RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
Any Bellmont fans who were wondering if the Norwell Knights deserved their #3 ranking in Class 3A came away from the Norwell gym Saturday night thinking that, if anything, maybe the Knights are underrated.
The Knights dismantled a very good Bellmont team (12-5 coming into the game) by a lopsided 52-22 score, validating their status in the state and remaining undefeated (5-0) in the NE8 with two conference games left (New Haven and East Noble). Their overall record is 16-4, all of their losses coming at the hands of highly ranked 4A teams.
The Knights employed a 1-3-1 trapping defense the whole game, not only forcing the Braves into 17 turnovers but also flustering their offense.
“Scoring against their 1-3-1 was a problem,” admitted Bellmont coach Andy Heim. “It’s hard to replicate something like that in practice.”
Norwell coach Eric Thornton agreed that his team’s defense was a big key. “I thought our 1-3-1 was very disruptive,” he said. “Our kids made it hard for them to score and to move to where they wanted to.”
Even when the Braves avoided initial traps as they crossed the ten-second line, the Knights, with their quickness and athleticism, recovered and continued to apply pressure all over the half court. As a result, the Braves could never get into a flow offensively and rarely got good looks at the basket. The Braves’ anemic shooting percentages—32% on twos (7-of-22) and 10% on threes (1-of-10)—reflected the quality of the Norwell defense.
The Knights started the game with a 7-0 run on a layup by Vanessa Rosswurm, a three-pointer from Kennedy Fuelling, and a nifty Euro-step fast break layup by Makenzie Fuess.
The Braves’ Emily Bleke halted the rally with a mid-range jumper at the 4:39 mark, but Norwell’s Dekota Hubble countered with a bucket from the right block. Bleke’s three on the Braves’ next possession pulled the Braves within four at 9-5, but that turned out to be the closest they would get. Norwell ended the quarter with a 14-7 lead.
Despite missing eight three-pointers in a row in the second quarter, the Knights still managed to outscore the Braves 9-4 to lead 21-11 at halftime.
“We thought at halftime that we had played better than a 10-point lead,” Thornton said, referring to his team’s poor second-quarter shooting. “But that’s the way offense goes sometimes. Our message at halftime was that those are good shots; they’re going to start falling, and we need to keep being who we are. Those are shots that we want.”
The Knights’ Makenzie Fuess, who led all scorers with 16 points, heeded Thornton’s advice. She missed four straight three-pointers in the first half before finally hitting one with 1:07 to go in the second quarter. Unfazed by her sub-par start from long range, she continued to shoot threes when she was open and hit three of four in the third quarter, leading the Knights to a 15-7 advantage and a 38-18 lead.
The Knights went to their bench a lot in the fourth quarter but still outscored the Braves 14-4 to build the final 30-point margin of victory.
Norwell was 12-for 25 (48%) on two-pointers and 8-for-24 (33%) on threes.
Neither team got to the free throw line much, the Braves going 5-for 10 (50%), the Knights 4-for-6 (67%).
Bleke led the Braves with seven points. Cole had six, Kam Jarvis four, Lanie French and Kate Kitson two each, and Arabelle Laurent one.
Fuelling finished with 15 for the Knights. Rosswurm scored 12.
The loss drops Bellmont to 12-6 overall and 3-2 in the NE8.
Norwell won the JV game easily, 54-16. Katelyn Borne scored all 16 of the Braves’ points.
Bellmont will host Garrett next Tuesday.