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Northeastern upends Donegal behind Kloster's double-double


MOUNT JOY >> Northeastern's Jordyn Kloster loves the atmosphere at Donegal High School.

And largely because of Kloster's 26 points and 12 rebounds, the 10th-seeded Bobcats upended Donegal for the second time in as many seasons, including a 53-48 victory Wednesday night in the District 3 AAA first round.

The win pits Northeastern (16-8) against No. 3 West Perry (21-3) in the quarterfinals, a 39-29 winner against Northern Lebanon Wednesday night.

That game will be played at East Pennsboro High School in Enola at noon Saturday.

Meanwhile, the season once again comes to a close for No. 6 Donegal (19-6) with a hard-to-swallow home loss to the Bobcats, including last season's double-overtime defeat in the district preliminaries.

"It's probably the best atmosphere for girls' basketball that I've ever seen," Kloster said of facing the Indians. "It's definitely really fun to play (here). As soon as they get a little lead, (the fans) start cheering really loud."

The Indians' faithful had a lot to cheer about in the second quarter, as Donegal stormed all the way back from a 16-4 first-quarter deficit to take a 24-21 lead at halftime. Nine second-quarter rebounds by Indians' senior Kristen Stark (eight points) gave her 12 rebounds at the break and fueled Donegal's transition offense.

"We definitely tried to focus on that at halftime," Kloster said. "We said, 'She can't get the ball anymore, we have to get the rebounds.'

"That's what got us the lead back."

With the Indians playing most of the second half without leading scorer Rachel Robinson (11 points) because of an allergic reaction after being poked in the eye, Kloster and company outscored Donegal, 11-0, in the first 5:48 of the third quarter.

"Basically we just went into (halftime) relaxed," said Bobcats coach Bill Novak. "We asked them what we needed to do (to win)."

Opening the second half, senior Payton Hauck (16 points) scored inside off a feed from Kloster before the junior forward asserted herself with 10 points, including 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Senior point guard Ashley Meyer (11 points) also added one of two 3's during the run.

Donegal mounted a late charge to close to within 36-33 entering the fourth, fueled by guards Kayla Walker (14 points) and Olivia Musser (seven points). But the Indians would get no closer as Hauck drilled a 3-pointer to open the final quarter.

"It's difficult to win games when you can't keep that momentum going," Indians' head coach Chadd Ward said.

Especially when Kloster and her teammates were having so much fun.

"It's a great feeling. All we did, we had to make a run, we played a great during the season, let's finish it off here, we did it for our seniors, because this could have been there last game, so we didn't want it to be their last game."

Northeastern (53)

Jordyn Kloster 8 10-13 26, Payton Hauck 6 3-5 16, Ashley Meyer 3 3-4 11, K. Meyer 0 0-0 0, Pace 0 0-0 0, Anderson 0 0-0 0, Schroter 0 0-0 0.

Totals — 17 16-22 53.

Donegal (48)

Kayla Walker 6 2-5 14, Rachel Robinson 5 1-1 11, Stark 4 0-0 8, Musser 3 0-0 7, M. Diffenderfer 1 4-4 6, C. Diffenderfer 1 0-0 2, Willing 0 0-0 0.

Totals — 20 7-10 48.

Northeastern1651517—53Donegal420915—48

3-point goals — Ne 3 (A. Meyer 2, Hauck). Don 1 (Musser).