City of Basketball Love

Corky Blake (@corkyblake)
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EASTON -- Oh, how the Unionville High School girls basketball team would love to get an eight-minute mulligan in its PIAA Class 6A first-round game at District 11 champion Easton.

The Longhorns held an early one-point lead on sophomore Shannon Megill’s baseline jumper with 3:54 to go in the first quarter Friday night.

But over the next eight minutes, Unionville scored just three points, committed five turnovers, failed to track Easton’s outside shooters and fell behind by 19 when Megan Elias splashed the sixth of the Red Rovers’ seven 3-pointers of the first half.

Unionville fought back gallantly in the fourth quarter to ultimately lose 55-42 and end its season at 21-8. The large first-half deficit that actually swelled to 46-18 with two minutes left in the third quarter was just too much to overcome for the 10th-place team from District 1.

“When you’re shooting the ball like they were, it becomes contagious,” Unionville coach Fred Ellzy said, “and we struggled shooting. The games we watched them, they didn’t shoot it that well.”

“I looked up and we were ahead by 28 points, and I’m thinking we’re not 28 points better than this team,” Easton coach Dave Lutz said. “I thought they were one of the best teams we saw. They’re really good at boxing out, they’re disciplined.”

The Red Rovers (28-1) average a little more than six made 3-pointers a game but often are streaky from beyond the arc. They only made three 3s in each of their first two District 11 playoff wins before striking for six in the championship victory over Liberty. In its only loss of the season – to Allentown Central Catholic in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference title game – Easton sank 12.

On Friday night before a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Easton Area Middle School gym, the underdog Longhorns met the red-hot shooting Red Rovers, who advance to face District 3 runner-up Central York, a 50-48 double-overtime winner over Souderton, the seventh-place team from District 1, in the second round Tuesday.

“My concern about Easton was they are a very physical team,” Ellzy said. “We knew they’d be physical, and we were hoping we could beat them with our quickness, but the way they came out shooting …” 

The Longhorns didn’t play anyone taller than 5-foot-9. Easton’s front line averaged 6-foot.

Unionville’s combination of man-to-man defense and zone traps limited Easton’s touches near the basket. The Red Rovers’ All-EPC first-team 6-foot center Anye’ Staton was held to six points on seven shots.

The tradeoff was Easton knocking down 3s easier than it converted layups. The Red Rovers finished 9-for-23 from beyond the arc compared to 3-for-10 by the Longhorns. Otherwise, the shooting numbers were fairly even, and the visitors owned the fourth quarter.

Unionville scored more points (23) in the final eight minutes than it did in the first three quarters combined (19). Senior point guard and co-captain Riley Angstadt led the way with nine of her team-high 13 points.

“We fought (in the second half),” Ellzy said. “We didn’t compete with them in the first two quarters. We talked to them at halftime and said we drove a long way to get here, so we might as well compete.”

Unionville finished second to West Chester Rustin in the Ches-Mont American and went 3-2 in the District 1 tournament to earn the two-hour trip to Easton.

“We are extremely pleased with this season,” Ellzy said. “This is the first time Unionville’s been in the state playoffs in 20 years. It’s a young group, and we’re hoping getting a taste of (state tournament) makes them hungry to get back.”

The Longhorns graduate two seniors – Angstadt and reserve guard Maddie Baughan. Angstadt earned All-Ches-Mont American first-team honors. Junior guard Milana Amoss and sophomore guard Elle Johnson were second-team choices and Megill was honorable mention. Amoss scored 11 points and Johnson 10 against Easton.

“Riley’s been on the court for us for four years, and Maddie was a co-captain,” Ellzy said. “They were our two captains and were the leaders for our younger girls.”

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UNIONVILLE (42)

Lang 1 0-2 2, Amoss 4 2-3 11, Johnson 3 3-4 10, Angstadt 5 2-4 13, Megill 2 0-0 4, D’Angelo 0 1-2 1, Baughan 0 0-0 0, Menninger 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 9-17 42.

EASTON (55)

Me. Elias 4 1-2 12, E. Cole 3 5-6 12, Ma. Elias 2 2-3 8, Carew 3 0-0 6, Staton 3 0-1 6, Amato 0 0-0 0, Keckler 0 0-0 0, Pastore 4 0-0 11, L. Cole 0 0-0 0. 19 8-12 55. 

Unionville:    10  |   4   |   5   |  23  ||  42
Easton:        18  |  16  |  12  |   9   ||  55

3-point goals: Amoss, Johnson, Angstadt; Me. Elias 3, Pastore 3, Ma. Elias 2, E. Cole. 

Shooting
Unionville: 15-45 FG (3-10 3PT), 9-17 FT
Easton: 19-46 (9-23 3PT), 8-12 FT