Lady Jags Basketball blasts Rockets in home opener, 71-41

The Northridge Lady Jags opened the 2026 basketball season at The Ridge on Monday night, hosting the Gardendale Rockets. Northridge opened up an early lead and never looked back. After holding a 10-point lead at the half, the Lady Jags continued their trademark full court press to open the second half and overwhelmed the visitors to stretch that lead to 30 points after three quarters. When the final horn sounded, the Lady Jags walked away with at 71-41 home-opener win.

In the first quarter, Northridge had a 19-5 lead with under a minute to play. But, the Gardendale added four points with under a minute remaining to close the lead to 19-9 after one quarter.

The second saw both teams add 12 points, resulting in a 31-21 lead for the Lady Jags at halftime.

Then came the third quarter. Northridge turned up the heat with their trademark press and got hot from the field. The result was a 29-9 run that resulted in a 30-point lead after three quarters, 60-30.

Several clean jerseys saw action in the final quarter for Northridge. Both teams were able to score 11 points to close out the game, with the final coming in at 71-41 in favor of our favorite team.

Nola Gillespie led the Lady Jags with 16 points. Milly Arsenault added 15 points. Taylor Ivory and Za’Niyah Hudson rounded out the double digit category with 13 and 11 points, respectively. La’Miah Foy finished with nine points and Raley Hoggle had three points. Khloe King and JaMiya Rice collected two points apiece.

Gillespie also collected five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Ivory had four assists and four steals. Foy led the way with nine rebounds and also had four steals. Hudson finished with four rebounds. And Hoggle collected five steals.