the state playoffs,” Jacksits said. “We had victories over Central Philadelphia and Abington (District 1 champion).

“The Abington win was big because District 1 is probably the best overall district for 6A girls basketball in the state. Our game against Boyertown was tough to accept. We felt like we out played them but came up one point short.”

One thing the Kids can be excited about was the play of sophomore Victoria Keenan, who seemed to take over the game against Parkland and then carried that play into states. Her outside play will need to help make up for the loss of Blount, who ended her career as the second-leading scorer at Northampton.

“[Keenan] was second team all-league and player of the week twice,” said Jacksits. “She set the school record for most made three-point field goals and has scored 805 points so far in her two years. She should eclipse the 1,000 point plateau next year.

“We are looking forward to next season. We have a nice nucleus of players coming back including starters Jade Rindock, Keenan and Jenna Rogers.”

Besides Blount, the team will say good-bye to two other seniors in Devon Saul and Brielle Rigo, who played very key roles in the team’s success.

“All of our seniors did a nice job at the roles they were asked to play,” said Jacksits. “Devon Saul was our defensive leader. She always drew the toughest player to guard and she directed defensive assignments on the court, which helped our younger players. Brielle Rigo was our sixth man. She came off the bench to give us a spark and a nice change of pace, which is sometimes harder than being a starter.

“The staff and I were proud how the girls played this year. They gave total effort for every game,” said Jacksits.