Slaters, Spartans win in semifinals
Bangor, Southern Lehigh set up all-Colonial League D-11 5A final
Bangor had its defensive game going from the outset. It’s when the Slaters’ offense caught up to its aggressive 2-3 zone in the second half that it put the game away for a shot at its first championship since 2012.
Emily LaBar scored 10 of her 15 points after intermission and Jenna Learn and Casey Walsh led a ball-hawking defense as Bangor defeated Pottsville 37-25 on Wednesday night in the first District 11 Class 5A girls basketball semifinal at Northern Lehigh High School.
The victory not only gives the Slaters their first PIAA tournament bid since 2012 but also their first chance for a title since beating Liberty as the No. 7 seed for its only District 11 title in the same season. And that was when Bangor played in the highest class.
It’ll be tall order against a fellow Colonial League team that has been one game from invincible the last four seasons against league foes.
And that would be topseeded Southern Lehigh, which walloped Blue Mountain 58-22 in the second game behind 24 points from Colonial League MVP Olivia Snyder and 11 from her partner in victories the last four seasons, Ellie Cassel.
The Spartans (22-3) will meet second-seeded Bangor
(16-5) Saturday for the championship, which is tentatively scheduled to be played at Freedom High School at a time to be decided.
Southern Lehigh will be seeking its fourth-straight district championship after not winning one the first 44 years of the tournament. The Spartans are a school-record 103-10 overall the last four seasons led by Snyder and Cassel, who have never missed a game.
“Bangor works hard as a team, they work well as a team and they all shoot well,” said Spartans coach Matt Cooper. “Olivia and Ellie have been the core of our program the last four years. I’d love to see them get one more on the way out.”
What chance does veteran Bangor coach Bill Bisci give his team, which hasn’t beaten the Spartans in 12 games over the last eight seasons? The Slaters’ last win came on Jan. 25, 2011 by a 48-39 score in overtime.
“Our best chance is if they go to Liberty High School to play and we go to Freedom,” said Bisci, a yeller and screamer as well as quipster who won his 300th career game this season. And possibly, only half joking about his chances.
“He’s funny,” Spartans coach Matt Cooper said laughing. “He told me that, too. I really have no other comment than that. His comment stands on its own.”
Bangor heroines were aplenty against Pottsviile (11-12) after a dull first half that ended with Bangor leading 16-12.
The action picked up, relatively speaking, in the second half.
Morgan Karasek finished with nine points and led the Slaters with seven rebounds while chipping in with three steals.
Casey Walsh and Learn pestered Pottsville out front with quickness, tipped passes and steals.
Madison Kluska came off the bench to help on the boards while Jordan Hendricks banked in a 3-pointer from the right wing seconds after entering the game for the first time to give Bangor its halftime lead.
“That’s all we’ve been working on at practice is our defense,” said Learn, who along with Labar are the only seniors on Bangor’s roster. “It was the main focus in our two scrimmages. We know our offense comes and go so our defense has to be on every night.”
It was the transition game that Bangor finally got going for good after scoring half of its six first half field goals on the run.
“They shut down our 3-point game so we needed to find different ways to score,” said Bisci, whose team has set a school record with 137 3-pointers so far this season. “The game wasn’t up and down the way we needed it to be in the first half.”
Labar scored eight straight points for the Slaters in the third quarter, including back-to-back fast-break feeds from Karasek after drawing the defense. Labar finished off her personal spree with a jumper to give Bangor a 28-16 advantage midway through the quarter.
“We’re not big,” Labar said. “We’re very tiny. So we have to rely on our defense to spark our offense sometimes. We had a good run against Southern Lehigh in the begining of the game when we played this year. We’ve got to keep it up this time and not get tired. And have confidence in ourselves and our teammates.”
Pottsville battled back to within seven points by the end of the third but scored just one basket, with a minute left in the game, the rest of the way.