City of Basketball Love

Tom Robinson (@tomjrobinson)
––

BETHLEHEM — Abington Heights girls basketball limited Bishop Shanahan to one shot per possession the entire second half, not yielding a single defensive rebound.

That was just one of the reasons the Comets were able to hold the Eagles to three field goals over the game’s last 19:16 and pull out a 40-35 victory Wednesday in a second round PIAA Class 5A playoff game at Freedom High School.
 

Emily McDonald scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the way for District 2 runner-up Abington Heights, which trailed by 10 midway through the second quarter.

McDonald ran the point on offense and moved into the post on defense, where she grabbed nine of her rebounds while leading a 39-24 advantage on the boards.

“That was our focus tonight,” Abington Heights coach Deanna Klingman said. “Especially in the second half, so we could get out and run.”

Abington Heights also had a 13-2 advantage in offensive rebounds, including six by Kate Scoblick and three by reserve guard Madeleine Walsh.

The Comets took care of the boards, but they needed a defensive adjustment to overcome a fast start by the Eagles from 3-point range.
Both teams came out firing away from outside with eight of the game’s first 10 shots coming from beyond the arc.

Bishop Shanahan finished the first quarter 4 for 9. Sam Blumenthal and Abbey Wolfe made them 6 for 12 by hitting in the first 3:33 of the second quarter to create a 22-12 lead.

“I think their length got to us,” Bishop Shanahan coach Jim Powers said. “They made our shots more difficult in the second half.”

The Eagles (15-12) connected on just one more the rest of the way on 13 tries. That did not come until Carmel Ambrose sank one from 23 feet with 45.7 seconds left to pull the Eagles within 38-35.

McDonald helped lock up the win with two free throws with 27.2 left.
Abington Heights (20-7) advances to face Bethlehem Catholic in Saturday’s state quarterfinals at a site and time to be determined.

Lauren Foster’s put-back had given Bishop Shanahan a 24-17 lead with 3:16 left in the third, but the Eagles were then held scoreless for 7:45 and without a field goal for 10:18.

During the scoreless stretch, Abington Heights managed eight points and moved in front 25-24 on a Peyton Houlihan post-up. While Bishop Shanahan was still searching to end the field-goal drought, Maggie Coleman’s 3-pointer put the Comets ahead to stay, 28-26.

Bishop Shanahan remained close by in turn holding Abington Heights scoreless for 7:33, including the first 6:42 of the fourth quarter.

“If we keep people in the high-30s, low-40s, it usually gives us a chance,” Powers said. “In the first half, we gave up some easy buckets. … I thought the second-half defense was better.”

The Comets went 6 for 6 foul shooting in the final 1:18, four by McDonald and two by Madison Zalewski.

“I do whatever I can to help the team,” said McDonald, who missed all of last season while recovering from ACL surgery. “I want to do whatever I can to keep playing. It’s important to me. I didn’t get to play last year, and I’m a senior. I want to keep playing as long as I can.”

The Eagles played longer than expected.

They won the District 1 title as the ninth seed, needing three road victories to get to the final, then added a win there and in the first round of state play. The senior trio of Wolfe, Blumenthal and Faith Ambrose led the way.

“I’m really happy for them,” Powers said. “The last couple weeks were what we thought we could have been all year. Our year was up and down, for a lot of reasons.”

Many of those reasons were health related.

That did not change in the end.

Abbey Wolfe was in and out of the lineup all night, and Powers pointed out that his key bench players were youngsters who could have been more prepared by now if their seasons had not been significantly disrupted by time lost to injuries.

“I’m proud that they never quit because every day there was somebody else out of the lineup,” he said. “Abbey Wolfe played these last three weeks. She’s in a boot all day. She can’t practice. She has a stress fracture (of the foot), but she’s trying to go.

“She gave us everything she could. The other night and tonight, it really kind of caught up to her.”

~~~

By Quarter
Abington Heights: 10 | 11 | 13 | 6 || 40
Bishop Shanahan: 16 | 8 | 4 | 7 || 35

Scoring
Abington Heights: Emily McDonald 11, Maggie Coleman 8, Madison Zalewski 7, Kate Scoblick 6, Peyton Houlihan 4, Madeleine Walsh 4

Bishop Shanahan: Carmel Ambrose 13, Lauren Foster 8, Faith Ambrose 6, Sam Blumenthal 5, Abbey Wolf 3

~~~

Class 5A: Small, Jacklinski lead the way for Scranton

BETHLEHEM – Scranton’s dynamic freshman combination of Zya Small and Chrissy Jacklinski was too much for West Chester Rustin to overcome Wednesday night in the second game of the PIAA Class 5A girls doubleheader at Freedom High School.

