D-11 4A Girls’ Basketball: Palmerton stuns North Schuylkill in OT
North Schuylkill's Hannah Kane attempts a free throw during Wednesday's District 11 Class 4A girls' semifinal against Palmerton at Blue Mountain (Photo by Leroy Boyer).
ORWIGSBURG — Free throws.
Basketball players spend countless hours in practice shooting them because of their importance, especially in end-of-the-game situations.
In the postseason, those end-of-the-game free throws are exponentially magnified. Make them and it could ice a victory that leads to a championship. Miss them, the result could be a heartbreaking defeat.
North Schuylkill learned that lesson the hard way Wednesday night in a 47-39 overtime loss to Palmerton in a District 11 Class 4A girls’ basketball semifinal at Blue Mountain High School.
The Spartans shot 3-for-8 from the line in the game’s closing minutes with a chance to put away the Blue Bombers and lock up a trip to Saturday’s championship game. The missed free throws gave Palmerton a chance, and the Blue Bombers capitalized when Hailey Barry hit a running 3-pointer at the fourth-quarter buzzer to force overtime.
Palmerton (21-5) then dominated the extra session, scoring the first 11 points to lock up a berth in the PIAA playoffs and a date with Allentown Central Catholic in Saturday’s district final at 2 p.m. at Easton.
Allentown Central Catholic knocked off top-seeded Northwestern Lehigh 51-41 in Wednesday’s other semifinal. North Schuylkill (19-7) will face Northwestern Lehigh in Saturday’s consolation game at 1 p.m. at Pleasant Valley High School for the right to advance to the state playoffs.
“We’re holding a four-five point lead and you have to make your free throws,” North Schuylkill coach Rich Wetzel said. “When you have an opportunity in these games … these are all good teams now … you have to put the game away.”
With the exception of its performance at the foul line, North Schuylkill did everything it needed to do to win the game.
The Spartans played great pressure defense, forcing 22 turnovers, including two in the final minute. They crashed the boards, generating second-chance opportunities. They made shots at big moments, none bigger than Jadelin Stitzer’s layup off a feed from Hannah Kane that put North Schuylkill up 33-31 with 2:57 remaining.
Stitzer was a monster on the boards for the Spartans, pulling down 11 rebounds.
The Spartans did, however, make a pair of critical mistakes down the stretch.
First, after Barry missed a 3-pointer with 1:50 remaining, North Schuylkill ran its offense and held the ball on the perimeter. They ran 40 seconds off the clock before Monica Selgrade missed a runner in the lane.
“These are the things we talked about in practice the last two days,” Wetzel said. “We don’t need a shot. We were running our offense out front, they had to start fouling us. We were within four seconds of fouling us. All we needed was one more interchange and they were going to foul us. … We have to be better.”
North Schuylkill overcame that miscue by forcing a turnover with 41 seconds left. Selgrade was fouled and hit both free throws, put the Spartans up 35-31 with 35 seconds remaining.
After Palmerton called a timeout with 20.3 seconds left, Kane and Maria Monahan then forced another turnover. Monahan was fouled but missed both shots. The Spartans finished 5-for-14 from the foul line.
The Bombers then sliced the lead to 35-33 with 4.2 seconds left when Courtney Connell grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled. She hit both free throws.
North Schuylkill called timeout. The Spartans inbounded the ball to Mya Conti, who was fouled. She missed the first free throw and hit the second, making it 36-33 with 3.5 seconds left. Conti led the Spartans on the night with 13 points.
The Spartans’ second critical mistake came next. As Palmerton tried to advance the ball up the floor, North Schuylkill committed a foul at midcourt. The Spartans had fouls to give, so it didn’t result in any free throws.
“I didn’t call for that foul at the end of the game,” Wetzel said. “I wanted them to shoot a 2-second shot running from halfcourt. If that goes in, I’ll live with it.
“You foul, you let them inbound the ball and set it up. You can’t put yourself in that situation.”
The foul gave Palmerton a chance to set up a play. Cate Morgan inbounded the ball in front of the Bombers’ bench, got it to Barry, who dribbled toward the right wing and threw up a shot over two North Schuylkill defenders just before the buzzer that banked in off the glass to tie the game.
Here’s a video of Barry’s buzzer-beater … video courtesy of Blue Ridge Cable. Call of the shot by T-102 broadcasters Matt Freiler and Dustin Werdt:
“Great final shot by Hailey to send it into overtime and give us another chance,” Palmerton coach Jeremy Coleman said. “It was just get the ball to one of our shooters and make something happen. She just stuck with it.
“Right place, right time. Great shot.”
Obviously demoralized by the shot at the end of regulation, the Spartans struggled in the extra session. North Schuylkill missed its first eight shots from the field, only scoring on a Conti 3-pointer with 1 second left.
Palmerton, meanwhile, used a layup by Connell, a steal and layup by Mikayla Pengelly and a 7-for-8 performance at the foul line to pull away. Barry finished with 13 points for Palmerton, while Pengelly had 12 and the 5-foot-10 Connell had 10 points and 17 rebounds.
Connell was a force defensively in the second half, pulling down 12 of her boards and altering several of North Schuylkill’s shots in the lane.
“She battles inside, offensively and defensively,” Coleman said of Connell. “She’s been our backbone rebounding throughout the duration of the season. She’s a team player.”
Kane added 11 points for North Schuylkill, which led 13-10 after one frame, 17-15 at intermission and 26-23 after three quarters. The Spartans led by six points twice in the fourth quarter but each time Palmerton answered.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Pengelly and Morgan tied the game at 31-31 with 3:20 left and set up the ending.
“Defensively we played great again,” Wetzel said. “We struggled to put the ball in the hole a little bit, but we did enough to win. You have to execute down the stretch, that’s the bottom line.”
