By SCOTT NOVAK
Niles Daily Star

The Niles varsity basketball team spent time this week trying to recharge themselves.
Kevin Touhey, brother of Vikings coach Patrick Touhey, came in and worked with the team on feeling better about themselves and getting back to the reasons why they love to play the game of basketball.

It must have worked because Niles came out and rolled to a 65-44 Big 16 Conference non-divisional victory over visiting Portage Northern Friday night.

“We’ve been feeling very drained the two or three games that we played,” Touhey said. “We were beginning to get a little bit tired, a little bit burned out and I had my brother Kevin came in to do some work this week with our kids in refocusing their passion and why they love to play this game and why they love to be with each other.

“The meeting we had in that room really got these kids fired up to play tonight. They released so much negative energy and got refocused on what they really love about really doing this.”

Touhey followed that up with a practice where he just rolled the ball out and let the kids play the game.

“What we had was 20 minutes of kids laughing and 20 minutes of kids having a great time. They came in tonight really ready to play this game. This work that my brother does, and this is the second year he has come in, you just can’t measure how effective it is,” he added.
The Vikings (9-3) certainly came out ready to play.

Niles jumped out to a 17-12 first quarter lead and built it up to 33-23 with a run late in the first half.

In the third quarter, the Vikings turned it up yet another notch and broke the game open.
A 10-point lead quickly turned into a 20-point bulge and by the end of the third quarter Niles had a 58-37 advantage on the Lady Huskies.

Alex McIntee and Nichole Sly led the charge in the third quarter.

McIntee hit a couple of 3-pointers, while Sly tossed in nine of her 11 points.

Niles and Portage Northern both scored seven points in the final eight minutes.

Jenna Grannell and Gabby Ezell both got the Vikings off to a great start by scoring a combined nine points in the opening quarter.

Grannell finished with a team-high 13 points, while Ezell finished with 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals.

Sly collected a team-high nine rebounds, dished out five assists and had two steals.
Maureen Craig finished with 10 points, two rebounds, two assists and four steals, while McIntee had five assists and two steals.

Niles is back in action on Tuesday night as it hosts South Bend St. Joseph.

PORTAGE NORTHERN 44
Natalie McClish 3 0-0 7; Casey Shauman 1 0-2 3; Kristen Pezzoli 0 0-0 0; Ashley Wilson 7 2-3 16; Charissa Borgman 0 0-0 0; Natasha Searles 0 0-0 0; Lizz Cardwell 0 0-0 0; Shelby Bridges 1 0-0 3; Jesselyn Leach 1 0-0 2; Laura Glass 4 3-6 13; Sydney Black 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 5-11 44
NILES 65
Savannah Wolnik 1 2-5 4; Alex McIntee 2 2-2 8; Brittany Buti 0 0-0 0; Gabby Ezell 4 0-0 10; Maureen Craig 3 0-2 10; Nichole Sly 5 1-1 11; Whitney Ellis 2 0-0 4; Taylor Glick 2 0-0 5; Jenna Grannell 6 1-2 13; Kelsey Crago 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25 8-12 65

Portage 12 23 37 44
Niles 17 33 58 65
3-point baskets: Portage Northern 5 (McClish 1, Shauman 1, Bridges 1, Glass 2), Niles 7 (McIntee 2, Ezell 2, Craig 2, Glick 1). Total fouls: Portage Northern 12, Niles 11. Fouled out: None. Varsity record: Niles 9-3