Lady Norse Fall Short At Semi State

The Northfield Lady Norse had made it to the 1A final four and were one game away from the state finals Saturday when they headed to LaPorte.

The task would be defeating the #1 team in the state Michigan City Marquette that featured 6’2” twin sisters and D1 commits Sophia and Emma Nolan. The Lady Norse would give the Blazers all they could handle for 30 of the 32 before falling 47-32.

Marquette would grab a 2-0 lead that was quickly erased by Northfield with an Ariel Dale free throw and a bucket from Kyra Kennedy. Again Marquette would go up 6-3 when Dale was fouled on a missed three pointer, converting all three shots from the charity stripe to make it 6-6. The Blazers would then score as time was running out and led Northfield 8-6 after one.

Marquette would have the hot hand to start the second quarter, scoring the first 7 points to grab a 15-6 lead. The Norse would answer with a run of their own. Dale would hit back to back three’s, followed by a bucket from Addi Baker to cut the deficit to 15-14. Baker would hit one more time in the quarter as Marquette led 19-16 at the half.

The two teams would trade blows most of the third quarter and with Marquette leading 29-23 the Norse would get a bucket from Kennedy and two free throws from Kelcie Thomson to make it 29-27 with a quarter to go. Kyra Kennedy had 6 points in the quarter.

Marquette would extend their lead to 33-27 to start the fourth quarter before a Baker free throw and two from Dale made it 33-30 with 4:06 to play. Down 35-32 after a Thomson bucket the Blazers would hit twice, forcing the Norse to start the foul game which Marquette capitalized on, pulling away for the 47-32 final.

Northfield scoring : Ariel Dale 11, Ally Keaffaber 2, Kelcie Thomson 5, Kyra Kennedy 8, Addi Baker 6.

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