Easton remains undefeated with 44-29 victory
The beat goes on for the undefeated Easton Area High School girl’s basketball team.
The host Red Rovers scored 10 straight points in the fourth quarter to extend a one-point lead on the way to defeating Bethlehem Catholic 44-29 on Friday night — in Eastern Pennsylvania Conference East Division action. The favorable result closed out a successful senior night celebration.
The victory was also coach Dave Lutz Jr.’s 150th career win at Easton, against just 60 losses, in his ninth season at the helm.
The Red Rovers (17-0 overall, 12-0 EPC, 7-0 East Division) also beat the Golden Hawks (11-5, 10-2, 5-2) by a 38-37 score on Monday on sophomore Evalyse Cole’s layup with 10 seconds left producing the winning points.
Cole, a 6-foot-2 forward, was the middle of the fourth quarter surge this time as well by taking high-low passes from 6-foot junior Anye’ Staton on the block to score four points on two free throws and a field goal.
“That’s a big part of our offense,” Lutz said. “We see the passing every day at practice. They are always ready to make the extra pass or great entry passes. It’s really carried over this year to the games.”
Both plays came after blocked shots by Staton, who had an excellent floor game while finishing with five blocks on the night — along with six rebounds and three assists.
“Nothing was going our way in the first quarter but we talked at halftime and got it together,” said Cole, who finished with 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. “We just keep forcing the ball inside and kept the energy high and kept pushing. We still have a long way to go in the season so we have to keep it up.”
“It not always going to work when we get the ball down low but Evalyse is a great finisher,” Staton said. “I love her so much. We work so good together. The whole team works good together. We finally settled down in the fourth quarter.
We just had to keep our composure.”
Bethlehem Catholic sophomore guard Cici Hernandez hit a foul line jumper to get the Golden Hawks within 28-27 with 6:18 left in the game. It would take the Hawks 4:15 to score again.
Senior guard Sara Tamoun, who scored a game high 14 points for Easton, finished off the deciding run with a 3-pointer deep in the right corner before coming up with a steal at midcourt and finishing it off with a layup to give the Red Rovers a 38-27 lead with 3:10 remaining.
Free throws played a big part in the victory as both teams made 11 field goals. But the Hawks, who are much smaller than Easton, had no hope but to foul when the Rovers got the ball down low. Easton finished 19-for-26 from the free throw line while the Hawks attempted just seven and made four.
Easton overcame an awful 1-for-11 shooting from the field in the first quarter along with seven turnovers and shot 4-for-19 in the first half but was saved by making 9 of its 12 free throws to lead 17-16 at the half.
“We were sloppy in the first quarter,” Lutz said, “but their defense had a lot to do with it. They’re very aggressive.”
Bethlehem Catholic 6-foot junior forward Kendra Rigo scored all seven of her points in the first quarter and senior guard Keyara Walters hit a pull-up jumper to give the Golden Hawks a 9-4 lead after eight minutes.
Becahi led 13-6 in the second quarter and was still up 16-10 after senior forward Cydney Stanton, just back from injury after missing seven games, completed a three-point play after an offensive rebound and put back while being fouled.
Tamoun made a layup from sophomore reserve guard Megan Elias, Staton made two free throws and 6-2 senior Makenna Zimmerman hit a jumper from the wing and later a foul shot as Easton scored the final seven points to take a 17-16 lead into halftime.
The Golden Hawks last lead came at 25-24 after Hernandez made a steal and layup with 1:42 left in the third quarter before Elias canned a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left to give the Rovers the lead for good.
Hernandez led the Golden Hawks with 10 points and Stanton came off the bench to finish with eight points and a team-high six rebounds. Bethlehem Catholic’s only conference losses have come against Easton.
“We didn’t execute and at the end of the day that’s on me,” Hawks coach Jose Medina said. “Give Easton 150 percent credit. We have to figure it out because we’ve been right there with them in both games. We have to get over the hump. No excuses. It all starts with me. We’ll look at the film and get better.”
Bethlehem Catholic will have to shake off the defeat quickly as it travels to play a very good Dunmore team 17 hours after this game was over.
The Rovers, who already own the school record for best start in school history are one victory away from tying its 2017-18 team with 18 straight wins. Easton plays at Freedom on Tuesday and at Phillipsburg on Wednesday with a possible chance to break the record.
“I love being undefeated,” Staton said. “I love having a target on our back. It feels great. We just have to keep going.”