Lansdale Catholic’s defense turns to offense in dominant PIAA-4A second-round win

MINERSVILLE >> Despite trailing more than halfway through the opening quarter, Lansdale Catholic still managed to end the opening frame with a double-digit lead over Jersey Shore Wednesday night.

Nineteen straight points across the first and second quarters gave the Crusaders a comfortable lead and the outcome was never in doubt the rest of the way. Lansdale Catholic cruised to a 79-42 win over Jersey Shore in the second round of the PIAA-4A playoffs at Minersville High School.

After falling behind, 9-8, with 3:14 left in the first, (12-1) Lansdale Catholic (25-2) rattled off 15 straight points to end the quarter. Gabby Casey found Sanyiah Littlejohn for a layup to give the Crusaders the lead for good. Casey scored seven points to close out the first quarter while Jaida Helm completed a three-point play and Olivia Boccella knocked down a corner three in the final seconds to make it a 23-9 game.

“We weren’t rebounding the ball defensively,” LC coach Eric Gidney said of the slow start. “We were giving them too many second and third-chance looks and they were capitalizing on those. If we’re not getting rebounds, we’re not getting stops, we can’t run. You saw once we got the running game going, they just couldn’t contain them. There were just a couple adjustments we needed to make.”

The dominant running game started with a defensive performance that played a big role in the PCL champs winning the first quarter, 23-9, and winning the third quarter, 28-8. The Crusaders forced 10 turnovers in the opening frame and seven in the third while committing just one turnover in those two quarters combined. They forced a total of 21 turnovers before most of the starters went to the bench to start the fourth quarter.

“We were just playing aggressive,” Boccella said. “We were just trying to get up on them and get them on their dribble. We kept looking for each other on fast breaks.”

“In watching a lot of film on (Jersey Shore) they play a lot of teams that fight through screens,” Gidney said. “That’s not us. We switch one-through-five, pretty much. I think that was something they weren’t used to. Obviously we’re physical, we’re fast, we’re accustomed to playing tough and physical teams. I think that just wore them down.”

Casey scored 15 of her game-high 29 points in the first quarter. The Philadelphia Catholic League MVP scored LC’s first eight points and finished the game with four rebounds, five assists and three blocks.

“Driving to the basket was really where I got the majority of my points,” Casey said of her fast start, “just taking it inside to get my shot open.”

All five LC starters had impressive nights despite exiting the game early. Boccella, Helm and Nadia Yemola joined Casey in double figures with 15, 13 and 11 points, respectively. Littlejohn finished with just four points, but dished out a game-high eight assists. Boccella got her points on five three-pointers and added five rebounds.

“I’ve been practicing a lot and I just have to go one play at a time,” Boccella said. “I missed the first two. I just had to keep shooting.”

The win sends Lansdale Catholic to the state quarterfinals and a matchup with District 11 champion Allentown Central Catholic. In the second round of states last year, LC defeated Allentown CC, 49-41.

Lansdale Catholic 79, Jersey Shore 42

Jersey Shore 9 14 8 11 – 42

Lansdale Catholic 23 19 28 9 – 79

Jersey Shore: Peyton Dincher 4 3-4 13, Sophia Stover 2 0-0 5, Destiny Budman 0 0-0 0, Rayne Herritt 0 1-2 1, Cailyn Schall 1 0-0 3, Jocelyn McCracken 6 0-0 13, Celia Shemory 2 1-2 5, Rachel Lorson 1 0-0 2, Jaymison Stellfox 0 0-0 0. Total 16 5-8 42.

Lansdale Catholic: Jaida Helm 6 1-1 13, Sanyiah Littlejohn 2 0-0 4, Nadia Yemola 5 0-0 11, Olivia Boccella 5 0-0 15, Gabby Casey 13 1-2 29, Alana Ciccocelli 0 0-0 0, Casey Dvorchak 0 0-0 0, Aubrey Mobley 2 1-1 6, Janelle Carr 0 1-2 1, Ali Johns 0 0-0 0. Total 33 4-6 79.

3-point goals: JS: Jocelyn McCracken, Sophia Stover, Peyton Dincher 2, Cailyn Schall. LC: Olivia Boccella 5, Gabby Casey 2, Nadia Yemola, Aubrey Mobley.