Easton impresses in first-round win over Unionville
The Easton Area High School girls basketball team ran up a 28-point lead near the end of the third quarter with spectacular and unselfish, as usual, team play in its PIAA 6A first-round girls basketball game on Friday night.
The District 11 champion Red Rovers had to hold on for dear life however to advance with a 55-42 victory over Unionville, the 10th-place team out of District 1, at Easton Area Middle School.
Easton (28-1), which broke a school record for wins in a season set last year when it went 27-3 and improved their first-round record in states to 8-3, meets Central York (23-4) on Tuesday in a second-round contest at a time and site to be determined. Central York beat Souderton, 50-48, in two overtimes Friday night.
The Red Rovers won a secondround state game last season to reach the quarterfinal round for the first time ever.
Easton scored just three points in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter Friday night and turned the ball over on five straight possessions as the Longhorns (21-8) cut the lead to 12 points. It put a damper on an evening where the Red Rovers looked like one of the best teams in the state from the middle of the first quarter until the end of the third, when they took a 46-18 lead.
“We’re usually pretty good at the end,” Easton coach Dave Lutz Jr. said. “Maybe it was a good wakeup call.”
Megan Elias and Evalyse Cole led Easton with 12 points. Mallory Elias chipped in with eight points and the only senior on the Rovers roster, Anye’ Staton, finished with six points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. Cole also had six rebounds.
But it was the play of the bench, particularly freshman guard Samantha Pastore and junior forward Olivia Keckler, who sparked the Rovers to their big lead.
Pastore ended the first quarter with a layup at the buzzer to give Easton an 18-10 lead. Then she hit all three of her 3-point attempts in the second quarter to finish with a career-high 11 points as the Rovers increased their lead to 34-14 at halftime.
With the Elias sisters combining for four 3-pointers Easton made seven of its 16 bonus shots in the first half.
“Sam can shoot,” Lutz said. “She’s definitely somebody that can help us. She got hurt a couple times this year so she didn’t come back until after the EPC tournament so she missed about 10 games.”
“I hurt my leg but it wasn’t really a serious thing,” said Pastore, who also suffered a concussion early in the season. “It’s very important to make that first shot to help with your confidence and get in a rhythm. I didn’t think I’d contribute this much to the varsity team but it feels good to get a chance and help out.”
Kleckler, who started at the beginning of the season, played a great floor game and had three of her four assists in the second quarter.
“Liv always does a great job for us and plays really good defense,” Lutz said. “She gets a lot of rebounds and is a smart player. When she plays like that it really helps everyone get a chance to catch their breath and get a rest. She’s invaluable coming off the bench.”
“We just have to be able to handle pressure defense and stay poised at the end of games like this,” said Kleckler, a 6-foot-1 junior forward, who also grabbed seven rebounds “It’s important for us to pass the ball, rebound, play good defense and help each other out. That’s what we did to get the lead. I don’t care if I start. I just want to do what I can to help our team win.”
Kourin Carew, who also had seven rebounds for Easton, started the third quarter with a rebound bucket before Cole and Megan Elias hit 3-pointers. A Staton layup and another putback by Carew gave the
Red Rovers their biggest lead of the game with 2:10 left in the third quarter.
“Hey, you have to bring your A game every time at this time of year,” Lutz said. “You never know what could happen.”
Other games
In other PIAA Class 6A girls basketball games Friday night, Liberty, the No. 2 team out of District 11, lost to District 1, No. 6 seed Upper Dublin, 47-36 and Nazareth, the No. 3 team out of District 11, dropped a 23-18 decision to Pennsbury, the fourth seed out of District 1.
In Class 3A, Palmerton, District 11’s second seed, lost a heartbreaker to West Catholic, the second seed out of District 12, 43-42. Pen Argyl, the top seed out of District 11, will play Lake-Lehman, the third seed out of District 2, at 6 p.m. Saturday at Moravian Academy. The game was postponed from Friday because of the weather forecast.
In Class 2A, Northern Lehigh, the No. 3 seed out of District 11, lost to Line Mountain, the second seed in District 4, 56-50. Marian, the top seed in District 11, will play MAST II, the second seed out of District 12, at 1 p.m. Saturday, after that game was postponed Friday.