Mar 13, 2025
Mirror photo by Nate Ritchey Delco’s Mary O’Donnel is trapped by NBC’s Amberly Detterline (left) and Addie Love.
ENOLA — The Northern Bedford girls basketball team could have folded midway through the season.
The Lady Panthers returned one starter and two other that saw some manner of minutes from last year.
Instead, the inexperienced NBC squad, after taking its lumps, grew up, dug in and turned in a season that anyone associated with the school and community could be proud of.
Unfortunately, that spectacular run the Lady Panthers were on came to an abrupt halt on Wednesday night in a 43-30 loss to Delco Christian in PIAA Class 1A second round action at East Pennsboro High School.
“I’m very proud of our girls with where they got,” Northern Bedford coach Jon Ewart said. “… We started out the season we were very young and very inexperienced. As far as varsity minutes, we had three that really had any meaningful varsity minutes at all in their career. We relied a lot on some inexperienced players and some freshmen. … We started off rocky but the girls didn’t want to give up. We started out 3-8, and it would have been very easy to say that’s the season — let’s get ready for track or softball. They decided the opposite out of that. I’m extremely proud of them in everything they’ve done this year.”
NBC came out of the halftime locker room down just five (22-17), and seemed to gain momentum on calls that went its way.
After a first half when the two teams were primarily allowed to play without many whistles blown for fouls, the third quarter went the Panthers’ way.
District 5 champion Northern Bedford got to the line 10 times in the frame, but, unfortunately, it was only able to capitalize four times.
“It didn’t seem like it was our night to put the ball in the basket,” Ewart said. “We couldn’t finish shots early and we didn’t capitalize on free throws. … This type of level (of play), you’ve got to be able to finish your foul shots, finish your peep shots. We just didn’t do that tonight.”
Meanwhile, the Knights took advantage of the misses and made good on their opportunities — most notably Hallie Kees who had eight of the 10 Delco points in the quarter.
When the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the third frame, Northern Bedford’s deficit had increased to nine (32-23).
The Lady Panthers never recovered in the fourth as they managed a Hannah Yeatts free throw and Avery Smith jumper with the contest still within reach.
Smith’s hoop came at 3:54 to get the difference back to single digits at 35-26 before the Knights tallied five to push it to 40-26 with 1:17 remaining.
“That’s about composure,” Delco Christian coach Jacob Godino said. “That’s about the tough practices and the pressure that we put on ourselves to perform and do the right thing.”
A Halle Baker layup tacked on two points with 35 seconds left as NBC went nearly three-and-a-half minutes between the two field goals.
Northern’s McKenna Reasy set the final with a bucket at the end.
Northern Bedford ends the season with a 13-13 mark and will say goodbye to one senior in Love.
“I know he (Coach Barry Crawford) is proud of them,” Ewart said when asked about the girls playing for their assistant who is battling ALS but has continued showing up and doing what he loves. “We owe a lot to him for this program. He put a lot of hours in and a lot of hard work — with me and with the girls. I can truly say that I am where I am because of him.”
Meanwhile, Delco Christian improves to 25-4 and it will face Lourdes, a 65-23 winner over Bethlehem Catholic, on Saturday at a site and time to be determined.
In the first half, both teams went through a stretch where they couldn’t put the ball in the basket. It was a physical first half where the squads were allowed the freedom to play and let the game decide.
Delco Christian, the second seed out of District 1, came out and took a 10-1 lead at exactly the four minute mark of the opening stanza.
“I feel like we came out a little bit on the nervous side there right from the get-go,” Ewart said. “Defensively, we kind of got a little bit lost, weren’t talking early on. They (Delco) capitalized on that.”
An Addie Love layup 11 seconds later and an Alyssa Yeatts 3-pointer pulled the Lady Panthers within 12-6 after the initial quarter. The Knights stretched the lead to 15-8 when Neve Ireland knocked down a trey.
Baker answered back for NBC with a trey before Love made a foul shot that was followed by an NBA range shot to knot the contest at 15-15 with 3:56 left in the half.
Delco Christian responded with a 7-2 spurt to take a 22-17 edge headed into halftime.
Alyssa Yeatts fronted NBC with seven points. Kees led all scorers with 14, while Mary O’Donnel and Ella Stinger recorded 11 each for the Knights.
NORTHERN BEDFORD (30): Baker 2 0-2 5, A. Yeatts 2 2-2 7, Love 2 1-2 6, Be. Gable 0 3-8 3, Detterline 1 2-2 4, H. Yeatts 0 1-2 1, Smith 1 0-0 2, Barton 0 0-0 0, Bl. Gable 0 0-0 0, Reasy 1 0-0 2, Troy 0 0-0 0. Totals: 9 9-18 30.
DELCO CHRISTIAN (43): O’Donnel 4 3-4 11, Ireland 3 0-0 7, Stinger 4 1-2 11, Kees 5 3-4 14, Latchford 0 0-2 0, Bechtel 0 0-0 0, Thomas 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Rhoads 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 7-12 43.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Northern Bedford 6 11 6 7 — 30
Delco Christian 12 10 10 11 — 43
3-point field goals: Northern Bedford 3 (Baker, A. Yeatts, Love); Delco Christian 4 (Stinger 2, Ireland, Kees).
Records: Northern Bedford (13-13); Delco Christian (25-4).
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