NORTHAMPTON – A rockfight of a ballgame saw Northampton and Reading combine for only 55 points through the first three quarters Friday night, and then the teams promptly erupted for 43 total points in the fourth quarter alone.

Embedded in that outburst, though, Northampton used a key 11-2 run to overturn a one-point deficit and held Reading without a field goal for over three minutes. That allowed the Blue Devils to turn the game and advance through the girls MIAA Division 2 Round of 32 with a 51-47 victory at Feiker Gym.

Northampton (17-5), the No. 9 seed in Division 2, advanced to a Round of 16 game at eighth-seeded Westwood (15-6), at a date and time still undetermined as of Friday night.

"It's about playing defense and making shots, and we were finally able to make some shots," said Blue Devils coach Perry Messer. "They're big, they're long, and they protected the basket. We got some great play from our sophomores tonight."

Emme Calkins (15 points), Anna Oravec (13) and Bri Heafey (11) led the Northampton offense. Charlotte Robichaud scored a game-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers, to pace the 24th-seeded Rockets (13-9).

Reading led 9-8 after one quarter and Northampton edged ahead 17-16 at the break. The Rockets then opened the third quarter on a 7-2 run to take their widest lead at 23-19.

Calkins scored nine of the Blue Devils' 11 third-quarter points, including a 3-pointer. Northampton tallied the last two baskets of the quarter, by Makayla Fydenkevez and Calkins, to go up 28-27, then got a left-elbow 3-pointer from Oravec and a free throw by Teagan McDonald to make it 32-27, the hosts' largest lead of the night at that point. Behind 3-balls from Abby Strong and Molly Trahan (13 points), Reading edged back in front, 35-34, with 4:58 remaining.

Northampton applied the defensive clamps from there, mounting its own slow run with a tying free throw by Oravec and two more at the line from Fydenkevez. Heafey stuck a right-elbow 3-pointer to make it 40-35. Emma Moore hit a pair of free throws for Reading, but Fydenkevez popped a foul-line jumper and Heafey hit a foul shot and a drive in the lane as Northampton powered in front 45-37 and forced a Rockets timeout with 2:01 remaining.

Strong answered with a jumper from on top, Reading's first basket in 3:14. Heafey then made two freebies and McDonald scored on the fast break to put the Blue Devils out of danger, 49-39, at the 59-second mark.

Robichaud dropped a pair of 3-pointers inside the final 17 seconds to pull Reading closer.

The Blue Devils helped their cause with a healthy advantage at the foul line, outscoring Reading 14-2 at the stripe, but still left 11 points on the floor in a 14-of-25 night.

Northampton has some recent history at Westwood, having played a neutral-site Division 2 quarterfinal game there in 2024 in which the Blue Devils beat Walpole, and a 2022 loss to the Wolverines in the Round of 32.