The Mathews High School varsity girls’ basketball team dropped an exciting contest on Friday night against the Northumberland Lady Indians.  Facing a 20-4 halftime deficit, head coach Tommy Eriksen pleaded with his players to not give up on either end of the court.

Mathews had many turnovers in the first half and could not get the ball in the basket. However, the home team returned in the third quarter and played every defensive play as if it was its last. The Blue Devils hit a couple of three pointers and caused Northumberland to turn the ball over with aggressive defense to cut the lead to five with two minutes to play.

However, the comeback fell short as the Lady Indians escaped with a 38-31 victory. 

Against the Lady Indians, Whitney Eriksen led the effort with nine points, while Savannah Wooten, Taylor South and Emily Brown added four points each. Rounding out the scoring were Madison Owens (three points), Hunter Thomas, Madison S...