Published: December 03, 2008 12:19 pm         

Penn stars shine at ‘Panther Pit’

NCAA Division I stars were shining brightly Tuesday night at the “Panther Pit” in Nappanee.

Penn High School seniors Kelsey Reynolds and Lily Svete combined for 48 points during a 72-55 girls basketball win over the NorthWood “Black Swish.”

“Any time you can beat NorthWood in the ‘Pit,’ you have to be happy,” Penn coach Terry Tulchinsky said.

Reynolds, who is going on to play at Boston College, poured in 33 points while Svete, a Florida recruit, chipped in with 15.

“We did not compete very well in the first half,” said NorthWood coach Steve Neff about his team which trailed 39-20 at intermission.

“We had decent shots in the first half, but couldn’t hit. We also gave up a lot of offensive rebounds and 3-pointers.”

Penn was 7 of 13 from beyond the arc in the opening half, including 4 of 6 by Reynolds.

“Penn spaces the floor, but Reynolds is not the player whoshould have been getting the open looks from outside,” Neff said. “She is a good player. She can shoot from outside, drive to the basket and hit free throws. What more do you want?”

Reynolds finished 6 of 7 from 3-point range.

“I have a lot more confidence in my shot,” she said. “If I put them up a good percentage of them are going in.

“I liked the way we moved the ball in the first half and tried to push the pace. When we were active and moving on offense it kept NorthWood guessing.”

Both Reynolds and Svete were 11 of 12 from the free-throw line as the Penn team finished 22 of 25 (88 percent).

Neff challenged his team at halftime and NorthWood began cutting into the lead. The “Black Swish” trailed 54-40 at the end of three period and 54-43 at 6:26 of the fourth after junior Kelcie Lehman drilled a ‘3.’

“Both teams did some good things,” Tulchinsky said. “NorthWood impressed me by being scrappy. They fought back and got it to 11 points. That got my attention.”

Senior Courtney Simpson scored 14 points to lead NorthWood. Ten came in the second half and three of her five second-half baskets were putbacks after offensive rebounds.

“She was one of the players I challenged at halftime,” Neff said. “ She had a great second half. She started rebounding much better. It might have been a different game had she rebounded like that in the first half.”

Lehman, junior Lindsey Steffen and sophomore Kaci Heeter each added 10 points for NorthWood and junior Courtney Frantz chipped in with nine.

“Kaci was sick on Monday,” Neff said.

The veteran coach liked the balance on offense.

“We scored 55 points on Penn, but we have to play better defense,” he said. “We can’t give up 70 and expect to win.

“This is a non-conference loss. It’s a long season and I want to be able to compete in the sectional.”