NTL GIRLS' BASKETBALL: MANCHESTER'S 20 FIRST QUARTER POINTS POWERS TOWANDA PAST NEB (2021-02-26)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
TOWANDA — There’s playing good, and then there’s playing just about perfect.

For a quarter Towanda’s Paige Manchester was as close to perfect as it gets.

The sophomore missed her first shot, then made her next eight en route to a 20 point opening eight minutes. That powered the Knights to a 59-28 over Northeast Bradford in a match-up of the two NTL girls’ basketball champions for this season.

“I felt pretty good,” said Manchester. “My shots were going in, and I just kept shooting.”

Her first four shots were lay-ups - three of them off steals, one off a put back - while her next four were 3-pointers that didn’t even scrape the rim. Manchester also assisted on the only basket that she didn’t score, giving her a direct hand in all 23 of Towanda’s first quarter points.

They had beaten NEB earlier in the season on the road, but wanted to sweep the season series.

“It definitely feels super good,” said Manchester. “Last year they beat us, so we just wanted to beat them twice. It’s the same with Athens, just that type of team. They’re a good team, they have a good coach.”

Her coach Rob Gentile was just happy to see his team not let up after clinching the league title on Wednesday at Athens.

“We had a big conversation at practice,” he said. “Ultimately, we don’t get a showdown this year, and, I get the feeling that these would have been the two teams in the showdown, and we kind of played it as a showdown game, and established who the best team in the league was.”

It wasn’t just Manchester, though, as her teammates took over in the second half as they pushed their 23-9 first quarter lead to 43-14 at the midway point. Five of their ten second quarter buckets came off assists as five different players scored.

“We’ve saying for a long time that we haven’t played our best basketball yet, but in that first quarter…you can’t play better than she did in the first quarter,” said Gentile. “She got in the passing lanes, run-outs…it was a fun show to watch.”

Manchester finished with 27 points, seven boards, six assists and six steals as Porschia Bennett added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Erin Barrett had 10 points to go with eight rebounds and three assists, while Gracie Schoonover had six points and five boards. Amanda Horton added three points, four boards, three assists and two steals, with Ally Hurley scoring two points.

Saige Greenland chipped in with three assists. And it’s safe to say they all played active, hounding defense that forced NEB to take most of their shots from the perimeter in the half court offense.

As much as things went right for the Knights, it went that much worse for NEB.

After hitting a couple 3-pointers in the first quarter they hit a drought, shooting just 4-for-18 for the game from beyond the arc. They struggled with turnovers, especially whenever they through a pass near Manchester, and shot just 10-for-36 for the game and 4-for-12 from the free throw line.

Maisie Neuber had 10 points, seven boards and two steals to lead NEB as Lauryn Jones finished with eight points.

Kayleigh Thoman had six points, but had to leave the game early due to an injury. Alena Beebe notched two points with Kate O’Connor and Lani Thomas both scoring one apiece. O’Connor added three boards.

It was the Panthers taking the early lead, though, on a Neuber driving lay-up. Manchester tied the game up at 2-2 with a lay-up of her won, but a Thoman 3-ball put the Panthers up 5-2.

That’s when Manchester scored straight points - the first six off lay-ups, with the final bucket a 3-ball - to put Towanda up 11-5.

O’Connor stopped the bleeding with a free throw, but Manchester came back with a 3-ball at the other end to make it 14-6.

She then found Horton, who had a 3-pointer, to pushed the lead to 17-6. Manchester then was on the other end, making a 3-pointer off a Greenland pass, for a 20-6 lead.

Thoman hit her second 3-pointer of the quarter after that to cut it to an 11-point deficit, but just before the quarter break Greenland found Manchester again for a 3-pointer for the 23-9 first quarter lead.

Manchester quickly cooled off after the horn - she missed two freebies to start the second quarter - but her teammates picked up the slack.

Barrett scored her first points off a lay-up to make it a 25-9 lead. Beebe then found Jones for a 3-ball at the other end to cut it to 25-12.

That momentum was short lived, though, as Towanda went on to score the next 18 points of the quarter to go up 43-12.

Barrett had back to back spinning lay-ups from the post, followed by Manchester hitting Bennett for a lay-up.

Barrett then found Hurley with some nifty interior passing to make it 33-12. Following that the Knights made five straight lay-ups - two by Manchester, two by Bennett and one by Schoonover - for the 31-point lead.

Jones ended the run with a jumper at the buzzer for NEB, but they found themselves down 29 points at the half.

The game was a little more back and forth in the third. Bennett started things off with an old fashion 3-point play, but Jones came back and hit a 3-ball for the Panthers.

Manchester followed by hitting her fifth 3-ball of the game, with Bennett getting a steal and lay-up to extend the lead to 51-17.

The two teams then traded lay-ups before Neuber went on a 4-0 run to cut it to 53-23. A Barrett lay-up made it 55-23 Towanda after three quarters.

NEB then outscored Towanda 5-4 during the running clock in the fourth.

The Panthers will look to regroup as they travel to NP-Liberty Saturday for a 2 p.m. start to wrap up their regular season. The loss pretty much guarantees that they will stay the fourth seed in the District IV, Class AA standings.

It looks like they will get a familiar foe in Wyalusing, who is currently the fifth seed, though Millville is close enough that a late win might have them sneak into that spot.

Towanda will host NP-Mansfield on Saturday with a 1 p.m. start to wrap up their regular season. The Knights look to be locked into the third seed, and will likely face Line Mountain as the current sixth seed, Wellsboro, is below .500, and the school has a stipulation that teams can only play in the playoffs if they’re at or above the break even point.

No matter what, though, the Lady Knights can’t wait to see what the future holds after their recent spate of wins.

“Districts is coming up. We want to be in a good spot in districts, get some home games,” said Manchester. “So we’re excited.”

CUTLINE: Towanda’s Paige Manchester shoots against NEB Friday…PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING.