Class 6A
Liberty 60, Nazareth 41(Photo Gallery)
“After our loss last time, I was not going to let my playoff run be ended by the same team–that’s not happening.”
Tula Sobrinski cane out firing in Liberty’s strong second half performance that lifted the Hurricanes to their third win in four tries against the Blue Eagles. She scored the first eight of the second half and ten of her team’s 22 in the third quarter, allowing Liberty to take full control.
Early on, Ava Kopetskie scored the first six points of the contest. It took the all-star just two minutes to put Liberty on top 6-0, showing off her mid-range jumper.
That’s when Nazareth went on a 17-6 run, bolstered by the Blue Eagles’ own all-star, Renee Wells. She fired off eight points in the opening frame, including a corner triple and jumper in the lane. The Eagles hit five of six first quarter free throws and led 17-12 early in the second after Karly Leszcynski hit from range.
Nazareth would extend their lead to 22-15, despite Wells scoring two points in the quarter. Chloe Rummelhart stopped the bleeding with a putback and Kopetskie put in five straight to tie the game at 22.
At the halftime buzzer, Nazareth led 25-24. Alexa Davis hit from deep with 1:08 left to keep the Blue Eagles in front.
After halftime, everything changed. A 20-4 run began with eight straight from Tula Sobrinski, including two corner triples in transition. Her team then picked off a pass in the backcourt and she finished off the possession. Carly Brown and Leszcynski hit from range, scoring six of Nazareth’s seven points in the quarter, but Liberty had won the third 22-7 and led 46-32. For Liberty, their press was the magic to making the run happen. Nazareth turned the ball over 15 times on the night and made only four shots from the field in the second half. The Blue Eagles never found a rhythm.
With the large deficit, the Eagles had to foul. The Hurricanes sank all eight free throw chances down the stretch. Ava Kopetskie finished the game with 21 points. Sobrinski ended the night with 10. Anijah Davis dropped in 13
“During the first half, I didn’t perform how I wanted to, so I just used that as momentum to come out strong in the second half,” said Sobrinski of her game-changing third quarter run, “Every single one of my baskets was assisted, so together as a team we played great.”
She also commented on her team’s defense, “I think we’re a very fast team, so when we press, it creates chaos. That’s one of the main goals of our press to throw them off their game and we did that tonight.”
Head coach Jarrat Carnes commented on playing Nazareth for the fourth time and third consecutive game against the familiar opponent: “We knew that they were going to come out in their 1-3-1 or play lady-to-lady defense, so we worked on some things that could beat that and the rest was the girls giving 100% effort for four quarters.”
He continued about the second half press, “We reviewed that in the last regular season game it was working; we reviewed how they were breaking the press with their press breaks and we put the girls in spots where they should be and the girls just capitalized.”
Finally, he commented on Ava Kopetskie’s 21-point performance, “She leads this team and they follow her for sure. She gets everybody involved. She’s a great kid. This team–they love each other and the results are showing. She’s a dog and she’s going to fight.”
Liberty now faces Easton. That game will be played Tuesday night at Whitehall at 6:00.
Easton 30, Dieruff 20
In a very low scoring affair, Easton survived an upset bid by the Huskies. At the half, the Red Rovers led just 10-7 and there would be no double-digit scorers in the contest. Easton went to the line 23 times, hitting 18 of their free throws. Kourin Carew led all Rovers scoring with nine, and seven of those points came at the charity stripe. Jayla Rosario scored 11 of Dieruff’s 20. After three quarters, Dieruff had been held to ten points, trailing 20-10. Easton now advances to take on Liberty Tuesday night in the semifinals at Whitehall. The two split regular season meetings; Liberty won the first 42-32 and Easton snapped a nine game Hurricanes winning streak 48-43.
Emmaus 58, Northampton 30
In their only meeting of the season, Emmaus had no trouble getting by their quarterfinal opponent. Kayla Snyder scored a game-high 19 and Gabby DeVita added 13. By halftime, the Hornets had built a 33-15 lead and they were well on their way to a berth in the semifinals. Emmaus will face rival Parkland in the next round. The previous three meetings this season all went to the Hornets, most recently by 13 at the PPL Center. The fourth meeting will be for a spot in the DXI 6A title game against either Easton or Liberty.
