A Grace-ful win for the Crusaders
Grace Medei sparks Notre Dame-GP to District 11 3A championship
Notre Dame-Green Pond sophomore Grace Medei came through in the clutch once again in a championship game in her young and blossoming career.
The difference this time was she had a winning smile from ear-to-ear after it was over.
Medei scored 10 of her 11 points in the first half when Notre Dame pulled past a stubborn Palmerton team en route to a convincing 50-28 victory in the District 11 Class 3A championship game at Catasauqua High School.
The district title is the Crusaders’ eighth in school history, the first since 2013 and the second under 15-year coach Josh Kopp, who has gone 250-136 during his Notre Dame tenure.
“I’m so happy. It’s been awhile since we won a district title,” said Medei, a 5-foot-5 guard. “I am so excited. Palmerton came out hard so give them credit. We pulled through though. I can’t wait for the state playoffs.”
Kopp’s players chanted two-five-oh while taking a team picture with the district trophy on the court following the game.
“They’re just a great group to coach,” said Kopp, whose legendary coaching father, Mike, will win his 1,000th career game next season at Central Catholic. “They know when it’s time to have fun and they know when it’s game time and then they really focus.”
Cassie Murphy, a 6-foot junior forward, also finished with 11 points while collecting seven rebounds for Notre Dame and 5-11 freshman guard Antonia Bates contributed nine points, six steals, five rebounds and two blocked shots in a great all-around effort.
“We came out to a little slow start but after that we used our defense to turn the game around,” said Bates, who has started since day one. “This is a great team to play for. Everyone is so accepting. It’s been like that since I started here. I’m happy for everybody.”
Freshman Raegan Cooper made the first of her two 3-pointers in the second quarter, Sydney DeFranco added another bonus shot and junior forward Grace Hezel added a field goal as the bench came up big time. Medei’s buzzerbeating layup gave Notre Dame a 25-16 lead.
Three straight rebounds baskets by Murphy, who is 36 points away from becoming Notre Dame’s 13th 1,000point career girls scorer, gave the Crusaders a 33-17 lead to pretty much put the game away.
Medei sent the Colonial League title game against Southern Lehigh into overtime with 3-pointer from the deep right corner with 2.3 seconds left. Her short baseline jumper put the Crusaders ahead with 24 seconds left in overtime in a heart-breaking game Notre Dame would lose, 44-43.
This time, with leading scorer Murphy being denied a shot from the field until the second half, it was Medei and the Crusaders’ deep bench that turned the game around after Palmerton impressively came out of the gates to take a 9-8 lead after a quarter.
The Blue Bombers lost to Notre Dame 54-30 during the regular season.
Medei went on a personal eight-point scoring spree for the Crusaders to start the second quarter, which began when she made back-to-back layups off of Palmerton turnovers as the Blue Bombers committed 15 miscues in the first half.
A Medei jumper and transition layup followed before Hezel scored off an Abby Wachter steal, Bates hit a long 3-pointer and Mary Kate Altmire made a baseline jumper to give Notre Dame its first breathing room of the night, 23-12.
Notre Dame begins PIAA play for the third straight season on March 8 as will Palmerton (11-13), which will continue its season in the state playoffs for the first time in 22 seasons.
Considering the Blue Bombers finished with the seventh-best record in the 13-team Colonial League this season and didn’t beat a team with a winning record all year, that’s a pretty nice reward.
“They wore us down,” first-year coach Dan Beck said. “They’re a very good team and we’re a young team. Hopefully the girls can learn by these experiences. Our girls didn’t give up. And now we’re going to the state playoffs. We’re excited.”
BOYS 2A TITLE TILT
Jevin Muniz hit a 3-pointer with three minutes left to give his team the lead for good and Jahson Chico Whyte put the game away with a pair of free throws with 2.9 seconds left as Executive Education Academy Charter School won the District 11 Class 2A championship in its first year of existence with a 64-60 win over Moravian Academy before a full house at Catasauqua High School.
After the third quarter ended in a 40-40 tie, the second-seeded Raptors (17-7) matched every two points by the top-seeded Lions until Muniz’ 3-pointer from the right corner. Abe Atiyeh’s running 3-pointer brought the Lions to within 62-60 with 3.2 seconds left and Whyte’s free throws sealed the title.
Muniz led four players in double figures with 18 points followed by Whyte (14), Amari Mills (13) and Justin Rockmore (11). Rockmore assisted on back-to-back baskets by Whyte and Shayne Magee sandwiched around Moravian Academy’s Abel Saft 3-pointer helped keep the Lions at bay in an exciting fourth quarter.
Atiyeh led the Lions with 20 points, Jordan Holmqvist scored 14 and Saft added 14.