EPC Championship
Emmaus 59, Bethlehem Catholic 37(Photo Gallery, Broadcast)
Two messages have rung strong time and time again for head coach Avon Mack Jr.’s squad. Going 1-0 and playing solid defense. The latter led to the former Thursday night at the PPL Center, as Emmaus took home its first conference title in 18 years.
“We defend the perimeter. If you look all season, not too many people got that many 3’s off on us. We’re not sinking in the lane. We’re not giving open shots. Even if you do take a 3, it’s going to be contested, and we’ll live with those results. They were ready for the moment. They knew what it would take. It speaks to our program.”
Defend the perimeter they did. As Emmaus’ lead grew throughout the game, the Golden Hawks remained scoreless from beyond the arc despite averaging five per game coming in.
The Green Hornets came out firing on all cylinders. Cassie Doemling cleaned up a Snyder missed trey and drew a foul to take the early 3-0 lead. Sofie Laird put Emmaus up 5-0 with a jumper following a Hawks turnover, one of five turnovers in the first quarter forced by the team in green. Emma Nacarrato got involved early, extending the lead to 7-0. Bethlehem Catholic would go nearly the first four minutes before registering their first field goal, a layup by Mikaila Brooks.
The Golden Hawks were not immediately down and out, as they clawed back to take a 10-9 lead in the opening quarter. Brooks had two more layups in those opening eight minutes, picking up where she left off from a career high 18-point night in the semifinals. However, she would not score again the rest of the way.
Gabbe DeVita was the first player to drain a triple on the night, part of her 11-point first half. Emmaus took a 16-14 lead and from there, would go on a run. She switched hands on her next shot and drained a layup. Bethlehem Catholic had more turnover trouble in the second quarter netting just two more scores.
Sylvia Sokolofski made the lead 20-14, becoming the sixth Hornet to score in the opening half. Over the final two minutes of the second quarter, Emmaus went on a 7-2 run, providing the separation they needed. Kayla Snyder drew a foul on a tough shot in the lane and converted on an and-one opportunity. At 26-18 and then 29-20 at the half, Emmaus was beginning to pull away.
Each coach went to a bit of an unknown late in the second quarter and into the third. For Bethlehem Catholic, Aliyah Brame saw her first action since an injury in December had kept her sidelined. She scored a bucket in the second quarter.
For Emmaus, it was freshman Gracie Ervin. The freshman was a big contributor in the third quarter, scoring four points. She was a bit nervous going into the game, but powered through it.
“I was really scared, but I tried not to think about it and just play my game. I knew earlier today[that I’d be playing] before we came to the game, [coach Mack] said ‘get ready to play defense.’”
Kayla Snyder drained two triples in the third quarter, helping widen the gap to 48-31, despite the Hawks cutting the lead to five midway. The Hawks had further opportunities to trim the lead, but went dry from the field, despite a strong sense of urgency.
Over the final three minutes of the quarter, Emmaus went on a 14-2 run that was very similar to their 13-0 run over Parkland Monday night. DeVita’s corner trey put the lead back to ten points at 39-29. The final nine points went to the Hornets, as they put the hammer down on the game. Ervin put one back and drew a foul; Nacarrato snagged the missed free throw and put it back in for a quick four points. Kayla Snyder slammed the door with her second 3-ball of the quarter.
“I feel amazing. These ladies are responsible for it all. We just set the standard and they bought into it day in and day out. They held each other accountable. I just can’t say enough about the way they played. They played amazingly and they deserved it.” Head coach Avon Mack is ready to go 1-0 in Emmaus’ next game, which will be against Northampton. He was extremely pleased with his team’s play and that of Gabby DeVita, as well: “4 is special. She’s one of those players you can coach hard; [she] doesn’t take offense to it, because she knows I’m just trying to better her. These last two games, she fought.”
Gabby DeVita, with hardware in hand, expressed how it felt to be a league MVP, tournament MVP, and conference hampion, “Definitely a lot of pressure, but it’s a great feeling. All my hard work is showing. I’m proud and I’m proud of my teammates getting to this point. “It’s a great feeling. We’ve been putting in the work. Just to come out here to show that we wanted it and we got it. Just being able to see our names in our gym now is going to be great. Now we have the confidence and know what we can do…so going into districts I think we’ll advance and we’ll do good.” As it usually is for Emmaus, the key was defending. “Definitely just our defense and getting the ball in transition and slowing down and staying in control.”
She was excited to see Gracie Ervin get some time on the court: “It was great watching her come off the bench and light up the game, it brought a lot of energy and was amazing to see.”
Bethlehem Catholic head coach Arnold Alleyne knows how good Emmaus is and knows his team will improve entering districts. “You know what, credit to them. They played a good game. Emmaus, they were strong and stuck to their game plan. We’ll get better. We learn from this. I’ll get better and, as a team, we’ll continue to grow.”
