Bangor girls basketball team tops Northampton in District 11 Class AAAA quarterfinals

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Dale Godshalk has seen it happen over and over again. A team gets a big lead, then watches it evaporate.

"It's in any game," the Bangor girls coach said stoically on Friday night.


Trouble was, Godshalk's Slaters were the ones coughing up a 19-10 second quarter lead to Northampton in their District 11 AAAA quarterfinal at Catasauqua High School.

The Konkrete Kids, the defending district champs, had stormed back to take a 28-26 lead going into the final eight minutes.

Even Northampton coach Jeff Jacksits was sensing a victory
.

"I thought we had gotten our game back and were gonna go from there," Jacksits said.

But Bangor was the team that went.

Brianna Bisci started the fourth quarter by grabbing an offensive rebound and giving her team the lead with a three-point play.

Then, off an inbounds play, senior guard Jessica Dentith took Audrey Schiavone's entry pass and shoveled the ball underneath to center Morgan McCollian for a basket and the seventh-seeded Slaters were on their way to knocking off the No. 2 seed 42-33, and setting a Tuesday date in the district semis with third-seeded Whitehall, a 30-23 winner on Friday over No. 6 Parkland.

"I wanted to get the ball to Morgan because she could post up and I knew she could score," Dentith said.


Those were the only baskets Bangor, 20-6, made in the fourth quarter as the Slaters, who came into the game shooting about 59 percent at the foul line as a team, then swished 11-of-12 free throws to ice the win.

"You can't focus on the crowd," Bangor senior guard Samantha Hopkins said after making four of those freebies. "Coach always tells us it's you, the ball and the rim."

Meanwhile, Northampton, 19-5, wasn't making any kind of shots at crunch time. The Kids were 1-for-8 from the floor in the fourth quarter when they weren't throwing the ball away.

"We wanted to shoot the ball more," Jacksits said. "But we kept making that extra pass and that got us into trouble. And turnovers, we had 18 of them and you can't expect to beat a good team like Bangor when you do that."

Northampton's one basket that stanza was a drive down the lane by Chelsea Hall with 2:21 to play, making it 37-33. But Bangor's foul shooting and a couple of McCollian rebounds off the defensive boards killed any comeback hopes.

Bangor came out of the gate fast, taking a 16-9 lead after one quarter as Schiavone scored eight of her 13 points. Northampton came back late in the second quarter, using three-point plays by Ashley Brink and Alesha Marcks in the final 1:31 to pull within four.

Northampton took its first lead, 26-24. on Brink's layup with 1:04 left in the third. After Bisci got Bangor even, Leandra Sterner's jumper had the Kids on top after three.

"We broke down on defense and we knew we had to pick it up," Hopkins said. "We didn't want this game to be our last."

"We feed off each other and we pick each other up," Dentith said. "Whitehall looks like a great team but if we work hard in practice the next two days, we should be ready to put on a good show."

McCollian added 12 points for Bangor. Marcks and Sterner led Northampton with seven apiece.

Whitehall's Kayla Bet scored 16 points to lead her team past Parkland. The Zephyrs also used some good foul shooting down the stretch to persevere, making five of their final six. Olivia Hassler led Parkland with 14 points.

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