The Northampton girls basketball team wrapped up their season on Monday with a disappointing 48-43 loss to Freedom.

The K-Kids played well in the first half. They limited their turnovers to 5 and thoroughly outplayed the Patriots on the way to a 25-17 lead at the intermission.

The game got weird in the third quarter. The referees started calling fouls on what seemed like every trip down the floor. On two occasions, a double foul was called. Of the 17 points scored by both teams in the period, 10 came from the charity stripe. Fans on both sides of the gym voiced their displeasure.

Freedom was able to take advantage of the situation and went on a 7-0 run over the last 2:30 of the quarter to turn a 6-point deficit into a 30-29 lead.

Laila Reichl, who had a game-high 17 points, knocked down a jumper to start the final period to put the Kids back on top. The two teams played evenly over the next 5 minutes, leaving Northampton up 37-36 with just 3 minutes left in the contest.

The Patriots hit 3-pointers on their next two possessions and hit 3 of 4 free throws during a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to reclaim the lead and put the contest away.

The Kids finished the 2025-2026 campaign with a 6-16 overall record and 3-13 in the EPC.

“We played hard tonight, we didn’t give up,” explained head coach Jeff Jacksits. “We made a shot here and there, but we made too many mistakes. We knew we weren’t going to be able to compete with the elite teams this year, but I thought we’d win maybe 10. A couple of games got away from us including tonight.”

The game marked the final contest for the five seniors on the varsity roster: Ro Echevarria, Emilia Hirschman, Abbie Luipersbeck, Izzy Pecuch, and Kelly Reenock.

It also was the final game for scorekeeper Bill Gillespie who has kept the book for Jacksits for the last 23 years. Gillespie, who will be coaching track and field in the spring, is retiring from his teaching position at Northampton after the school year.

With 5 seniors graduating from the team, Laila Reichl will be the sole returning starter on a young K-Kids squad. The incoming freshman class shows a lot of promise, but it may take time for them to adapt to the speed of the high school varsity game.

NHS 13 12 4 14 - 43

FHS 11 6 13 18 - 48

Northampton scoring: Reichl 17, Pecuch 7, Luipersbeck 6, Echevarria 6, Vitushinsky 4, Hirshman 3

Season scoring leaders (total points/avg.): Pecuch 196/8.9, Reichl 194/8.8, Echevarria 84/3.8, Hirschman 82/3.7, Luipersbeck 79/3.6, Vitushinsky 46/2.1, Gougoustamos 37/1.7, Reenock 32/1.5