What if you were told that EPC MVP Victoria Keenan would score a single point in the first quarter of a state playoff game … and the Konkrete Kids would race out to a 21-3 lead?

It happened Friday day night at Freedom in Northampton’s first round PIAA 6A game against the Methacton Warriors.

Just as fans of the Orange and Black were Googling “Norwin” and starting to speculate on the site of the second round game against the team from the Pittsburgh area, the momentum shifted.

“Defensively we were just lax all the way around,” said head coach Jeff Jacksits. “It wasn’t just one person, it was a bunch of us. We were very complacent on the defensive end.”

That complacency coupled with some untimely turnovers on offense allowed the Warriors to finish the first half on a 23-10 run, including the final 7 points of the second quarter. The 31-26 halftime score brought the attention of the packed Northampton side of the stands back to game in front of them.

Northampton scored the first six point of the second half to push the lead back to double digits, but Methacton rallied again to close the gap to 44-38 after three periods.

The Warriors scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 4, but a 6-point Kids’ run culminating in a Jenna Rogers’ putback with 4 minutes left in the game gave Northampton enough points to seal the deal on the way to a 55-48 final.

Morgan Sterner paced the Kids with 17 points. Rogers showed off her all-around game by hitting a pair of threes on her way to 14 points. She also pulled down 15 rebounds. Keenan was held to 7 points but found other ways to contribute including a spectacular assist from her back after winning the battle for a loose ball.

Northampton’s freshman guards came up big, contributing 17 points to the cause. Taylor Kranzley scored 6 off the bench, while Kylie Gilliard added 11 and took a couple of charges on the defensive end.

“Since the playoffs started our freshman are not freshman anymore,” Jacksits said. “They’ve grown up a lot since the beginning of the season. They play well together.”

“I think I’m gaining more confidence and my teammates are looking for me and have confidence in me now that I’ve been making more shots,” Gilliard said. “I never expected this starting the season on varsity, but once I got playing with the girls and looked up to my role models like V and Jenna and Morgan, I knew that this is what we could do.”

Unfortunately, the Kids were unable to advance past the Sweet Sixteen as they fell to District 7’s Norwin 68-58 on Tuesday night at Cumberland Valley HS. The story on that contest will appear in the next issue.