EPC Semifinals
Bethlehem Catholic 51, Nazareth 42(Photo Gallery)
Get it to the bigs inside. The classic basketball strategy worked to perfection for the Golden Hawks Monday night as the EPC tournament commenced at the PPL Center in downtown Allentown. Mikaila Brooks shone bright on the big stage.
Perhaps it was foreshadowing of things to come when Leah Ault took the opening tip and crashed through the lane for the opening bucket. Shortl after, DJ Jones hit a triple from the left side, showing that depth perception in the large venue wasn’t going to be a problem for a team that enjoys shooting the long ball.
The Hawks turned the Blue Eagles over eight times in the first quarter en route to building their lead. Mikaila Brooks showed her first of several buckets on the night when she scored in transition to extend an early lead to 16-7.
Tri-County MVP Renee Wells was not without her own bright spots. Catching a great bounce pass inside, she laid it up and in. She accounted for five of her team’s nine first quarter points. After one, Bethlehem Catholic led 20-9. Nia Bush got it to go at the buzzer to cap a powerful first eight minutes.
Leah Ault was on fire in the first half, scoring eight points and laying one in with :30 left in the second. Peyton Long came up huge for Nazareth, hitting her first and only deep shot with under ten seconds left. As the halftime horn sounded, Beca was leading 30-18. Nazareth turned it over 12 times in the half, while the Golden Hawks had lost just two possessions. This resulted in Beca attempting 29 shots versus just 15 for Nazareth.
Palin Coleman went inside for an early third quarter score, making Beca’s lead 32-18, the largest of the night. Nazareth was able to find their footing and go on a bit of a three-point barrage, with long balls from Alexa Davis, Maddie Ott and Carly Brown. Nazareth cut the deficit to six after three quarters.
Brooks scored the next four buckets for her team on four layups that were nearly identical. She would score ten of the Hawks’ 21 points in the second half. Three of those came in the fourth quarter, to keep Nazareth at bay.
Nazareth, despite sinking seven triples, was unable to overcome their first half turnover struggles. Mikaila Brooks was the only Hawk to score off the bench, but racked up 18 points to lead all scorers. Outstanding freshman Palin Coleman scored 11 and Leah Ault added 10. In the loss, Renee Wells had 12.
Head coach Arnold Alleyne was asked about the dominant performance throughout most of the evening, “We had a strong game plan using things to our advantage; I’m just proud of the girls executing and playing well together.”
He continued, talking about Mikaila Brooks and her 18-point night: “She has a size advantage and she’s been working on her game; I’m proud she was able to show it off at the PPL Center.”
His message to his team when Nazareth cut the deficit to two possessions in the fourth quarter was to keep calm and keep playing fundamentally. “Let’s settle and stick to the gameplan. We don’t have to do anything different, let’s just do what we’re good at. After we called a timeout, I told them ‘stay together, we’ll execute on defense and it’s going to work itself out. Let’s not get rattled.”
Bethlehem Catholic used several different defenders, including Leah Ault, on Renee Wells. Coach talked about how to attack Wells, “She’s an MVP of the league, so you really cant’ guard her with one person. So you have to continue to keep an eye on her–she has a high motor. I told them collectively we’ll share the responsibility and weather the storm.”
Mikaila Brooks was asked about her career night on the big stage: “We worked really hard to get to this moment. It was a little tricky, but we’ve been waiting for this moment and we did it. We had a really good connection. The girls found me a lot and they knew if they lob it up, I’m going to catch it and I’m going to put it up. We work on it a lot in practice.”
At the time, their championship opponent was not known, but Brooks seemed to know what may be coming Thursday when she mentioned the Green Hornets, “It’s going to be a rough game. We lost to Emmaus but it was a good matchup we had.”
Emmaus 57, Parkland 44(Photo Gallery, Broadcast)
The Emmaus Green Hornets completed an unbeaten regular season in the EPC, defeating their archrival Parkland twice in that run, 42-36 and 53-49. How fitting, then, that after rolling over Central Catholic in the quarterfinals, Emmaus would meet their nemesis one more time on the big stage at the PPL Center for a chance to go to the title game. One year ago, Parkland trounced Emmaus on the same court 55-35 to claim an EPC title.
This time, Emmaus was determined to topple the Trojans and get back to the championship game. All season long, head coach Avon Mack Jr. has gotten his girls to play like a well-oiled machine, with everyone knowing and, more importantly, humbly accepting their roles on both ends.
It was Sarah Car that scored first on a bucket inside for the Trojans. She was answered quickly by Kayla Snyder’s shot off the window. Those would be the only two points of the quarter for both players, but Snyder would go on to have herself a game. The teams traded two more baskets from Chilcote and DeVita, showing no early butterflies on the PPL Center’s court. Sylvia Sokolofski pulled up for a 3-ball on Emmaus’ third possession and drained it home, just her sixth of the entire season, giving Emmaus a 7-4 lead. Parkland continued to run a patient, deliberate offense, but Emmaus was aggressive in transition, trying to push the pace. Four minutes in, the score remained 7-4 Hornets.
