North Penn shuts down Pittston in PIAA Class AAAA first round

EXETER — Irisa Ye is one of the North Penn girls basketball’s three sophomore starters, but she disagrees at the Maidens being described as a young team.

“Honestly, I don’t want to call us young,” Ye said. “Coach always says, ‘They’re calling us young, we’re inexperienced,’ but I feel like we’re not. Our freshman, they played on AAU, we have a lot of experience with that. And I just want to win this year.”

North Penn was plenty experienced enough Friday night to take a long drive up the Northeast Extension, play a de facto road game and come away with a third straight PIAA Class AAAA first round victory.

Ye and Taylor Thames smothered Pittston Area’s guards, while Mikaela Giuliani’s six-point burst to start the second half gave North Penn the breathing room it used to hold off the District 2 champion Patriots and earn a 53-37 victory at Wyoming Area High School.

“They had a great crowd here and I was like ‘Oh boy,’” Maidens coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “But I said just play well and keep them quiet. The better you play the less low they’re going to be.”

Sam Carangi scored 11 of her game-high 17 points in the second half while Mikaela Giuliani added 11 points for North Penn (21-8), which advances to Tuesday’s second round to face against either Spring-Ford or Archbishop Carroll — who play 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Council Rock South — at a place and time to be announced.