Early helps North Penn rally past Mount St. Joseph

SPRINGFIELD >> The Knights of North Penn had watched Mount Saint Joseph on tape, so they knew they were in for a tussle Thursday afternoon when visited the Magic.

They weren’t wrong.

North Penn rallied to top the Mount, 45-41, as Kate Early had six fourth-quarter points and the visitors bounced back to fire the final salvo in a back-and-forth battle.

“We watched their games,” Early said, “and we knew they were pretty good, so we were expecting competition.

“As for my (fourth-quarter points),, I was just trying to make as I could.”

The Knights jumped out early and led after both the first and second quarters.

But the Mount was resilient, and rallied behind the scoring of Deirdre Regan (10 points) and Grace Nieldeski (10) to catch North Penn and take a 2-point lead into the fourth quarter.

But North Penn managed a comeback of its own, and out-scored their hosts, 10-4, in the final quarter to get the job done.

“Our offense was a little stagnant,” said North Penn head coach Maggie deMarteleire, “but when Bri (Hewlett) hit those two threes, that really helped us battle back.

“For us to be 4-0 at this point in the season is a good thing.”

Deirdre Regan led the Mount with 11 points.

NORTH PENN 45, MOUNT ST. JOSEPH 41
North Penn (45): Alli Lindsey 3 0-0 8; Kate Early 4 2-3 10; Carley Adams 2 2-2 4; Morgan Farrell 1 0-0 3; Bri Hewlett 3 2-4 10; Jenny Holmes 0 0-0 0; Alayna Faison 0 0-0; Cayla Sharkey 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 6-7 45.
Mount St. Joseph (41): Grace DiGiovanni 1 0-0 2; Megan Dodaro 0 2-4 2; Deirdre Regan 2 6-6 11; Taylor Sistrunk 0 0-0 0; Kelly Rothenberg 2 0-0 4; Lauren Vesey 3 2-2 8; Grace Niekelski 4 0-0 10. Totals 12 10-12 41.