Colonial Championship
Notre Dame Green Pond 58, Northwestern Lehigh 53(OT)(Photo Gallery)
Ava Shonk “I think just knowing coach had expectations of us, I knew what I had to do and just being aggressive to the basket and taking the shots I was comfortable taking.”
“A lot of times at practice we’ve been working on our poise and just keeping control of the ball for situations like this.”
The last time that the Crusaders and Tigers met, it was a 55-35 Tigers victory that was never close. That was six weeks ago. And a lot can happen in six weeks.
Head coach Josh Kopp talked about the change from the first meeting to now, “Good thing you don’t hand out trophies on January 3rd. It showed we had a lot of work to do; we had a lot of work to talk about not only on the court, but off the court. Chemistry matters, cohesiveness matters, and I think we showed a lot of growth as a team over the last seven days. Boy did they respond and grow up in a big way here in the last couple weeks.”
Ava Shonk summed it up nicely, “I think our energy and playing together as a team–we’ve grown a lot throughout the season to pull off what we needed to today.”
Both teams came out hot. Notre Dame Green Pond got four triples in the first eight minutes, including a left-wing shot from Emily Lessig that put the Crusaders up 8-5. Ella Schweitzer’s buzzer-beating trey stopped a 10-0 Northwestern Lehigh run. As part of that run, Natalie Conner scored twice in the final minute, drawing a foul and adding the free throw with :15 left. She scored ten in the quarter and Northwestern led 17-15.
Last year, the Crusaders were held to 20 points in a 34-20 loss to Palmerton and hit only one shot from beyond the arc. This year, they had 29 by halftime to go with seven 3-balls.
The second quarter started with an Emma Freeman triple, extending a 13-3 run and the lead to 20-15. However, the next seven went to the Crusaders, capped off when Lessig made a sweet pass right under the basket to Riley Boyle who put it up and in.
The Tigers ran into some first half turnover trouble, losing the ball nine times. Conversely, the Crusaders turned it over just twice in the opening half. NDGP. Ava Shonk blasted home to 3-pointers within 20 seconds late to propel the Crusaders to a 29-25 halftime lead. Despite shooting 68% from the field, the Tigers trailed due to those lost possessions.
There was no real movement in the game during the third quarter. In fact, Notre Dame increased their lead to 40-32. Colonial League MVP Cara Thomas scored five of the Tigers’ seven third quarter points. Ava Hobbie capped the scoring in the quarter with a layup.
Coach Kopp got great minutes from Riley Boyle, as well. She scored early in the fourth on a midrange jumper from the right side. But the Tigers were not going to go away quietly.
Brook Balliet picked a ball off in the backcourt and scored, making the NDGP lead 44-41 with 5:30 to play in regulation. Ninety seconds later, the score was the same, but the Tigers were suddenly in trouble. Thomas picked a pass and was racing down the court for a layup, but was called for the charge and her fifth foul.
As time wound down, Northwestern trailed 47-44 with :12 to play. The Crusaders had fouls to give, but Emma Freeman got her 3-point opportunity and made it count from the left wing to tie the ballgame at 47.
“I said in that first half, this will be a game of runs. Northwestern doesn’t have 22 wins by accident–they can score a lot of points. But what I never saw was any discouragement. They kept their composure. Our kids could’ve held their heads knowing we had that game won in regulation. But we didn’t. Ava Shonk decided ‘I’m gonna drive it to the hoop and finish this layup’ and I think that set the tone for how we’re going to have overtime go.”
Ava Shonk was the Crusaders’ catalyst in overtime. Off the opening tip, she drove the lane and scored. On the next offensive possession, she did the same, drawing a foul. She would end up accounting for seven of her team’s 11 points in the extra session.
Coach Kopp talked about the change from last year to this year and coming out on time after last season’s silver medal.”That’s a lesson learned last year. Sometimes when you have a group that hasn’t been in that type of game, they need to experience what a championship game is all about. Last year’s loss propelled us to a district championship; it also prepared us for this moment again. I knew that we had a really good vibe on the bus, at practice yesterday. I felt really good about where our mindset was and, man, did we come out in that first quarter and explode. From that point on, we just really took control of the game, save for a couple turnovers at the end of regulation. I’m just really proud of them how they persevered.”
“At this point, you’ve kind of seen it all. You kind of know they need reassurance. They need to know there’s going to be somebody on the sideline that’s going to give them guidance and reassurance. We worked all season long about the importance of poise and the importance of keeping composure, and it’s paid off.”
“She’s[Brenna Hammerstone] such a hard-nosed kid. This is a kid that makes winning plays. I can’t say enough about the mentality that she has. She’s shown a lot of growth. Her effort is always going to be there and when she has an open look, she has the green light every time.”
Ava Shonk led her team in scoring with 15 points. Emily Lessig had 14. Hammerstone followed with 13 on four timely triples throughout the game. Riley Boyle added seven, making three of her four second half free throws along the way.
In defeat, Natalie Conner led the Tigers with 13. Cara Thomas scored 12, moving her career total to 1,487. Both teams will be the top seed in their respective classifications entering district play next week.
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