NAPPANEE — It was physical game that neither team really seemed too determined to win Saturday afternoon as NorthWood hosted No. 5 Penn at the Panther Pit. The Panthers proved they were more than capable of hanging with the defending 4-A state champion but a slow start left NorthWood playing catch-up and on the wrong end of a 48-36 final score.

While neither team looked very crisp to start, the Panthers could not get anything going offensively in the first quarter. Penn led 8-0 for the majority of the opening frame while NorthWood did not get its first field goal until the 1:27 mark. That came on a three-point shot from Taitlyn Trenshaw. Penn held an 11-4 advantage going into the second.

“I thought the whole first half was kind of like that,” said NorthWood head coach Adam Yoder when asked about his team’s slow first quarter. “It was not just a slow start scoring wise, it was a slow start all around. We weren’t crisp and we looked scared, in my opinion. But there was no reason to be scared, they’re high school girls just like we are.”

NorthWood started to turn a corner in the second quarter, but still aid for the first quarter mistakes and trailed 22-11 at the break.

The Panthers looked much better in the second half. Combining the scores from the final two quarters, NorthWood lost the second half 26-25, a much better showing than in the first half. But Penn was able to lean on the first half lead and get to the foul line in the fourth quarter to help ice the victory.

“We showed a lot more determination in the second half, I thought,” Yoder said. “We almost won the second half, I think we lost it by one. But you can’t squander away two quarters like that against a good team. But, it is a positive thing with the young team we have playing against a good Penn squad. There are lessons to learn, but nobody likes to lose.”

NorthWood was led offensively by Trenshaw’s 11-point effort. Savannah Feenstra added eight for the Black Swish. Lindsey Kline led Penn with 19 points. Sara Doi added 11.

When asked what the biggest thing to work on before their next game, Yoder did not hesitate with an answer.

“That focus, that focus and drive that we’re a better team than we maybe thought we were a couple of hours ago,” explained the coach. “We have to believe that. It starts there. I think we maybe needed a little wake-up call, and that’s good. We’ll get better. We got better between the Riley game and today. So, we’ll get better before Mishawaka on Tuesday.”

NorthWood (1-1) plays at Mishawaka on Tuesday. Penn (1-0) plays at Riley next Saturday.

NorthWood won the JV contest 39-37. NorthWood’s Madison Payne led all scorers will 11 points. Kali Parisi added 10 for the Panthers. Penn was led in scoring by Chloe Foley and Anne Goralczyk who each had eight-point efforts.