Big run torpedoes Pope John Paul II’s season in a 46-38 loss to Palmyra

HERSHEY —  For better than two quarters, Pope John Paul II hung with, and often looked better than, the District 3 champions.

It all fell apart, a huge run the culprit.

Palmyra scored 16 consecutive points bridging the third and fourth quarters to defeat PJP, 46-38, in the first round of the girls’ PIAA 5A basketball playoffs Saturday afternoon, at Milton Hershey School.

PJP wraps its season at 15-12. Palmyra moves on, a 17-10 mark on its ledger.

Palmyra’s 16-0 second-half run flipped the game on its ear. When it started midway through the third quarter, PJP led 28-21. When it was over, nearly a full 10 minutes of playing time after it started, the score read 37-28 in the other direction.

Ballgame. 

“They started making their shots, which is a huge credit to them,” first-year Golden Panthers coach TJ Lonergan said of the run that buried his club. “We had a ton of tape from the District 3 playoffs and that was the best I’d seen them shoot.”

Up 28-21 following a pair of converted free throws from Lauren Ciuba with 2:09 to play in the third quarter, the Panthers did not score again until 2:45 remained in the game on a 3-pointer by Tess Crossan, the shot that finally stopped the run.

In between, PJP’s attack ground to a halt — the Golden Panthers looking sluggish in the half-court set and not able to mine an open look, while being unable to curtail Palmyra’s microwavable crew at the other end. The gears never really reengaged.

“We broke down,” Lonergan said. “We weren’t switching quick enough (defensively) on screens. … We were trying to spread them out (offensively) and we weren’t finishing and we weren’t looking to be aggressive. That’s the big thing.

“I think that’s just our youth. We have three seniors on our team, a lot of non-varsity experience and I think it really showed during that stretch against a team that has a lot of that, that was coming right at us. And we just kind of hesitated and that’s all it takes. It just kind of snowballed from there.”

For Palmyra, the underdog card continues to play at the tables. The club was just 12-10 when it slipped into the D-3 playoff grid — where it ran off four in a row to become shock 5A champs and set itself up for a deep run at states.

“It’s not midnight yet,” Palmyra head coach Mary Manlove said. “Cinderella’s gonna keep these little glass slippers on for a little longer. Holy cow.”

The Panthers, the No. 6 club out of District 1, wrestled the Cougars off the seesaw when Kallan Bustynowicz drained a pair of free throws to give PJP a 14-12 lead. The team held onto that lead and even expanded it during the early part of the second half, with Palmyra still not able to find any rhythm. To that point, the Cougars had made consecutive baskets just once — never mind a monster run that absolutely no one saw coming.

It began with 1:47 left in the third when Olivia Richardson and Katelyn Becker hit 3-pointers on consecutive trips downcourt to make it a 28-27 game. Richardson hit two from the stripe after being fouled during the third trip down, to give Palmyra its first lead, 29-28, since 9-7 near the close of the first quarter.

That was followed by a pair of triples from Amelia Baldo and Becker, respectively, to open the fourth quarter — a 35-28 Cougar lead in hand and lengthen the run out to a tidy 14-0.

PIAA 5A first round

at Milton Hershey School

Palmyra 46, Pope John Paul II 38

PJP – 7  14  7  10 — 38 

Palmyra – 9  8  12  17 — 46