GIRLS ROUNDUP: Holy Redeemer, Riverside beat state powers

Posted: Jan 17, 2021

Holy Redeemer and Riverside defeated traditional state girls basketball powers Saturday afternoon, using different methods to pull off the victories.

Holy Redeemer came from 20 points down in the second half to defeat York Catholic, 50-47, at the Lancaster Catholic Shootout.

Riverside was in control from start to finish on its home court in a 52-28 victory over Allentown Central Catholic.

Holy Redeemer 50, York Catholic 47

Aubrey Curley’s line in the scorebook provides a pretty good summation of Holy Redeemer’s game in Lancaster – nothing to show for the first two quarters, but a whole lot going on in the last two.

Curley scored all 13 of her points and excelled at the foul line while leading the Lady Royals to their come-from-behind victory.

York Catholic opened leads of 23-7 after one quarter and 34-14 at halftime before Curley and Karissa Spade started bringing Holy Redeemer back.

The Lady Royals still trailed 39-28 before shooting 14-for-18 from the line in the fourth quarter.

Curley led that effort, making all four of her fourth-quarter attempts and going 8-for-8 in the second half.

She had plenty of help.

Faith Sekol, Aleia Atherton, Mia Ashton and Paige Kroptavich each made both of their attempts from the line in the fourth quarter.

Drew Kile had 7 of her team-high 13 points in the first quarter to get York Catholic off and running.

In addition to Curley and Spade igniting the offense in the second half, Holy Redeemer also shut down the York Catholic players who had been effective in the fast start.

The defensive effort began to show in the second quarter.

Meredith Smith came off the bench to score six in the first quarter. She hit a 3-pointer in the second quarter and did not score again.

Gabby Tully also had six in the first quarter for the Fighting Irish, but did not score again.

Spade had six of her 11 points during the third quarter when Holy Redeemer outscored York Catholic 14-5.

For the most part, the comeback was completed at the free throw line.

Curley and Jillian DelBalso hit 3-pointers during the fourth quarter and the only other field goal came from Curley, who scored nine points in the quarter.

Holy Redeemer, the fourth-ranked Big School in the preseason My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings, improved to 3-0 going into Monday’s Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 showdown at Lake-Lehman, which is also 3-0.

York Catholic (2-2) has played in eight Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state championship games, winning half of them.

Riverside 52, Allentown Central Catholic 28

Riverside got double-figures scoring from three players and at least nine rebounds from three players while easily handling visiting Allentown Central Catholic.

Kylie Lavelle and Kayla Rose fit both descriptions while helping make Riverside the first girls team in District 2 to reach 4-0.

Lavelle scored a game-high 16 points, along with grabbing 9 rebounds and leading the team with 3 assists.

Rose scored 15 points and pulled down 9 rebounds.

Emily Taylor made three 3-pointers in the first quarter while helping Riverside take a 19-7 lead. She finished with 11 points and 2 steals.

Alese Karpinski led the team with 11 rebounds and 3 steals along with scoring 6 points.

Taylor had all 11 of her points and Rose had 10 while helping the Lady Vikes to a 27-11 halftime lead.

Riverside made all five of its free throws in the third quarter to take a 42-17 lead into the fourth quarter.

Lavelle scored 12 points in the second half, six each in the third and fourth quarters.

Allentown Central Catholic has won seven state championships and played in 11 state finals. It reached the second round of last season’s PIAA Class 4A tournament before being eliminated by Scranton Prep.

Riverside is the top-ranked Small School team in the Super Six.

Hazleton Area 76, Williamsport 43

Olivia Wolk scored 23 points and was joined in double figures by three Hazleton Area teammates in the win in a non-league night game at Williamsport.

Wolk made three 3-pointers, hit all six of her free throws, grabbed nine rebounds and made three steals.

Jaya Franek scored 15 points, Alexa Tihansky 12 and Julia Mrochko 10.

Carley Krizansky grabbed seven rebounds and Lacie Kringe passed out five assists.

The game was a rematch of the 2020 District 2-4 Class 6A Subregional championship game that Hazleton Area also won.

Kailey Helemrich scored 20 points to lead Williamsport (0-3).

Wolk scored 10 points in the first quarter to help Hazleton Area (3-1) open a 19-8 lead in the first quarter.

The Lady Cougars led 33-18 at halftime and 55-37 going into the fourth quarter.

Wilkes-Barre Area 51, Hanover Area 4

Wilkes-Barre Area held visiting Hanover Area scoreless in the first half and without a field goal until the fourth quarter of the non-league victory.