Lansdale Catholic’s Gabby Casey nearly drops 40-point triple-double in District 12-4A championship

WYNDMOOR >> Gabby Casey did it all Thursday.

The Lansdale Catholic senior matched a career high with 40 points and added 10 rebounds, eight assists and two blocks to lead the Crusaders to an 85-55 win over Audenried in the District 12-4A championship game at La Salle College High School.

Casey subbed out of the game in the final minutes after the dominant offensive performance. She hit four three-pointers while her 13 other field goals were near the basket.

“Today I was hitting my three-ball a little more than usual,” Casey, who grabbed half of her rebounds on the offensive end, said. “I think taking my time on shots and, I mean, the lane was open all day. I think that’s really where I got a majority of my points. I just focused on taking it to the rim and I cleaned up some of the boards from my teammates. I think that’s what really helped.”

Casey, who also scored 40 points twice against Neumann-Goretti in her career, got her teammates involved, coming up just two assists short of a triple-double. She helped Jaida Helm score 15 points, Olivia Boccella 13 and Sanyiah Littlejohn 10. Her helper of the night was a behind-the-back dish to Boccella, who finished the layup, in the fourth quarter.

“Driving to the hoop and kicking to the corners, that was open all day,” Casey said. “They didn’t really play much defense, so I think just distributing it to my teammates and them hitting the shots was huge because then the lane opened up, which helped me as well just getting my points inside.

“It made it even better that (the behind-the-back pass) was to (Boccella). She’s my best friend on-and-off the court. It was really a great moment, especially for her after coming off (the game-winning shot in the PCL championship). That was cool.”

“We look at (Casey) as a point-forward,” LC coach Eric Gidney said, “a secondary ball-handler for us. Typically when we’re at the kind of tempo Audenried was really trying to establish today, it’s usually more Sanyiah (Littlejohn) that has the ball in her hands. Gabby just did a nice job of getting a lot of rebounds and then keeping them and running and pushing the ball down the floor. She can absolutely play-make, set other players up, come all the way down and finish.”

The Philadelphia Catholic League Most Valuable Player had an entertaining back-and-forth with the Philadelphia Public League MVP, Audenried’s Shayla Smith. Smith finished with 32 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and one block.

“She’s a great player,” Casey said. “She was hitting her shots, too. It motivates me to play a little harder just to show that we’re as good as any team in the Public League, any team around this area.”

The Saint Joseph’s University commit scored 13 points in the first quarter to help the Crusaders open up an 18-point lead, 28-10. When the Dragons trimmed their deficit to 11, 31-20, it was Casey who scored five straight points to get the lead back to a more-comfortable 16 points. She had 13 in the second quarter, five in the third and nine in the fourth before exiting the game.

The win gives Lansdale Catholic its third District 12 championship. The Crusaders previously won in 2016 and 2020.

The game served as more than just a District 12 championship game, it was a matchup between the Philadelphia Catholic League and Philadelphia Public League champions.

“There’s some bragging rights there a little bit,” Gidney said, “but it wouldn’t be any different than if it was the Catholic League champ playing the Suburban One or the District 1 champ. While this wasn’t do or die, win or go home – that starts next week. The other thing is, they call this a city championship, we’re in Lansdale. We’re not in the city. I understand for some folks it’s super important to them. From that aspect, it was cool.”

Lansdale Catholic will start its PIAA-4A state playoff run Saturday March 11 against (3-6) Bishop McDevitt.

Lansdale Catholic 85, Audenried 55

Lansdale Catholic 28 18 19 20 – 85

Audenried 10 18 17 10 – 55

Lansdale Catholic: Jaida Helm 5 2-2 13, Sanyiah Littlejohn 5 0-4 10, Nadia Yemola 2 2-2 6, Olivia Boccella 5 0-0 13, Gabby Casey 17 2-3 40, Alana Ciccocelli 0 0-0 0, Casey Dvorchak 0 0-0 0, Isabella Allen 1 1-1 3, Aubrey Mobley 0 0-0 0, Janelle Carr 0 0-0 0. Total 35 7-12 85.

Audenried: Aniyah Howard 2 1-4 5, Shayla Smith 12 4-5 32, Shyann Osborne 1 0-0 3, ZayAhni Neurell 4 0-0 12, Erionnah Shelly 1 1-1 3, Aniyah Cheeseboro 0 0-0 0, Sakina Nelson 0 0-0 0, Monique Waters 0 0-0 0. Total 20 6-10 55.

3-point goals: LC: Olivia Boccella 3, Gabby Casey 4, Jaida Helm. A: Shayla Smith 4, ZayAhni Neurell 4, Shyann Osborne.