Northampton and Liberty were the top two teams at the Tony Iasiello Memorial Girls Wrestling Tournament over the holiday break. The two squads squared off in Pete Schneider Gymnasium last Wednesday in an entertaining dual meet that was still in doubt until the final bout was over.

The K-Kids trailed 36-33 going into a match up of state-ranked wrestlers at 235, Dani Glaser for the Kids and Addyson Munro for the Hurricanes. Glaser was persistent in her efforts to pull off an outside trip to send her opponent to her back, but it was ultimately the Liberty senior who got the pin to clinch the dual.

Madison Bara kicked the night off with a wild match that she led 11-9 after one period and eventually won by fall. After a pair of forfeits and a Jaida Onyango tech fall, the K-Kids led 23-0.

Liberty scored four straight pins to take a 24-23 lead with 5 bouts remaining.

A pin by Jerailda Esteban at 148 offset a Northampton forfeit at 155. Mylea Lambert continued her domination of state medalist Gracie Haflich with a 10-1 major decision to give the K-Kids their final lead, 33-30.

“When I looked at the comparison, I thought they were like 13-point favorites over us,” said Northampton head coach Joe Tocci. “I had three matches marked as tossups. We won Gigi (Esteban) at 148. She’s only wrestled a few bouts, but I bumped her up and she got the pin and that gave us a shot, although we fell short.”

On Saturday, the team is at Liberty High School for the EPC Girls Wrestling Invitational. They seem poised to outperform their ninth-place finish at last year’s inaugural event. Lambert is the defending champion at 170. Glaser finished second to Munro last year and Jaida Onyango was fourth.

Liberty 42, Northampton 33

100 - Madison Bara (N) pinned Leila Matejcek (L) 4:33, 106 - Eliza Wendling (N) won by forfeit, 112 - Taylor Sipel (N) won by forfeit, 118 - Jaida Onyango (N) tf. Sadie Sedlock (L) 17-1 4:47, 124 - Kierha Castillo (L) pinned Gabriela Chevere (N) 1:05, 130 - Doniya Anwari (L) pinned Jessenia Lucas-Collis (N) 0:41, 136 - Luisyana Ortiz (L) pinned Allison Rounsaville (N) 2:37, 142 - Lidia Whistleon (L) pinned Lillian Breidinger (N) 0:31, 148 - Jerailda Esteban (N) pinned London Tyler (L) 5:05, 155 - Leena Cruz (L) won by forfeit, 170 - Mylea Lambert (N) maj. dec. Gracie Haflich (L) 10-1, 190 - Ellie Rumbalski (L) pinned Camryn Birosik (N) 1:49, 235 - Addyson Munro (L) pinned Danielle Glaser (N) 3:46