Northwestern Lehigh going for 4th league title
Top-seeded Northwestern Lehigh will be seeking its fourth Colonial League girls basketball championship and first in seven seasons, while third-seeded Palmerton is looking for its first Colonial title since winning its only three during a 3-peat from 1996-98.
Tip-off for the championship game is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday at Moravian Academy.
The Tigers also won a Centennial League title in 1977 and the Blue Bombers were crowned Centennial League champs seven times before both joined the Colonial League for the 1994-95 season.
Northwestern Lehigh has won 35 of 55 games against Palmerton since 1994-95. The Tigers beat Palmerton 63-36 and 49-42 this season and have won the last 12 meetings between the two — dating back to the 201516 season. They’ve faced each other once in the postseason in the last 27 years with the Tigers winning 41-37 in a Class 3A (of four) District 11 quarterfinal game in 2004.
Rebounding, like in the Blue Bombers’ 34-32 nail-biting, final seconds semifinal win over Notre Dame, will have a big impact on who takes home the hardware this season.
“Our rebounding was huge against Notre Dame,” Palmerton coach Dan Beck said. “In the first quarter they got a couple of extra shots and I talked to them about rebounding and they did a great job after that.”
“Rebounding was a huge part of this game,” said junior Brianna Moore, who leads Palmerton in just about every category. “Following our shots and not letting them get the second chances. And our fast breaks as well. We just want to push it because we’re a fast team. When we get those fast break opportunities we’re gonna take them.”
Punishing the boards is where freshman forward Megan Matsko comes in after gathering nine rebounds including five on the offensive end, against the Crusaders.
“Matsko is also a very athletic kid,” Beck said. “We knew coming into this year she’d probably be one of our starters. She can jump almost as high as Brianna. And she’s very quick and has very quick feet. As a freshman, she’s doing a great job. She needs to get a little stronger because she has to play some of these bigger kids right now. And she’ll do whatever we ask of her.”
Palmerton’s ferocious man-to-man defense was also a key in the semifinal victory.
“We knew we could do this,” said Matsko, who shows as much composure and compassion doing an interview as she does on the court. “We started coming around at the end of the regular season and are playing as a team. We knew if we carried that over to the playoffs we’ll go far. We also knew if we played with our hearts we could make it this far.”
Northwestern is led on the outside by senior point guard Alexandra Lister while 5-foot11 sophomore forward Paige Sevrain is a handful to guard inside.
With a victory, Tigers coach Chris Deutsch could tie the record for the most league championships coached in league history. Southern Lehigh’s Matt Cooper, from 2016-2019, and Nazareth’s Frank Krisch, in the 1980s, won four each. Deutsch also has recorded more Colonial League victories than any coach in the league with 235 (91 losses).
“Palmerton has had a very good season and presents a lot of challenges,” Deutsch said. “This is the time of the year you get excited as a team with all that there is to play for.”
Schuylkill League title game
Jim Thorpe and its fabulous juniors, guards Skyler Searfoss and Leila Hurley and forward Olivia Smelas, have forged a 66-11 overall record in their first three seasons with the first two already 1,000-point career scorers and Smelas ready to join them early next season.
They also helped win the school’s first Schuylkill League title as freshmen. This year they’ve been joined by classmate Leah Sniskey and sophomores Haley Smelas and Mackenzie Yuhas in being the main architects in building a 17-4 record.
Their championship game opponent, North Schuylkill (17-3), is one of the few teams that has had Jim Thorpe’s number lately. The Spartans beat the Olympians two out of three times last season, including 49-46 in the league title game, and 58-56 and 56-53 this season.
“It’s certainly been a tough year for all teams so to see the girls reaching a championship game makes you proud to be their coach,” said former Pleasant Valley coach Nadia Pavuk, now in her first season at Jim Thorpe. “Both games against North Schuylkill have been battles this season. They press and like to create chaos on the floor so we have to impose our will and maintain composure throughout.”
Championship game time is set for 5 p,m. Friday at Martz Hall.
More freshmen exploits
Liberty won its first game of the year, and first over crosstown rival Freedom in four seasons, 49-41, after coming back from a 10-point first quarter deficit. Freshmen Abby Thompson (15) and Emma Puksyn (11) had season-high scoring games and they also combined for seven of the Hurricanes’ season-high eight 3-pointers in the contest. … East Stroudsburg South finished the EPC season with two victories as Layla Hernandez, the second leading freshman scorer in the area, scored a season-high 20 and 19 points in both games. … Freshman guard Talia Zurinkas scored a season-high 14 points for the second time in four games as Parkland won a squeaker over Emmaus, 33-27. The Trojans also ended Pocono Mountain West’s 10-game winning streak to start the season, 45-23, behind 11 points each from Zurinkas and junior Zoey Wilkinson. Parkland shut out the Panthers in the third quarter.
More game notes
Central Catholic has won 12 consecutive games since its 1-2 start as junior Julia Roth has developed into a full-time scoring threat this season. … Allen got a bit of revenge on cross-town rival Dieruff with a 49-47 victory after the Huskies won the first meeting. Junior Shanaiya Ellis scored seven of her 20 points in the fourth quarter and sophomore Amonya Tate scored eight of her career-high 18 in the third when the Canaries came back from a five-point halftime deficit.
Tom Mugavero is a contributor to The Morning Call.