Parkland missed their first four shots from range and Sylvia Sokolofski blocked an Isabella Hallal shot along the way, adding to three key early boards. Delaney Chilcote hit the first triple of the night for Parkland, cutting the early deficit to 9-7 late in the opening quarter. DeVita’s deep shot at the buzzer put Emmaus on top 12-9 after one.
Emmaus had another chance to build a large lead in the second quarter. Emma Nacarrato got involved with her jumper to extend her team’s lead to 14-9. Snyder stole the next possession and layed it in on the other end. It was quickly 16-9. A Snyder floater moved the lead to 18-9.
Parkland was in need of offense, and head coach Ed Ohlson called a timeout as the drought extended to over four minutes. Olive Whitney got going with her first 3-ball of the night and Parkland was in trouble, down 21-9.
Fortunately for the Trojans, they closed the half on a 13-5 run. Aneri McGalla pulled up for a triple and hit it home. Fritzinger got two to go from beyond the arc in the final 2:26 of the half.
Emmaus led 26-22 at the half. In the previous two meetings, Parkland led at the half and had lost the game, something that the Green Hornets were surely cognizant of.
First-team all-star Delaney Chilcote scored seven in the third quarter, helping her team match two treys from Kayla Snyder who moved her game total to 15 points. The second half was nip and tuck and nearly even. After three, Emmaus led 38-36. Emmaus had settled for many one-and-done possessions, being kept outside for long 3-point chances which, for the most part, did not go down. Emmaus shot 2/11 from beyond the arc in the quarter.
With Parkland leading 40-38 with 6:00 to play in the game, Emmaus had one more big run in them. A DeVita layup and monster shot by Olive Whitney, along with multiple Trojans turnovers, spurred a 15-0 Hornets streak to slam the door.
Kayla Snyder finished her big night with 21 points.
Head coach Avon Mack was asked about the keys to victory as the game tightened in the second half. “Defense. We locked in and in that fourth quarter you saw it take place. We’ve been here before. We’re battle tested and that’s the good thing about playing those games that we played. You’ve got to lock in and focus. Nothing’s going to be given to you–you have to go and take it.”
On getting contributions up and down his lineup: “That’s what happens sometimes–you never know who’s going to step up and play a pivotal role.”
This was also coach Mack’s first time coaching in the PPL Center, “I love it. A little cold in here; you can definitely tell it’s a hockey rink, but it’s a great experience. It’s some things they’ll remember going throughout their lives. We’ll enjoy this and prep to go 1-0 again on Thursday.”
Kayla Snyder commented on her big night and beating a big rival on a big stage, “I mean it’s huge. It’s really exciting for us especially since we lost to them here last year. I feel like it’s a big win for us. It was huge this year because we wanted to get our redemption against them. We wanted to come out with the intensity that we have all year. I feel like we had a lot of defensive energy after that third quarter, so I felt like we came out with a lot of intensity in the fourth.”
Gabby DeVita also talked about the win and how her team responded in the fourth quarter: “Getting the timeout and getting composed and telling each other we had to communicate and coming together as a team helped us push through. We definitely like to get the deflections; getting in the gaps and reading the court is going to help us keep going and keep pushing. It’s definitely exciting. We lost to them last year in the championship, so coming out this year and proving that we’re here to stay is a good feeling.”
“From the starting five and from the bench, players just coming out and putting points up or locking down on defense–overall as a team just being able to do all that will build our momentum and keep us going.”
Colonial Semifinals
Notre Dame GP 42, Palmerton 25
Palmerton, fresh off of back-to-back 50-point performances against Northwestern Lehigh and a rout of Catasauqua, entered the semifinals hungry for a rematch with the Crusaders. However, their four game win streak was halted as Notre Dame Green Pond went on a 3-point barrage to seaprate themselves early from the Blue Bombers. Head coach Josh Kopp’s team went on to knock down eight triples on the night, starting with two from Ava Shonk and one from Brenna Hammerstone in the first quarter. While the Crusaders sank nine field goals in the half, they held the Bombers to nine for the game. Ava Shonk scored ten points. Hammerstone added nine on three treys and Lessig also had nine. In the loss, Mikayla Pengelly had ten and Courtney Connell six. Notre Dame Green Pond now meets top seeded Northwestern Lehigh Friday night at Freedom for the Colonial title game. The only regular season meeting went to the Tigers, 55-35, just after the New Year holiday.
Northwestern Lehigh 75, Pen Argyl 38
Speaking of the Tigers and big wins, they put another league opponent on their list. After a 72-33 victory over the Green Knights on January 9th, they rolled once again in the semifinals. A 60 point first half buried Pen Argyl, behind 21 from Natalie Conner and 20 from Colonial MVP Cara Thomas. The two went on to finish with 23 and 22 points resepctively. All in all, Northwestern Lehigh made 26 field goals, eight from beyond the arc. Julia Vargo scored 20 for the Green Knights, but Pen Argyl was overmatched all night long. Northwestern Lehigh has now scored at least 70 points in three of their last five games and have clipsed the 60 point mark 13 times headed into the championship game Friday night.
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