Bethlehem Catholic High School girls basketball team advances in PIAA Class AAA tournament

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

It would be easy to assume from the final score of 50-38 that the Bethlehem Catholic High School girls basketball team had an easy time in its PIAA Class AAA tournament opening round victory against Palmyra today at Hershey High School.

That would be a mistake.

The Golden Hawks didn't get their first lead until 6:07 remained in the third quarter and were tied 38-38 with 5:19 left in the game. From that point on they outscored the Cougars 12-0 to seal the victory.

Bethlehem Catholic faces Prep Charter on Wednesday in the next round at a site and time to be determined.

"In the first half I don't think we rebounded like we should have," Bethlehem Catholic coach Bill Lanscek said. "We had a size advantage with our two bigs, and I expected that we'd control the boards a little bit better. I also expected that offensively we would pound the ball inside. We did not do that early.

"So at halftime we said five people have to rebound, five people have to defend."

Palmyra outrebounded the Hawks 22-12 in the first half.

"The first half, we thought from watching them play that they would be an outside shooting team," Hawks freshman center Kalista Walters said. "But they were driving to the basket and getting lots of second chance baskets. We knew we had to get tougher and get more people rebounding underneath. We needed to get a few more defensive stops and then convert offensively."


Bridget Smith hit two of the biggest shots in the game, after Lanscek made a strategy change with the score tied at 38 in the fourth quarter.

"We called a timeout and I said 'Listen, let's run something at them they haven't seen,'" Lanscek said. "We did, we got a nice shot from Bridget, and then we came back and we ran something similar, and she curled and we got her a look and she scored and we got up four. That was nice, and then I think they tightened up a little bit."


"Those baskets felt really good," Smith said of her baseline jumper and jumper from inside the lane.

Brianna Morales scored the next six points, including a pair of free throws, to ice the game for the Hawks. Morales, who finished with 10 points and seven assists, also made a play that only very aware players make, when she called a timeout while guard Janelle Robinson was trapped by two Cougar defenders in the backcourt with less than a minute to play.

"Peanut did a great job, as usual," Smith said, referring to Morales by her nickname. "She does a great job of driving, drawing defenders and then dishing it out."

"We fed off of her energy," Walters said. "She kept motivating us."

Maddie Good, a 5-foot-9 sophomore, got Palmyra going with 10 points and seven rebounds in the first half. She was able to get good position and grab several offensive rebounds for easy putbacks.

"Up to the fourth quarter I think we did a nice job defensively," Palmyra coach Ron Berman said. "You talk about athleticism, of them compared to us, and you get down five or six points and you start chasing them. ... We just can't match up at that point."

Smith played a solid all-around game for the Hawks, scoring 10 points, grabbing eight rebounds, handing out three assists and blocking two shots. Despite a slow offensive start, Walters led Bethlehem Catholic with 11 points and blocked seven shots. Senior Rana Plesko added eight points.

"I think it definitely had an effect that we were blocking so many shots," Walters said. "Our guards did a great job locking up on the outside. It was a great team effort defensively."

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