When the Northeastern Lady Knight basketball team traveled to Hagerstown to face the Lady Tigers in a Tri-Eastern Conference game on Tuesday, Dec. 17, they were prohibitive favorites. The Lady Knights were elevated to third in the 2A poll this week, and the Lady Tigers came into the game on a 32-game program losing streak. The game went as expected. After winning a shortened two-quarter junior varsity game 37-0, the Lady Knights jumped out to a 25-0 lead in the varsity game. The Lady Knights went on to a 47-9 lead at halftime to trigger a running clock in the second half and eventually won the game by the score of 69-12.
With the win, the Lady Knights improved to 12-0 while the Lady Tigers fell to 0-11, but the teams had a common bond.
Hagerstown junior Katee Cowan’s mother Wendy is battling cancer and both teams wore warmup shirts with a cancer ribbon and the term fight to support her battle. Both coaches said that the players wanted to show support for something bigger than a basketball game, Hagerstown head coach Brad Catey explained.
“She is having a difficult time right now in her battle with cancer,” Catey said. “The Hagerstown players wanted to help raise awareness and show their support. When Coach Dudley found out what we were doing and told his team, his players wanted to show their support as well and they purchased their own shirts.”
Coach Dudley said at the end of the day, they are all friends and care about each other.
“Brad (Catey) is a good friend of ours,” Dudley said. “He reached out to let us know what his players planned to do tonight, and we wanted to be a part of the support group and help raise awareness.”
Mackenzie Johnson was one of five Lady Knights to reach double figures with 11 points. Brooklyn Adams, Gracie Green, Ady Kircher and Ariel Shuler each scored 10 points. Lilly Catey scored 6 points to lead Hagerstown.
Northeastern (12-0, 3-0 TEC) 30 17 10 12 69
Ava Mikesell 3, Kircher 10, Shuler 10, Ti’aja Adams 2, Green 10, Cami Angie 2, Jayden Hildebrand 0, Johnson 11, Karri Gammon 7, Brooklynne Adams 10, Amayah Davis 2, Jocelyn Allen 2, Sammi Kircher 0 — Total 69
Hagerstown (0-11, 0-5 TEC) 2 7 3 5 17
Mackenzie Johnson 0, Bella Thalls 2, Havanna Harris 0, Katie Cowan 0, Catey 6, Skyler Brown 4, Avery Blunk 5, Rylan Hughes 0, Mia Hilbert 0 — Total 17
A version of this article appeared in the January 1 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.