Lansdale Catholic wins, Norristown loses on Snear Tournament opening night
CONSHOHOCKEN >> After a rocky start, Lansdale Catholic found its footing and handled Council Rock South, 60-47, in the 9th Annual George Snear Holiday Basketball Tournament opener Thursday night at the Fellowship House of Conshohocken.
The Crusaders jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, but found themselves tied at nine halfway through the frame and trailing, 16-13, after eight minutes.
LC figured things out midway through the second. The Crusaders closed the quarter with a 14-2 run to turn a 23-18 deficit into a 32-15 halftime lead.
Senior Kristina Finkelston scored seven points in the game-swinging second and sophomore Timaya Lewis-Eutsey had six.
“We had done some scouting work against Council Rock South,” LC coach Eric Gidney said. “We saw that they really left the middle wide open in their zone and we wanted to exploit that. We went over that for quite a length (of time) at practice (Wednesday) and we just weren’t doing it. We weren’t moving. Rather than panicking, we made a personnel change, went to Finkelston and told her to sit high-post and look for give-and-go opportunities, look for opportunities to screen the top of the zone, look for opportunities to roll off of it.”
“The backdoor cuts are always there,” Lewis-Eutsey said. “It’s definitely one of our main options when they’re overplaying on the wing.”
Finkelston and Lewis-Eutsey kept it going after halftime — accounting for all 15 Crusaders points in the third quarter. Finkelston had six and Lewis-Eutsey scored nine.
LC (5-3, 0-2 PCL) opened the second half with a 12-2 run to take a 44-27 lead and complete control of the game.
Lewis-Eutsey finished with a team-high 19 points and Finkelston and Emily Smith each had 13.
“Getting to the basket and making my free throws,” Lewis-Eutsey credited for her big game in which she shot 5-for-6 from the foul line.
“Teams key on (Smith) but we know that even when they key on her defensively it opens things up for the rest of our personnel,” Gidney said. “We really do like to believe that we have five players on the floor at any given time that are a threat on both ends of the court.”
Sophomore Nicole Blaustein scored a game-high 20 points for Council Rock South (3-4, 1-1 SOL National) and junior Hannah Binder had 12.
South kept fighting at the start of the fourth, despite trailing by 17 points. The Golden Hawks opened the quarter with a 5-0 run, but never got within striking distance. They cut their deficit to single digits, 54-45, but with only 90 seconds left the Crusaders were able to knock down their free throws and get away with the 13-point win.
Lansdale Catholic faces Agnes Irwin in the championship game Friday at 7:30 p.m. back at the Fel. LC can defend its title after winning the tournament in 2017.
“It’s always nice to get some hardware.” Gidney said, “but we really want to give our best effort every time we take the floor whether there is a trophy or not I think is inconsequential. It’s really just about playing your hardest, playing your best, giving everything you have and playing with your teammates. I think we did that. If we do that again (Friday) and we come out on the high end of the score, we can win some hardware — that’s great. Let’s work for it, let’s deserve it, let’s put ourselves in a position to win.”
CR South plays the loser of Norristown in the third place game at 6 p.m.
Norristown falls to Agnes Irwin
CONSHOHOCKEN >> Norristown lost to Agnes Irwin, 50-26, in the first round of the 9th Annual George Snear Holiday Basketball Tournament Thursday night at the Fellowship House of Conshohocken.
The Eagles play Council Rock South in the third place game Friday at 6 p.m., followed by Agnes Irwin vs. Lansdale Catholic for the championship.
Norristown trailed, 26-15, at halftime and couldn’t narrow the gap in the second half.
In the opening 16 minutes, the Eagles (1-7, 0-3 PAC Liberty) were aggressive offensively and got to the free-throw line 14 times — making seven.
“We were going to the hoop pretty good,” Norristown coach Richard Fisher said. “We just have to capitalize … We were missing some shots, still not capitalizing.”
They got to the line eight times in the second half — sinking four — while only making three field goals.
Ashley Schools led the Eagles in scoring with nine points.
Norristown only has one win this season, but Fisher sees improvement.
“We still don’t have that energy and confidence as a team,” he said. “It’s a battle right now for us. We come to play every day. We can’t give up. Young team — they keep playing, keep learning as they go along.
“It’s a teaching process every day. During practice, during the games — so once they start recognizing what’s going on, things will get better for us. We’ll keep plugging.”