Parkland 53, Stroudsburg 42
In their recent meeting at Parkland, the Trojans routed Stroudsburg 58-28. This meeting was much closer, as McKayla Strunk put up 21 points and 13 were added by her sister Teagan. However, an early lead melted away and Parkland began taking over in the second quarter. Three of the Trojans five starters scored in double figures, led by 15 from Aneri McGalla. Delaney Chilcote added 11 and Isabella Hallal tacked on ten. Parkland will now take on Emmaus and look to beat their bitter rival for the first time in four meetings this season.
Class 4A
Central Catholic 45, Tamaqua 31(Broadcast)
The Vikettes have been searching for more scoring balance for most of the season. Head coach kathy Davidowich knew they’d need it against one of the best teams the Schuylkill League had to offer. Unfortunately for the Blue Raiders, early turnover trouble and difficulty with the press would be their undoing.
Early on, Central Catholic had to settle for some three-point shots. Tamaqua had excellent inside defense out of the gate. The first points of the game came at the free throw line, as Lauren Ligenza knocked two down. Tamaqua entered the game having attempted nearly 450 free throws on the season, getting to the line 20 or more times in nine games.
Annika Spinosa quickly countered with a trey, only her tenth of the year. Tamaqua, meanwhile, had turned the ball over in the backcourt four times. Kolbe Robb hit a three-pointer of her own, just her fourth of the season, putting Tamaqua up early 5-3. Shamiya Roberts quickly countered from the top of the key. Milly Wolf added one of her own, giving Central a 9-7 lead. The Vikettes closed the first quarter on a 12-2 run, leading 15-7. Four Vikettes found their way into the scoring column. Morgan Seagreaves led the way with seven points, matching the number of Tamaqua turnovers.
Annika Spinosa banged home a triple to open the second quarter, extending the lead to 18-7. Kendle Miller, Tamaqua’s 3-point specialist, quickly fired back. Skylar Taylor scored the next bucket for the Vikettes, leading to a balanced effort from Central Catholic and becoming the fifth starter to find the scoring column.
Tamaqua trailed by double digits once again, but climbed back into the contest in the latter stages of the second quarter. Lauren Ligenza heated up with two shots and another Robb 3-pointer brought the Blue Raiders within five. Morgan Seagreaves hit her next two shots and turned Tamaqua over to push it back to a nine point lead. At the half, Central led 26-21.
Ligenza hit the first bucket of the third quarter, pulling the Blue Raiders to within three after trailing by as many as 12. However, Milly Wolf quickly hit from the corner. The Blue Raiders fought back and Sam Plasha and Millie Black both finished on two steals, cutting the lead to a point. However, the Blue Raiders would never take the lead. Skylar Taylor cleaned up a miss for the Vikettes to right themselves and lead 30-27, as Central finished the third on a 6-0 run.
“This was a really big game for us. We needed to come into this game better than ever. In practice, it’s been so much more intense; we needed to win this game and we came into this game ready to play,” Morgan Seagreaves talked about the victory for her team, “”Coming in, I just needed to play my game, and I did that.”
Seagreaves spoke on the team effort and the contributions by Annika Spinosa, “She was on fire. She has been working her butt off in practice, and I’m so proud of her and I’m so proud of our team–that was our game. Everybody played. Everybody touched the ball today and we worked as a team.”
Head coach Kathy Davidowich spoke at length about the win: “I thought today we came out strong. Our girls like to have a fast pace, so I thought our press got us moving a little bit. They had some good shooters that I didn’t expect to hit those threes.”
When asked about the long layoff between the EPC tournament and districts, she admitted it may have worked in the Vikettes’ favor, “If anything, the layoff actually helped us. We really worked on a lot of things; we cut down our turnovers today immensely, and so I think the break helped us a little bit.”
“Morgan came in today. You could see she was really focused. She played really good defense and played within what she needed to do. We really recognized at halftime and told her, ‘you have the speed against them, so if you have the opportunity, take it to the basket.’”
“With this young team, I told them, ‘this is what we’ve been waiting to see.’ They talked before the game. They expressed themselves, and that was my stress to them too. This is brand new. Pretend everything in the past is over. This gives you a whole new chance to gel as a team and we’re starting to work better together.”
