By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
TAYLOR – What Ciera Toomey started Friday night, Sophia Talutto finished.
Toomey and Talutto each had a personal, seven-point streak in the second quarter as Dunmore began pulling away from Riverside in a meeting of the two No. 1 teams in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams.
Then, after Toomey’s 14-point first half created a gap, Talutto’s 11-point third quarter blew the game open and sent the Lady Bucks to a 62-26 rout in the Lackawanna League Division 3 opener.
Dunmore, seeking a ninth straight division title, has won 45 straight regular-season games in the division and 46 straight counting a playoff.
Many have been like the beating the Lady Bucks put on what appears, by all indications, to be their top competition this season.
By the time Talutto was done scoring her 11 points in a span of 2:33 in the middle of the third quarter, the competition was over.
“I think we space out well and we have five great players so it’s kind of tough to guard us,” Toomey said.
Returning first-team, all-staters and future National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I players Toomey and Moriah Murray get most of the attention, including from opposing defenses, and that was the case Friday night.
Talutto, a freshman, who was a distant third-leading scorer on the team coming into the game benefitted with 11 chances from the 3-point line.
Undeterred by missing her first four and six of her first seven, Talutto heated up on the way to a game-high 21 points to go along with 5 steals.
“My mentality is ‘just hit the next shot’,” Talutto said. “I’m not really thinking about the misses. My team brings me back after the misses, so that just gives me the confidence in the next shot.”
Dunmore was already beginning to take charge with a 5-1 start to the third quarter on a Mia Blume 3-pointer and Cadie Lewis back-side rebound of Talutto’s airball on a 3-point attempt from the left corner.
That’s when Talutto found her touch on the left side.
Talutto hit from the wing with 5:20 left, then hit the next shot and the next, connecting from the corner 40 seconds later and closer to the top of the key 35 seconds after that.
Toomey added two free throws before Talutto showed she was not just a 3-point shooter.
With the Riverside defense now more aware of her presence, Talutto pump-faked a 3-pointer from the same spot where she had hit her previous attempt. She then drove the lane, drawing help defense from 6-foot-2 Lady Vikes all-stater Kylie Lavelle. The 5-foot-4 Talutto had one more move left in her, ducking under the block attempt by Lavelle to bank a layup off the glass.
“I feel like they just thought they knew I was going to shoot (another 3),” said Talutto, who finished 8-for-16 from the floor overall. “I just pump-faked and took it in. Kylie’s tall so it wasn’t easy.”
The drive finished a 13-point streak and 18-1 run to begin the second half and give Dunmore a 44-18 lead.
Lavelle stopped the run and hit two 3-pointers in the last 2:05 of the third quarter, but it was too late.
Between Lavelle’s 3-pointers, Murray got started.
Scoreless to that point, the three-time, first-team, all-state choice hit her last four shots to finish with 10 points, all in a 6½-minute burst.
Matching Toomey and Talutto’s second-quarter efforts, Murray put together her own personal, seven-point streak.
The last of a series of Dunmore runs had started with a Lewis 3-pointer and included three points by Toomey for a 13-0 streak.
When Murray’s 3-pointer from the left corner went in with 3:04 left, Dunmore coach Ben O’Brien, back for the first time after being away because of COVID, called timeout and removed the starters with a 60-26 lead.
Riverside turned to the bench, too, and the Lady Vikes wound up scoreless for the final 7:48 as the Dunmore run expanded to 15-0.
Toomey finished with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. She hit a 3-pointer to break the last tie and had five of the points in a 7-2 run to a 9-4 lead.
Riverside got to within 12-10 when Lavelle opened the second-quarter scoring by taking a steal the length of the floor.
Toomey and Talutto’s seven-point streaks were separated by just one Riverside basket making for a 14-2 run to a 26-12 lead.
Talutto’s seven came on her first made 3-pointer, a fastbreak basket off a Blume assist and an offensive rebound.
Blume joined Toomey and Murray in sharing the team assist lead with four.
Lewis chipped in seven points, five rebounds and three steals, contributing to two areas in which Dunmore gained extra chances throughout the night.
Toomey had five offensive rebounds and Lewis three as part of a 32-22 rebounding advantage.
Dunmore forced 16 turnovers while committing just 6.
Toomey finished 6-for-7 from the floor, 2-for-2 on 3-pointers and 5-for-6 from the line.
Lavelle led Riverside with 12 points, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots. Katie Slaboda, who had the team’s first four points, and Lillie Pon, who came off the bench, shared the Riverside rebound lead with five.
Dunmore, the top-ranked Big School in the Super Six, improved to 6-0 overall and increased its average winning margin to 29.2 points.
Riverside, the No. 1 Small School team, fell to 6-2 with its first loss within the district. The other loss came against Jim Thorpe from District 11.
