Stellar girls tournament: Dieruff knocks off the defending champs

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Cathy Piston was enjoying herself at the Stellar Construction "Catch A Rising Star" girls basketball tournament at Cedar Beach on Friday night.
She has a daughter on the Parkland team, which routed Catasauqua 45-9.
And she's also the coach of the Dieruff squad that probably raised a few eyebrows with a 24-14 win over defending tourney champion Northwestern. The Huskies are 2-0 in the tournament entering a 1 p.m. matchup on Saturday with Whitehall.
"We played some good team defense tonight," Piston said. "I think we held them to only six points in the second half. I can't single one person out. It was a team effort."
Tytiona Goodwin, Lexii Anderson, Miranda Slater, Vanessa Slater and  Katie Alvarez all delivered solid performances and Cheri Lacey contributed off the bench.
"Our girls have been showing up for summer league over in Catty and they're taking that confidence from there into this tournament," Piston said. "We'll see how it goes. The pressure in this one was on Northwestern, not on us. I just wanted them to go out and play basketball and they did."
Parkland, the defending District 11 4A champs, led Catty 24-0 at halftime and simply had too much firepower for the Rough Riders.
"We graduated three seniors, including two starters, but we're getting everyone involved and we're getting contributions from everyone," Trojans coach Wes Spence said. "We're trying to build on the success we had last season."
Parkland plays Owen J Roberts at 2 p.m. in a winners bracket game.
Here's Saturday's early girls schedule:
ELIMINATION BRACKET (loser is finished)
9 a.m. games
Whitehall B vs. Boyertown B
Becahi vs. Northwestern
10 a.m. games
Pen Argyl vs. Emmaus
Freedom vs. South Seneca (NY)
11 a.m. games
Wilson vs. Catasauqua
ES North vs. Reading
12 noon games
Parkland B vs. Salisbury
Bangor vs. Nazareth
WINNERS BRACKET
1 p.m. games
Whitehall vs,. Dieruff
Palisades vs. Allen
2 p.m. games
Parkland A vs. Owen J Roberts
Boyertown A vs. Southern Lehigh