The Vikettes will now face top seeded Northwestern Lehigh. Davidowich feels good about that game going in. “I think we matchup well with them.”
Palmerton 55, WIlson Area 41
The Blue Bombers opened up a large lead on the Warriors by halftime, leading 27-13 on their way to a quarterfinal victory. Hailey Barry knocked down four 3-pointers as part of her 14 points. Courtney Connell led her team with 18. On the other side, Julianna Bonham was held to eight points, the first time she had been in single digits for quite a while. Aby Colon scored 14 for Wilson, but the effort would not be enough. Palmerton will now face North Schuylkill, 41-24 winners over Lehighton. The two will play Wednesday night at Blue Mountain. Tip is set for 6:00.
Northwestern Lehigh 34, Blue Mountain 28
Colonial League MVP Cara Thomas and her fellow Tigers had their hands full in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs. The top seed survived a stiff challenge from the Eagles, who led by a point going into the fourth quarter.
The team that is no stranger to scoring in the 60s and 70s most of the season had just eight when the first quarter buzzer sounded. Six of those came by way of Thomas. Blue Mountain’s defense was able to stifle the Tigers’ inside game for most of the afternoon, additionally bolstered by Hannah Gober being unavailable for the game. After a quarter, Blue Mountain led 9-8.
Cara Thomas opened the second quarter with a triple, putting her team ahead 11-9 and upping her game total to nine. Thomas’ defense would then lead to a Paige Bissell bucket that increased the Northwestern lead to 13-9. Thomas quickly added another bucket as part of a 14-0 run. Thomas had 13 points by halftime. With under two minutes to play in the half, Northwestern seemed well on their way to a victory, leading 22-9.
Trailing 24-10, Blue Mountain had other ideas, storming back in the third quarter. Callie Peel began the run with a bucket inside, drawing a foul but missing the free throw. Mila Fleagle then hit a triple from the left side. Ruby Henninger hit from deep on the right side, opening up an 8-2 Eagles run and pulling Blue Mountain within 26-18. Henninger hit another triple, trimming the Tigers lead to five past the midway point of the third quarter.
Ruby Henninger scored eight points in the third quarter and Callie Peel’s runner in the lane put Blue Mountain ahead 27-26 after three.
Northwestern Lehigh was determined not to let their season end so soon. The Eagles were 0/6 to open the final stanza. Cara Thomas broke a long scoreles streak for Northwestern, putting them back in front 28-27 and moving her game total to 15. With the game tied at 28, Northwestern’s defense held Blue Mountain scoreless for the final five minutes of the contest. An Olivia Reinhart jumper put Northwestern up 31-28. Free throws by Thomas and Emma Freeman and a missed 3-ball by Ruby Henninger sealed the deal.
Class 3A
Catasauqua 58, MaST Community Charter 34 (Tuesday)
The Rough Riders made it a rough day for the Panthers, scoring 42 first half points on their way to a rout in the 8/9 first round playoff contest. Hailey Jenkins took the game by storm, dropping in 29 points and hitting 11 shots from the field. Catasauqua had a great night all around, hitting three 3-pointers and nine of their 12 free throws. They did not allow any long balls by MCC. The victory setup a rematch between the Roughs and Crusaders.
Notre Dame Green Pond 38, Catasauqua 35
Three weeks ago, Catasauqua defeated the Crusaders in Easton, 43-35. This meeting was different. The Crusaders took a 22-13 halftime lead, aided by triples from Brenna Hammerstone, Riley Boyle and Ella Schweitzer. Catasauqua took advantage of some second half turnovers as they tried to rally, but Notre Dame hit 7 of 10 fourth quarter free throws to hold them off. Emily Lessig led her team with ten points. Ella Schweitzer contributed eight. With the win, NDGP has secured a state playoff berth and will now face Executive Education in the semifinals. Executive defeated Pen Argyl 49-32.
The other semifinal will be New Hope-Solebury going up against Schuylkill League champion Schuylkill Haven. Haven defeated Mahanoy Area 46-26 and enters the state bracket for the first time since 1986. New Hope-Solebury defeated Northern Lehigh 56-46.
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