Allentown honors Weise as all-time top scorer before win
ALLENTOWN » It may have been Senior Night Tuesday at Allentown High, but the home team’s matchup with Notre Dame High was highly anticipated for so much more of a reason.
The Redbirds wanted to prove that they were as good as their record, and, with their only losses having come against Trenton Catholic Academy and Ewing High, they did not want anyone else to add a blemish with Mercer County Tournament pairings coming up this weekend.
Then, when coach Linda Weise’s team learned that the back door to the Irish’s defense was open, they could not help but visit time and time again.
Despite the absence of senior guard Hailee Jantorno, who is recovering from an injury, Notre Dame stayed within striking distance, yet could never steal the moment from the Redbirds, who won their 18th game with a 68-55 victory.
“It was such an awesome game,” Allentown senior guard/forward Marin Hartshorn said. “We needed that win. It was unbelievable how well those backdoor plays kept working. Then when they stopped playing man-to-man defense, we started shooting.”
Four times in the first five minutes, Hartshorn’s classmate Hadley Borkowski (10 points) got free for backdoor layups. When the Irish adjusted, the play went to someone else, like Hartshorn or junior guard Lauren Coiante.
“I’m so proud of the girls,” Linda Weise said. “In the beginning of the game, Hadley’s backdoor layups set the tone for us. Then we went back to it when it was there. The girls have such a great connection.”
ND (14-5) still stayed as close as 20-15 in the first quarter by holding A’town big scorer Ryan Weise without a point. Weise, who was honored before the game not only for being a senior, but also for becoming the school’s all-time leading girls/boys scorer, came back to tie Hartshorn for team-high honors with 19 points over the last three quarters.
“We love to see each other do well,” Hartshorn said.
When Leah Johnson hit a 3-point field goal to keep the Irish as close as 27-20 in the second quarter, the Redbirds responded with an 8-0 run which did not stop un- til Erika Porter converted a threepoint play with 2.9 seconds left in the half.
“We didn’t have everything all together,” said Johnson, who had 15 points, six assists and four steals for Notre Dame. “We have to learn from our mistakes.”
Even with Porter, a 6-foot-2 sophomore forward, scoring 11 of her team-high 19 points and grabbing eight of her 16 rebounds in the second half, the visitors could not make up much ground on the home team.
And when the Irish did get the lead down to single digits in the fourth quarter, Hartshorn and Coiante (14 points) found the back door open again off a reverse with 3:35 left to frustrate coach James Martinos’ team, which has to turn around and face 17-3 Ewing at home Wednesday.
ECrawford 2-2-6, MCrawford 1-0-3, BriSeymour 2-0-4, NSmith 1-0-3, Burnett 1-1-3, AJones 1-0-2, LJohnson 7-0-15, Flowers 0-0-0, Porter 7-5-19.
22-8-55.
Totals —
Weise 5-8-19, Borkowski 5-0-10, White 1-0-2, Hartshorn 8-0-19, Coiante 5-2-14, Carotenuto 0-0-0, McCrea 2-0-4.
26-10-68.
Totals — NotrDme(14-5) 15 Allentown (18-2) 20 3-point goals — 8 15 18 19 14 — 14 — 55 68
MCrawford, NSmith, LJohnson (ND), Weise, Hartshorn 3, Coiante 2 (A).