Small scored 24 points and did much more in Scranton’s 58-49 victory to send the Lady Knights into their biggest test yet against an Archbishop Wood team chasing its fourth straight state title.

Jacklinski added 16 points, including a banked-in, running, 45-footer at the first-quarter buzzer.

“(Small) is definitely a very, very talented player,” Rustin coach Lauren Stackhouse said. “Forget the fact that she’s a freshman. She has size, length, great skill around the rim. We knew she was going to be a tough match-up for sure.

“It really never got too far out of reach. I felt like we did a good job defensively. I felt like we had a couple mistakes that were magnified just because of the time when they happened. We had a couple right when we were within two.”

Small, a 6-foot-2 forward with multiple major NCAA Division I offers, went 10-for-15 from the floor and 4-for-7 from the line. She grabbed 13 rebounds, made four steals, blocked six shots and significantly altered two others on consecutive possessions midway through the fourth quarter.

“I just realized I needed to pick it up,” said Small, who scored 16 points in the second half. “It was time to step up and help my team.”

Maggie O’Shea has six second-half assists for Scranton, five led to open layups, including four off of dribble penetration that set up her passes. She executed a lob to Small for the other layup and drew the defense to open space for a Finley Bittenbender 3-pointer on her other assist.

Riley Stackhouse had 20 points, 14 in the second half, to lead Rustin in her final game playing for her mother. 

Sara Betchyk went 7-for-9 while adding 16 points and giving Rustin a counter for Small on the offensive end.

“One of the things we said to the girls at halftime was for as much size as they have, we’re still scoring down low,” Lauren Stackhouse said. “Once we found opportunities where (Small) was helping off, our guards did a real nice job of bouncing passes in to Sara and getting her some easy baskets.”

Riley Stackhouse had four steals and Kailey Berry had three.

The game featured nine lead changes and three ties. O’Shea broke the last of those ties and put Scranton ahead to stay, 26-23, on a step-back, 3-pointer with 3:05 left in the half.

Scranton improved to 25-2 while Rustin ended its season 19-10.

“I’m really proud of this group,” Lauren Stackhouse said. “After the season we had last year, we believed in this group and we knew we could get back to this spot again.

“This has been such a fantastic run. … I’m just so proud of this group for believing in itself, but also knowing that this is the expectation, that this is the culture we have created at Rustin.”

~~~

By Quarter
West Chester Rustin: 14 | 11 | 15 | 9 || 49
Scranton: 16 | 14 | 13 | 15 || 58

Scoring
West Chester Rustin: Riley Stackhouse 20, Sara Betchyk 16, Victoria Puzzangana 6, Jenna Kraft 4, Kailey Berry 2

Scranton: Zya Small 24, Chrissy Jacklinski 16, Kamryn Alers 7, Finley Bittenbender 6, Maggie O’Shea 3, Canyah Randle 2

~~~

PIAA 5A Girls (local games)

First Round (Sat., March 9)
1-4 West Chester East 57, 12-2 Freire Charter 30
12-3 Dallas 43, 1-2 Villa Maria 41
2-2 Abington Heights 64, 12-3 Archbishop Ryan 26
2-1 Scranton 55, 12-4 Palumbo 20
11-1 Bethlehem Catholic 41, 1-5 Gwynedd Mercy 35
1-3 West Chester Rustin 40, 11-2 Whitehall 10
12-1 Archbishop Wood 55, 1-6 Radnor 43
1-1 Bishop Shanahan 38, 3-7 Mechanicsburg 27

Second Round (Wed., March 13)
2-2 Abington Heights 40, 1-1 Bishop Shanahan 35
11-1 Bethlehem Catholic 46, 1-4 West Chester East 28
2-1 Scranton 58, 1-3 West Chester Rustin 49
12-1 Archbishop Wood 66, 12-3 Dallas 32

Quarterfinals (Sat., March 16)
2-1 Scranton vs. 12-1 Archbishop Wood