LIGONIER —  It was raining 3-pointers Thursday night in Ligonier.

Unfortunately for the hometown West Noble Chargers it was the visiting Northridge Raiders making it rain.

Northridge drilled 12 treys, nine in the first half, on the way to a 75-42 win in a season opening high school girls basketball game.

The Raiders made 9-of-12 from beyond the arc in the first half to open a 46-20 bulge.

“When we are on we can make them,” Northridge coach Doug Springer said.

A key part of the Raiders’ long-distance shooting were the senior Schrock wins. Madison was 7-of-10 from downtown as she poured in a career-high 25 points and Haley was 4-of-8 as she added 13 points.

Madison’s previous high was 22 points in her sophomore season.

“Madison has proven she can shoot from out there,” Springer said.

The sixth-year coach remembers the first time he saw the Raider dynamic duo.

“Five years ago I walked into the gym and saw these two girls hitting 3-pointers. I turned to someone and said they are going to be nice varsity players. It was then I was told they were seventh graders and I would have to wait two more years before they could play on the varsity.”

About their contributions to the program?

“It’s no coincidence their freshmen season was the first winning season Northridge had in some time,” Springer said. “No matter what we do the rest of the season Haley and Madison are going to leave as the winningest senior class Northridge has ever had.

“I keep telling people they are not the greatest athletes, but they are the smartest ones.”

Northridge led 25-12 after one period as the Schrocks combined for 16 points.

“Northridge is probably one of the best 4A teams in the state,” West Noble coach Dale Marano said. “You have to give Northridge the credit. They hit the shots.

“I saw a lot of good things that we did tonight. The first thing I told the girls in the locker room was we are going to be OK.”

The Raiders are a young team with the Schrocks being the only seniors.

“I was really proud of our young ins,” Springer said. “We knew we had a good freshmen class coming in and that our sophomore class had gotten better since last season. A year ago, we were only about only seven deep. This year we are going to be around 10 deep and tonight we played more than that.”

Northridge accomplished all this without the services of sophomore guard Taylor Miller, one of the team’s regulars.

“She has a severe sprained ankle,” Springer said. “She could have probably played, but we felt it is better to have her for the rest of the season.”

Junior Morgan Miller chipped in with 13 points for the Raiders, junior Brianne O’Dell nine and junior Molly Bontrager six.

“Miller didn’t hit any 3s tonight, but we have really worked with her to extend her shooting range,” Springer said.

Sophomore Keianna Yoder came off the bench to score four points for Northridge.

“Keianna had a tremendous offseason, a good summer and an even better preseason,” Springer said. “She stepped up on the varsity after having a good JV game.”

Junior Kelsie Peterson tossed in 15 points, senior Haley Richardson and sophomore Lexi Shepherd both six to lead the Chargers.

“One thing I was not happy about was giving up 43 points,” Springer said. “That is not Northridge basketball. I think we spent too much time worrying about Richardson. West Noble has some good guards and they made us pay for doubling up on Richardson.”

Richardson missed most of the first half after picking up three quick fouls.

“We have to be able to overcome things like that,” Marano said. “Once we settled down and got her back in the game we did a better job.

“We played a lot of young girls that were seeing their first varsity action.”



Northridge 75, West Noble 42

NORTHRIDGE — Kelly Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Brianne O’Dell 4-5 1-2 9, Morgan Miller 3-4 7-10 13, Haley Schrock 4-10 1-2 13, Madison Schrock 8-12 2-2 25, Ellie Lengacher 0-3 2-2 2, Mikaela Zook 1-8 1-2 3, Molly Bontrager 2-6 1-1 6, Kim Swank 0-2 0-0 0, Bailey O’Dell 0-0 0-0 0, Keianna Yoder 1-1 2-2 4. Team: 23-42 17-23 75

WEST NOBLE — Ashley Shepherd 2-5 0-0 4, Lexi Shepherd 3-6 0-0 6, Kelsie Peterson 5-16 5-7 15, Shawna Young 0-0 0-0 0, Brooke Lutton 0-2 0-0 0, Kambrai Spencer 0-0 0-0 0, Kenzie Cox 2-3 0-0 6, Taylor Fisher 1-3 1-2 3, Haley Richardson 3-5 0-0 6, Kohdee Hicks 1-1 0-0 2. Team: 17-41 6-9 42

Northridge    21    25    16    13    —    75

West Noble    12    8    13    9    ­—    42

3-point shooting: Northridge 12-21 (Madison Schrock 7-10, Haley Schrock 4-8, Bontrager 1-3). West Noble 2-11 (Cox 2-3, aShepherd 0-2, lShepherd 0-3, Peterson 0-3).

Fouls: Northridge 14, West Noble 17. Rebounds: Northridge 29 (Haley Schrock 7, Miller 5, Brianne O’Dell 4); West Noble 18 (Richardson 7, Peterson 3).

Assists: Northridge 13 (Madison Schrock 4, Brianne O’Dell 3).  Steals: Northridge 10 (Haley Schrock 4, Zook 3).

JV score: Northridge won 33-20. (Northridge: Kelly Miller 10 points, Alyssa Zook 6, Keianna Yoder 5, Ellie Lengacher 5; West Noble: Cara Goff 5, Becca Schermerhorn 5, Brooke Lutton 4).