Nazareth Area High School girls basketball team defeats Liberty High School 53-39

By TOM MUGAVERO
The Express-Times

NAZARETH | Nazareth High School senior forward Erika Livermore complained to her coaches she wasn't getting calls from the officials when she took the ball to the hoop -- so they implored her to go to the basket with authority.

Livermore listened, and 19 foul shot attempts later, the Blue Eagles were able to finally shake off pesky Liberty.

Livermore, a third team all-state selection last season, canned 16 of 19 free throws and finished with 24 points while also grabbing 12 rebounds to lead Nazareth to a 53-39 Lehigh Valley Conference victory on Friday night at Nunemaker Gym.

"I challenged her at halftime for the first time in a while," Nazareth coach Rich Bickert said "We told her if you want those fouls called you gotta go up harder than you're going up. Make 'em call a foul. And she works on her foul shots. Coach Ed (Smith) shoots 100 with her after practice every night."

"I'm glad it paid off finally in a game that mattered," said Livermore, Nazareth's all-time leading girls scorer with 1,244 points. "We're still in the hunt for LVC (playoffs); we just have to win out. Every game matters. It doesn't matter who we're playing."

Senior forward Kim Owens chipped in with 13 points on 6 for 9 shooting from the field for the Blue Eagles (11-3 overall, 7-2 LVC), who began the night a game behind Parkland and Northampton in the North Division.

Senior guard Caitlyn Gary scored eight points while taking over more of the ball-handling duties. Nazareth committed 22 turnovers but just two in the game-clinching fourth quarter.

"Our bigs played well, Kimmy really played well tonight," Bickert said. "And Caitlyn did what she had to."

Liberty (8-6, 4-4) began the night tied with Easton for the East Division lead. The Hurricanes trailed 8-0, 17-8 and 28-20 before rallying each time, coming back to tie the score at 28-28 and finally 35-35 on freshman Kali Shumock's scooping putback to open the fourth quarter.

But the 'Canes eventually ran out of gas from the repeated comebacks, and Nazareth finally force-fed Livermore in the post on the way to outscoring the Hurricanes 18-4 the rest of the way.