by Gary Andrews

The Northfield girls’ basketball team picked up their fourth win in a row Tuesday, defeating Caston 54-35 to move to 6-3 on the season.

The Lady Norse overcame some illness and a poor shooting first half to pull away from Caston. Leading just 22-16 at the half, the Norse defense picked up the pace, while the offense found their rhythm, out scoring the Comets 32-19 in the second half for the win.

Leading the Lady Norse was Payton Thomson with 18, followed by Katie Stephan with 12.  Kylie Echard played a huge role in the win with her defense and rebounding while playing with a bad cold. Echard and Sid Reed led the rebounding with 7 and 8 respectively.

Payton Thomson had 18 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 assists. Katie Stephan had 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 assists. Sidney Reed had 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. Kylie Echard had 6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks. Cherish Leming had 5 points, 5 rebounds. Arie Kennedy had 4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 assist.

by Gary Andrews

The Northfield boys basketball team used balanced scoring Tuesday, putting 8 players in the scoring column in a 71-38 blow out over Southern Wells.

The Norse totally dominated the first half, leading 20-7 after one and 44-13 at the half.

The Norse would stay strong in the third, doubling up on the Raiders 14-7 before losing an 18-15 4th quarter for the 71-38 final.

by Bill Barrows

Because of the Christmas holiday and final exams for county high school students, the sports schedule is fairly light this week.

On Tuesday, the Lady Norse of Northfield host Caston, the Lady Apaches of Wabash host Oak Hill and the Lady Knights of Southwood travel over to Bluffton for non-conference matchups. On the boys’ side, only one game is on the docket with Northfield traveling to Southern Wells.

The weekend offers an intriguing slate of games. On Friday, the Manchester boys and girls teams travel to Southwood for an evening of basketball that fans love. High school basketball is a bargain, but in this case, twice the action for the price! The other matchup is at Coolman Gym where the Apaches will host Northfield.

by Gary Andrews

The Wabash boys’ basketball team took on Maconaquah Friday, falling in a game that went to the wire 56-53.

The Apaches fell behind in the first quarter and trailed 13-9 after one. Wabash would make up a little ground in the second quarter, out scoring the Braves 10-8 and trailed by just two, 21-19 at the half.

The offense would pick up for both teams in the third quarter with a combined 40 points scored. The two teams played to a 20-20 tie and the Apaches trailed 41-39 with a quarter to go.

Wabash would make a run in the fourth, tying the game at 47 with four minutes to go and were tied at 52 with .45 left before Maconaquah out scored the Apaches 4-1 for the 56-53 final.

by Gary Andrews

In the lone basketball action Saturday, the Southwood C-team boys’ basketball team played in the Jay County Invite, going 0-2 on the day.

The Knights lost game one to Marion 47-32.

Paul Farlow led the Knights with 11 points, 6 rebounds. Will Roberts added 10 points. Luke Perlich had 8 rebounds.

Jay County beat the Knights in game two. The Knights fell 49-22.

Luke Perlich led with 12 points, 11 rebounds. Paul Farlow added 5 points.

by Gary Andrews

Maconaquah defeated the Northfield wrestling team Thursday night by a score of 16-61.  Pinning for the Norse Jake Stephan.  Matthew Carey won by major decision while Drew Clark received a forfeit.

Wrestling for the Norse JV was Michael Schlemmer.

by Gary Andrews

Just two weeks before the county tourney, the Southwood and Northfield girls went to battle for metro bragging rights, with the Lady Norse coming out on top 61-46.

The emotions were high on the court and in the crowd as anticipated, with each team hoping their match-up would go as planned. Southwood got off to a hot start on the back of freshman Brooke Elliott, who scored the first 7 points of the game as the Knights led 7-0 with just over four minutes to play.

Arie Kennedy would break the ice for the Norse with a bucket that started a 9-0 run to grab the lead. Sidney Reed would connect before a Katie Stephan three tied the game, with Kylie Echard putting the Norse ahead.

by Gary Andrews

The Manchester swim teams fell to Rochester Thursday night. The girls fell 49.5-133.5 while the boys were defeated 59-111.

The girls 200 Medley Relay team of Kacy Sites, Alexis Vernon, Andrea Roesner and Marie Pedersen placed second. In the 200 Free Andrea Roesner and Noah Cain placed second. Marie Pedersen won the 200 IM, while Evan Milam was second. Claire Barnett and Ross Messer were both second in the 50 Free.