A rare occurrence
Becahi snaps Easton’s 60-game regular-season winning streak
From the opening tip until the final horn, in what could be the first of three classic battles between the Bethlehem Catholic and Easton girls basketball teams, there was an energy and intensity Friday night in Becahi’s gym that created an atmosphere comparable to a state championship game.
The play on the court lived up to the excitement in the stands.
The Golden Hawks (11-3) used a relentless defensive effort and bombardment of 10 3-pointers to pull off a 62-50 upset victory over Easton (13-1), which ended a 60-game regular-season winning streak for the Red Rovers.
“Our girls work hard in practice and we battle,” Becahi coach Arnold Alleyne said. “We came in with a game plan and the girls stuck to it, and I was very proud of that.
“The girls understood the assignment and executed it to a ‘T’. ... We couldn’t beat Easton with [ just] a single person. We had to defeat them together, and that’s what we saw today.”
The player Alleyne alluded to, who could put up quite the fight on her own against any team, was Mercyhurst commit Cici Hernandez, who leads the Hawks in scoring with 15 points per game.
While the senior guard drilled four 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 16 points, it was an all-around team effort that propelled Becahi to what is easily the biggest win in the EPC so far this season.
Daviana Jones (14 points), Aliyah Brame (nine) and Ella Bincarosky (eight) each buried two 3-pointers and combined for half of Bethlehem Catholic’s 62 points to support Hernandez and keep the Red Rovers’ fullcourt press and zone defense on its heels.
“It’s hard work. Coach Arnold [Alleyne] has us in the gym every day, and that’s something that I like most about him,” Hernandez said of why each player was in rhythm from beyond the arc.
“No matter what, he’s going to get us in the gym and he’s going to push us to our limits.”
The standard and intensity that Alleyne holds his team to in practice translated to the floor as a small rotation of Hawks constantly applied pressure and flew around on defense to hold a dominant Easton offense to its second-lowest output of the season.
The Red Rovers’ lineup, anchored by two giants in 6-foot-2 Evalyse Cole and 5-10 Kourin Carew, was swarmed throughout the night by a small and mighty Becahi team that denied entry passes and rebounded effectively.
“Going into the game, the biggest thing was to rebound because we knew we were undersized,” senior center Akasha Santos said. “As long as we were in help defense the entire game, they couldn’t do the two-man high-low.
“So that’s all it really was: making sure we helped and boxing out to rebound the ball.”
Things got off to a rocky start for the Hawks as a layup by Cole put the Red Rovers on top 10-3 in the first few minutes. A 10-0 run by Becahi, capped by a deep 3-pointer by Bincarosky, immediately turned the tide and put the pressure back on Easton.
The game continued to go back and forth in the second quarter as a pull-up jumper by Hernandez knotted it up at 23 with just a few minutes remaining before halftime.
Then Becahi’s relentless defense took over.
Three steals on three possessions led to a midrange jumper by Jones, another Bincarosky 3-pointer in transition and a fast-break layup by Santos, who finished the game with 11 points, to make it 30-23 in the blink of an eye.
“Coach Alleyne is really big on defense — defense wins games and defense wins championships,” Santos said. “As long as we maintained our composure and kept our energy high, we knew we were going to be just fine.”
It looked as though Becahi was going to run away with it out of halftime as Santos cruised past Carew for an easy layup to make it 36-27, but an outstanding save by Carew, and subsequent triple by Mallory Elias, ignited a 10-0 run by Easton to reclaim the lead.
Elias finished with five points as her twin sister Megan added 12 points on four 3-pointers.
Cole led the way for the Red Rovers with 15 points while Carew matched Megan Elias’ 12.
As the game hung in the balance with just over five minutes remaining, who else but Hernandez rose to the occasion to put the game away.
A four-point Becahi lead climbed to nine in just two possessions as Hernandez punished her defender for helping in the post with a 3-pointer from the left wing before a steal and fastbreak layup ended any hope of an Easton comeback late in the fourth quarter.
“I’m just proud of my team, the way we played together, and I’m excited for what we’re going to do moving forward,” Hernandez said. “We’re taking it game by game and no matter what we’re going to keep that hard work.”
Up next
The Red Rovers will have their work cut out for them as they try to bounce back from their first regular-season loss in three years when they travel to Parkland (13-1) on Tuesday night.
Bethlehem Catholic will ride the momentum into a road matchup with Emmaus (6-7) on Tuesday night as well.