Fans of the Northampton girls basketball program have enjoyed a sustained run of teams that year-in and year-out are contenders to win a district or league title. The K-Kids have not missed the postseason since the 2014-2015 campaign.

However, the graduations of EPC MVP Grace Lesko and number two scorer Nicole Yellen and other key senior starters left the program facing a rebuilding year.

Head coach Jeff Jacksits spoke about the team’s inexperience, “Jenna (Raysely) played a little bit at the end of last year. She was getting in in spots. Not full-time. Annie (Beenders) took over when Christman got hurt. Annie has a half a year of experience and everyone else has barely anything. It’s going to take a while to develop.”

On Tuesday, the neophyte Kids brought a 1-2 record into their game with EPC West rival Allentown Central Catholic (minus top player Molly Driscoll) looking for an upset and they gave a good accounting of themselves.

Northampton’s matchup zone confused the Vikettes in the first quarter leading to 5 turnovers and 2 for 10 shooting. Meanwhile, Beenders knocked down a couple of threes on her way to 8 points in the period to stake the K-Kids to a 10-5 lead at the first buzzer.

However, Central came out of the break having made some adjustments and proceeded to go on a 12-0 run to start the quarter on way to turning the Kids’ 5-point lead into a 9-point deficit by halftime.

Both teams struggled offensively after the intermission and the margin remained 9 with under a minute left in the third quarter. Isabella Pecuch scored a bucket with 52 seconds left in the period and a Dalani Petties’ steal and score in the backcourt with 3 ticks to go breathed new life into the crowd and the game as Northampton only found itself down 28-23 going to the final 8 minutes.

The K-Kids found themselves down 8 with just over a minute remaining in the game and forced to send the Vikettes to the charity stripe. Central made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch, offsetting a pair of treys by Tatianna Sanchez that kept Northampton clinging to hope. Final score: 41-35.

Beenders led the Kids with 14 points. Sanchez, a senior coming off 2 ACL injuries, scored a varsity career-high of 10. Petties and Pecuch both had 4 points. Kylie Eberts scored 3.