Huge early lead sends White, Owen J. Roberts by Boyertown, 43-31

BUCKTOWN >> There wasn’t much energy in the air in the lead-up to Thursday night’s tipoff between the Boyertown and Owen J. Roberts girls basketball teams.

Avery White and the rest of the Wildcats were apparently just keeping a low profile.

That low profile was long gone when the sophomore point guard roared for her and-1 that punctuated her nine first-quarter points as part of Owen J. Roberts’ 19-0 run to start the game, a margin that carried it to a 43-31 Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division win over Boyertown.

White scored 13 points as Owen J. Roberts (5-2 PAC Liberty, 9-2 PAC, 12-4 overall) won its fifth straight game and flipped the ledger on Boyertown after dropping their first meeting 39-31 on Dec. 12.

“We lost the first game against them and we just felt like we really needed to get them back and beat them,” White said. “We’ve progressed a lot through the season. We really wanted to work through their zone and win the game.”

Seniors Maddi Koury and Olivia LeClaire added eight points each for the Wildcats, who are level with Methacton in the Liberty (5-2), both a game behind Spring-Ford (6-1). OJR is currently No. 14 in the District 1-6A rankings.

Boyertown (5-2, 6-5, 7-9) got 12 points from Ashley Kapp and 10 from Julia Smith.

“I want to compliment Owen J., they came out really, really well in the first quarter,” Boyertown coach Jason Bieber said. “They were ultra-focused and executed, and we were probably the opposite of that.”

Bieber said the Bears have been a fast-starting team most of the season, so it was unusual to see them on the wrong side of such a run.

“This year we’ve been the one jumping all over teams in the first quarter. All year, that’s been our quarter,” he said. “This is the first game where we came out and weren’t prepared.”

The Wildcats were ready for the Bears’ zone defense in this meeting, using quick passing to find soft spots and full-court defensive pressure to build a 19-0 lead after Koury’s 3-pointer.

White made her presence felt from the jump, scoring the game’s first basket, a couple jumpers and then her driving score with the foul (making it 16-0) that signaled OJR’s plans.

“I knew we needed to start the game with a lot of tempo and set the tone,” White said. “After I got the and-1, I was excited and the adrenaline was going. I just wanted to get everyone going and hype. Once we have energy we usually carry it and it passes through the team.”

Boyertown finally got on the board with 1:01 to play in the first quarter on a Mikayla Moyer free throw.

The Bears scored the next eight points to get within 19-8 on a Kapp basket at the 4:15 mark of the second quarter. The Wildcats made another run to open a 27-10 halftime lead.

Boyertown won a forgettable third quarter 8-4 to close within 33-18 entering the final eight minutes and had a final push in them. A 9-0 run fueled by Smith got the Bears within 37-30 with 3:00 to play.

“At halftime we thought we had an opportunity to get back in the game and wanted to come out playing like it was 0-0, and I felt our girls did that,” Bieber said. “Sometimes our girls get down on themselves a lot, but tonight they really battled through.”

But OJR didn’t let it get any closer as White played distributor on a Brooke Greenawald (6 points) hoop shortly after and Owen J. expanded the lead from there.

It’s a quick turnaround for the Wildcats with Norristown visiting on Friday, while next week features matchups with the PAC’s division leaders Spring-Ford (Jan. 21) and Pottsgrove (Jan. 23).

It’s been a tough week for Boyertown (ranked No. 22 in District 1-6A) after falling to Pottsgrove 40-22 on Tuesday – where it went 0-for-20 from 3 – and Thursday’s loss. On Saturday they get first-place Spring-Ford, which will be coming off a loss after falling to Methacton in overtime Thursday.

“We have six more games to hopefully get us ready for PAC and district playoffs. Next week is a big week, we have Perk Valley and Phoenixville. We have no wiggle room anymore. We have to take care of business each night.”

Owen J. Roberts 43, Boyertown 31

BOYERTOWN: Kline 0 0-0 0, Marburger 0 1-6 1, Konnick 0 0-0 0, Moyer 1 1-2 3, Ludwig 0 0-0 0, Hillegas 0 0-2 0, Kapp 4 2-2 12, Sweisfort 1 3-6 5, Smith 4 0-1 10. Totals 10 7-19 31.
OWEN J. ROBERTS: Clay 1 1-2 4, White 5 3-4 13, LeClaire 4 0-0 8, Vogelman 0 0-2 0, Greenawald 3 0-4 6, M Koury 2 3-4 8, Schall 0 0-0 0, G Koury 0 0-4 0, Daye 1 0-0 3, Iyoob 0 1-2 1. Totals 16 8-22 43.
Boyertown 4 6 8 13-31
Owen J. Roberts 19 8 4 12-43
3-pointers: Kapp 2, Smith 2; Clay, M Koury, Daye.