HS Girls’ Basketball: Spartans skip past Blue Raiders to stay perfect in Division I
Tamaqua's Leah Black, left, tries to drive around North Schuylkill's Jadelin Stitzer during Friday's Schuylkill League Division I girls' basketball game at the Cesari-Hope Gymnasium (Photo by Justin Reed / Skook News).
FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — The skip pass.
Done correctly, it can be a key weapon in breaking a zone defense.
North Schuylkill used it to perfection Friday night and the result was a key Schuylkill League Division I girls’ basketball victory.
Mya Conti continued her monster week with 18 points and Gianna Capone overcame a sore ankle to tally 17 as the Spartans downed Tamaqua 61-45 at the Cesari-Hope Gymnasium.
The victory gives North Schuylkill (9-3, 7-0 D-I) its third impressive victory in four days and completes a perfect run through the first round of Division I play.
“We move the ball pretty well,” Conti said. “Everyone keeps their head up and is very unselfish.
“We know when teams play that kind of defense, we’re smart enough to know where their defense is not and skipping the ball is what works.”
Tamaqua (12-2, 5-2), which entered the game on a 10-game win streak, employed a 2-3 zone against the Spartans and possessed a considerable height advantage inside, especially when 5-foot-10 sophomore Lauren Ligenza and 5-10 freshman Millie Black were on the floor together.
That height advantage and zone defense looked strong early as North Schuylkill opened the game with four straight turnovers before attempting its first shot.
Ligenza, Leah Black and point guard Kolbe Robb each had baskets as the Blue Raiders raced out to a quick 6-0 lead.
The Spartans eventually settled down as Conti and Capone went to work.
Conti, a junior guard, scored 25 points in North Schuylkill’s 58-37 win over Schuylkill Haven on Tuesday, then added 23 in Thursday’s 64-51 victory over Class 6A Whitehall.
She was all over the place Friday despite being in foul trouble, running the floor and creating. She scored 13 of her points in the second half after sitting out most of the second quarter with two fouls.
“She’s a go-getter. She’s a ball of fire,” North Schuylkill coach Rich Wetzel said of the 5-3 Conti. “She plays extremely hard. She has something in her that not all kids have … it’s a switch. It’s just go-go-go-go. That’s the way she’s built. Her personality is like that. She plays much bigger than she is.”
Conti’s driving layup triggered a 19-2 run that spanned nearly 10 minutes of the first half and put North Schuylkill in control. Capone was the catalyst, hitting a trio of 3-pointers and a short jumper while assisting on 3-pointers by Conti and Monica Selgrade.
Capone’s output came despite battling a sore ankle suffered in Thursday’s win.
“I came in with a sprained ankle but I taped it and it didn’t really bother me,” Capone said. “The quick start was very big.”
The key to the outburst was the skip pass.
North Schuylkill put on a passing clinic for most of the game, quickly moving the ball from one side of the floor to the other and back, mixing in deftly timed bounce passes to the top of the lane and eventually finding either open shooters for 3-pointers or slicing forwards on back-door cuts.
Everyone got involved as the Spartans’ two forwards, Jadelin Stitzer and Hannah Kane had four assists and three assists, respectively, while Selgrade, a freshman guard, and Capone each added three.
Tamaqua never adjusted, as the Spartans led 25-14 at intermission and then expanded their cushion to 41-19 midway through the third quarter as Conti scored nine of her points.
“Diagonally,” Wetzel explained. “If you stretch that 3-2 zone, it’s almost impossible to cover the middle because the top girl is supposed to cover the middle. So you have to drag one of your block girls up to cover the middle, which leaves an opening on the back side.
“The farther that 3-2 zone gets stretched out, diagonally is there every time and there’s a hole in the middle every time. You just have to get it there.
“Diagonally beats any defense, zone and even man. The more you reverse the ball from one side of the court to the other, the more the defense has to shift. The more you get that defense to shift …”
The Blue Raiders, meanwhile, dominated the glass but couldn’t connect on shots from inside the paint. Ligenza and Millie Black each finished with 10 points but combined to shoot 9-for-34 from the field, all from close range.
Most of Tamaqua’s shots came off second chances. Millie Black finished the game with a whopping 22 rebounds, most coming on the offensive end.
The Blue Raiders did mount one push, going on a 10-0 run late in the third quarter into the fourth quarter to slice North Schuylkill’s lead to 45-34 with 6:34 left.
The Spartans answered, however, as Stitzer hit two free throws and Maria Monahan and Conti buried 3-pointers that extended the lead back out to 53-34 with 5 minutes left.
Tamaqua got no closer than 14 the rest of the way. Sam Plasha had a team-high 11 points for the Raiders, who committed 20 turnovers and shot 6-of-19 from the foul line.
“Since December 27 it’s been a long stretch for us,” said Wetzel, noting the Spartans’ trip to the State College tournament and stretch of seven games in 14 days. “Tonight we weren’t sharp in the beginning.
“The key for us is 32 minutes of effort on the defensive end and be plus 10-12 in the turnover margin. We’re young. But they’re coming along.”
