PAC champs fall in seeding games
Boyertown girls go down to North Penn; PV boys drop 3rd straight
TOWAMENCIN >> When Boyertown crept to within two in the third quarter, North Penn girls basketball’s Jess Huber and Irisa Ye combined to quickly swing the momentum back into the Knights’ favor Friday night.
Huber buried a three and on the ensuing inbounds Ye came up a steal and a three-point play, rapidly extending a 27-25 edge into 33-25.
The six points were the start of a 13-3 run that carried over into the fourth quarter as No. 1 seed North Penn earned fifth place in the Distict 1-6A tournament with a 44-36 victory over the visiting No. 2 Bears.
Huber, who eclipsed 1,000 career points in North Penn’s win over Garnet Valley Tuesday, finished with a game-high 17 points as the Knights (23-4) head into their sixth straight PIAA tournament to face District 3 thirdplace side Cedar Cliff on Friday, March 10 at a site and time to be announced.
Katie Armstrong scored 10 points to pace Boyertown (23-4) which takes on District 3 runnerup Central Dauphin in the opening round of states.
The Bears led 18-13 in the second quarter after a Tori Boalton 3-pointer but North Penn took the lead for good by ending the half with an 12-1 run — Bri Hewlett scoring all six of her points during the strong finish. Hewlett’s three made it 23-19 while Huber hit two from the foul line for a six-point NP lead at the break.
Ye scored on a drive and was fouled — she could not converted the and-1 — to have the Knights up 27-19 28 seconds in the first half, however Boyertown scored the next six, cutting the margin
to 27-25 after a Armstrong short jumper.
Huber’s triple and Ye’s three-point play gave the Knights back a cushion. Armstrong scored to get the Bears to four but Huber collected the third quarter’s last five points for a 38-27 NP advantage entering the fourth.
A Carley Adams jumper gave the Knights’ their largest lead at 42-28 and from there North Penn was fine to burn down the clock. The closest Boyertown could get in the fourth was eight with 12.9 seconds remaining.
Kylie Webb scored the game’s first five points for the Bears but the Knights got going with an 11-1 run — Huber scoring the last seven during the stretch, with her three giving North Penn an 11-6 lead.
Boyertown, however collected the quarter’ final six points, Armstrong’s bucket giving the visitors a 12-11 edge after heading to the second period.
After Boalton’s three made it 18-13 Bears, North Penn rattled off the next seven points, Hewlett’s bucket putting the Knights ahead 20-18. Boyertown cut it 20-19 on an Alli Marcus free throw at 2:12 but NP scored the next five for a 25-19 halftime advantage.
Boys Basketball
PENN WOOD 68, PERKIOMEN VALLEY 56 >> The PAC champion Vikings fell to No. 11 Penn Wood in the District 1 Class 6A seventh-place game Friday night.
It was Perk Valley’s third straight loss, which entered the district playoffs as the No. 1 seed.
Justin Jaworski paced PV with 14 points, followed by Dante Graves (12) and Tyler Strechay (10).
PV trailed by 11 at halftime, 35-24, and got it is close as 57-49 with 4:59 to play.
Jaworski passed Mike Boehret (Class of 2003) on PV’s all-time scoring list, moving into second place. Boehret scored 1,454 in his career. After Friday, Jaworski sits at 1,466. (Mickey Cunningham holds the school record with 1,655).
The Vikings will look to regroup before next week’s PIAA Championships. They will meet the District 12 champion in the first round on Saturday, March 11.