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PIAA Class 3A + 4A: Lansdale Catholic girls, West Catholic boys advance

03/10/2022, 1:00am EST
By Missy Dougherty

Missy Dougherty (@Missyingyou)

It’s understandable if those in attendance at Wednesday night’s PIAA girls 4A opening-round game between Lancaster Catholic and Lansdale Catholic at Monsignor Bonner – Archbishop Prendergast felt like they were seeing double as the LC Crusaders battled the LC Crusaders.

What became crystal clear over the course of the contest was this year’s edition of the Lansdale Catholic Crusaders has the talent for an extended March run.


Gabby Casey (above) and Lansdale Catholic were in the state quarters in 2020 when the pandemic hit. (Photo: Dan Hilferty/CoBL)

Lansdale Catholic leading scorer Gabby Casey, a first-team All-Catholic selection this season, was a freshman when Lansdale made a deep run to the state quarterfinals before COVID canceled the rest of the tournament. Casey feels this squad can get just as far if not further.

“I remember the crowd energy of those big games in 2020,” Casey said. “We can get there again.”

Lansdale Catholic took the first step to getting there again on Wednesday as it took down perennial state contender Lancaster Catholic 66-57, with a balanced scoring effort led by a game-high 23 points from sophomore guard Olivia Boccella and 20 from Casey.

An obvious focal point on Lancaster Catholic’s defensive game plan, Casey had little room to breathe in the opening minutes of the contest as she dealt with an array of defenders face-guarding her.

“It was frustrating at the beginning of the game,” Casey said as she reflected on the attention she faced.  

While Casey was held scoreless over the first quarter, freshman Sanyiah Littlejohn, not showing any nerves in her initial state action, did everything she could to jump-start the offense.

“They were definitely keying on Gabby,” Littlejohn said. “I just tried to be a threat and help put some points on the board.”

Littlejohn did just that as she scored six of her squad’s 11 points in the first to help Lansdale Catholic (16-7) out to an 11-8 lead.

Lansdale Catholic’s offense erupted in the second quarter with the help of three three-pointers from Boccella and nine points from Casey over the quarter’s final five minutes.

“Once I hit that first foul shot (at the 4:50 mark), I got some momentum,” Casey said. “My outside shot wasn’t falling so I had to do something to get going.”

Boccella’s final three-pointer of the quarter, and fourth of the half, beat the buzzer and helped Lansdale Catholic carry a 31-19 lead, and a whole lot of momentum into the locker room.

“We spent a lot of time on special situations in practice this week,” Boccella said. “We were ready for an opportunity like that.”

Lansdale Catholic, the third seed from District 12, continued to share the ball after break.


Boccella (left) and Littlejohn combined for 39 points in the Crusaders' win. (Photo: Dan HIlferty/CoBL)

“We play for each other,” Boccella said. “We just want to win as a team.”

The team play continued to pay dividends as two 3-pointers from Littlejohn and one from senior Lauren Edwards contributed to Lansdale Catholic keeping Lancaster Catholic, the No. 3 seed from District Three, at arm’s length over the course of the third.

Lansdale Catholic proceeded to extend its lead to 59-39 with under three minutes to go in the game. Yet, Lancaster Catholic (23-6) did not go away without a fight.

Taking advantage of Casey fouling out with 2:29 remaining on the clock, Lancaster Catholic turned up the pressure and closed within single digits in the final minute. The outcome was never in question, however, as Lansdale Catholic went 17-for-19 from the free throw line in the final quarter, including an impressive 11-for-13 showing by Boccella. Lansdale Catholic finished 24-for-31 from the charity stripe for the game.

“We shoot a lot of free throws under pressure at practice,” Boccella said.

All the free throw practice seemed to pay off on Wednesday night, as did the team’s mindset as it made its return to the court.

“We really did a good job of moving the ball and sharing it,” Lansdale Catholic coach Eric Gidney said. “I think we surprised them by coming out of our match-up zone and playing man-to-man. We wanted to give some different looks but stay true to who we are.”

“We gave the girls some time off over the layoff after the loss in the Catholic League playoffs,” said Gidney. “We did not want them to peak too soon.”

Casey echoed her coach’s thoughts. “This is just the first step,” the junior said. “We want to make it to Hershey.”

The next step on Lansdale Catholic's journey will include a Saturday matchup with Allentown Central Catholic, a 36-14 winner over Milton.

By Quarter:
Lancaster Catholic:   8   |  11  |  12  |  26  ||  57
Lansdale Catholic:   11  |  20  |  16  |  19  ||  66

Scoring
Lancaster Catholic: Jeriyah Johnson 13, Vivian Klemmer 10, Mary Bolesky 9, Rylee Kraft 7, Madelynn Card 6, Autumn Lipson 6, Lily Lehman 5, Carleigh Anderson 1

Lansdale Catholic: Olivia Boccella 23, Gabby Casey 20, Saniyah Littlejohn 16, Lauren Edwards 7

~~~

West Catholic Runs Past Tulpehocken

In the nightcap at Bonner-Prendie, the West Catholic Prep boys’ basketball team wasted no time in dispatching Tulpehocken High School, 69-32, in PIAA 3A first-round action.

Coming off two consecutive losses for the first time all season, the Burrs (20-5) took their frustrations out on the Trojans (19-7), the third seed out of District Three, as West Catholic raced out to a 25-4 lead after the opening quarter and never looked back.

The Burrs’ length and athleticism gave Tulpehocken fits throughout the contest as the Trojans struggled to advance the ball over West Catholic’s extended pressure.

A breakaway layup by Adam ‘Budd’ Clark off a Trojans’ turnover beat the buzzer and punctuated a dominating first-half performance by the Burrs as they took a 44-16 lead into the locker room.

Senior Kaseem Watson helped West Catholic pick up where they left off after intermission as his slam in the opening seconds of the third quarter let Tulpehocken know to not expect any letup by the Burrs.

West Catholic continued to cruise over the remainder of the game as 10 of 11 players that saw action hit the scoring column.

Clark scored a game-high 16 points while Watson and Zion Stanford also reached double figures with 13 and 11, respectively.

Watson emphasized that the Burrs weren’t worried about the score but rather focusing on playing the game the right way. “We were just worried about us getting better,” the Cal State Bakersfield commit said. “We have a goal of winning a state championship.”

Burrs coach Miguel Bocachica echoed the thoughts of his senior standout. “We were coming off two losses and we wanted to get back to being us,” Bocachica said. “This is a prideful group and we know we have three strikes and then we are out. The first strike was the Catholic League championship, and then the city title game. It’s a new season and our goal is to get to five wins.

“This group believes we can make a run at this thing,” Bocachica added, “and I tend to agree with them.”

Next up for the Burrs is a date on Saturday with Loyalsock Township (24-4), the top seed out of District Four, an 87-64 winner over Riverside.

By Quarter:
Tulpehocken:     4   |  12  |   8   |   8   ||  32
West Catholic:  25  |  19  |  11  |  14  ||  69 

Scoring
Tulpehocken: Aidan Miller 12, Bryce Mellen 8, Nolan Sweitzer 5, Chad Henning 4, David Bednarczyk 3

West Catholic: Adam “Budd” Clark 16, Kaseem Watson 13, Zion Stanford 11, Marcus “MJ” Branker Jr 8, Kareem Watson 5, Nasir Griffin 4, Naseem Perez 4, Micah Waters 3, Isaac “Ice” Cole 3, Amyr Walker 2


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