Northgate’s Isaiah Driscoll (No. 34) tries to shoot past a couple Quakers, while Mackenzie Quinn (No. 22) moves in during the Flames’ 62-52 loss Tuesday night. Photo by Tom Steiner for The Citizen

By MEL PERKINS

The Northgate Flames continued their downward slide Tuesday night when they lost a valuable section game to the Quakers from Quaker Valley. The Flames entered Tuesday's game with a 3 - 5 record overall, 1 - 1 in section play, and trying to bounce back from their two losses in the Mars Tournament on Dec.27 and 28.

Northgate opened up the tournament the first night with a 71 - 61 loss to Mars, and the second night they lost a close, hard-fought battle, with their rivals from across the river, as they fell 67 - 62 to the Vikings from Sto-Rox in the consolation game.

The Flames' last win came on Dec. 23, when they scored 53 points and held the Springdale Dynamos to 25 points. Jon Girvin and Dave Natale led Northgate to victory as they both scored in double figures. Girvin led the team with 18 points, and Natale followed by adding 11points.

Northgate burst onto the court Tuesday night with a sense of urgency. The Flames, sporting a fresh look on their starting line-up, called on Isaiah Driscoll and Dylan Muller to go into battle against the Quakers.

Coach Perry Harrop had the Flames open up in a 2-3 zone defense, and they pressured Quaker Valley with their 2-2-1 zone press to force some early turnovers.

The pressure and the intensity appeared to be working, as the Flames jumped out to a 7 - 0 lead. Harrop appeared to be catching lightening in a bottle, as Driscoll put up eight of his team-leading, 17 points in the first quarter.

Northgate would start the second quarter with a 17 - 13 lead, but the magic that Harrop had conjured up was losing its effect, and the Flames wouldn't find the basket until four minutes into the second quarter.

As Quaker Valley turned up their pressure defense, the turnovers began to mount for the Flames, and the Quakers took every opportunity to convert Northgate turnovers into Quaker Valley points.

Northgate had no answer for the 3-point shooting of the Quakers' Ben Stevenson, and the Flames would go into the locker room at halftime down 35-23.

The Flames would continue to unravel in the third quarter, as Quaker Valley would lead by 20 points most of the quarter. Northgate could not gain ground in the third quarter, as they were heavily out-rebounded by the Quakers. Also, Quaker Valley's constant pressure on defense put the Flames in a hole they could not dig themselves out of. The third quarter came to an end with the Flames down 33 - 56.

The Flames got more contributions on offense from Natale, who scored double-digit figures with 10 points, and Matt Lee who put up 8 points.

Quaker Valley never showed any signs of relinquishing their lead in the fourth quarter.

The Flames would close the gap to within 10 points, but the damage had already been done. With the final score Northgate 52 and Quaker Valley 62, the Quakers would hand the Flames their third consecutive loss.

After the game, Harrop said, "We thought we could give them a good game. Quaker Valley is a good team. It was a good defensive game. We'll be ready for the next game."