Northwest Defense Too Much for Richard Montgomery

The crowd was sparse and the environment relaxed early in the third quarter of Monday’s girls basketball game at Northwest High School. The Jaguars weren’t playing well offensively, struggling with turnovers against a Richard Montgomery team looking for its first division victory.

“It’s so quiet,” Northwest head coach Rob Smith said before clapping at Jaguar bench players in an attempt to generate focus and intensity.

Luckily for Northwest, the Jaguars’ defensive effort left a wide margin for error.

Northwest led 18-3 after one quarter and limited Richard Montgomery to nine first-half points en route to a 54-34 victory. The Jaguars assured themselves of the best record in Montgomery County’s 4A West division and sole possession of the program’s first division title since 2001. Northwest clinched at least a share of the crown with Friday’s win over Wootton.

On Monday, Northwest played sloppy at times, finishing with 28 turnovers. But a strong defensive effort against the Rockets, who fell to 4-14 overall and 0-12 in the division, was enough to win by 20 points. Northwest forced 25 turnovers and kept Richard Montgomery from reaching double digits on the scoreboard until the opening minute of the second half. The Jaguars (14-4, 10-1) extended their win streak to 13 games and haven’t lost since Dec. 17.

Winning “the division was one of our goals,” Smith said, “but heading toward the playoffs, [we’re] trying to be playoff-ready.”

For Northwest, being playoff-ready involves making sure the team is playing well defensively down the stretch. Smith praised freshman guard Kendra Meredith for improving throughout the season and playing well against the Rockets.

“Kendra is doing a good job every game learning about what to do with screens and where to go with screens,” Smith said. “When she steps up and does well and we can put [guards] Katelyn [Porter] and Camry [Torian] on two of [an opponent’s] better players and chase them around, that definitely helps. [The Rockets] missed some layups, too, and some free throws where they easily could have had more points, but it was good team defense.”

Along with being a defensive pest, Meredith scored six points, all near the end of the first half.

“We played a really good game,” Meredith said. “The defense was good. On offense, we need to pass the ball more and move the ball around. Other than that, we played a good game.”

Danielle Garroutte scored 13 points, including three 3-pointers, and grabbed six rebounds for Northwest.

“We knew from the last time we played them that [some of their better offensive players are] just very reckless,” Garroutte said. “They don’t have a lot of form whenever they shoot. They just drive and just throw it up hoping for the foul. What we made sure to do is just to not foul --- just keep our hands up.”

Northwest defeated Richard Montgomery 62-40 on Jan. 4.

Garroutte helped the Jaguars to a strong start on Monday with eight points in the first quarter. Garroutte’s 3-pointer broke a scoreless tie with 6:36 remaining in the opening period and the Rockets answered with their lone field goal of the quarter one minute later. Northwest then took control of the contest with a 20-1 run, stretching into the second quarter. Porter knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Jaguars a 23-3 lead early in the second en route to a 28-9 halftime advantage. Northwest led by as many as 25 in the second half.

Porter led the Jaguars with 15 points. Carla Batchelor finished with seven points and Sarah Sekscienski added five. Kassie Nantz scored three points, Daniella Noamessi and Sierra Battle each finished with two points and Torian added one.

Kiana Davis and Ashley Fourcade led Richard Montgomery with eight points apiece.

Northwest will host Sherwood at 7 p.m. today.