Berks Catholic whacks Bethlehem Catholic to head back to PIAA semifinals
HAMBURG >> The return trip can be a harder navigation than the original. But the Berks Catholic Saints made it look easy.
Berks Catholic clinched its second consecutive PIAA Class AAA semifinal berth Saturday with a 52-27 conquest of Bethlehem Catholic in a quarterfinal matchup held at Hamburg High School. The Saints (24-6) will play Archbishop Wood on Tuesday in the AAA state semifinals — the same spot in which they were tripped up a year ago — at a site and time to be determined. Wood beat Gwynedd-Mercy 42-33.
“It’s wonderful for (the players),” BC head coach Bob Birmingham said, when asked about getting back to the semifinals. “Our coaching staff puts in a ton of time, in the offseason especially, in the weight room, things like that. And that’s what takes to get back.
“We’ll see where it goes. I’m just happy to back in the gym with them for a couple more days, because it’s such a great group of kids.”
BC’s Devon Merritt carried the freight Saturday against the Lady Hawks, to no one’s surprise. With no one on Bethlehem Catholic’s roster approaching Merritt’s size or talent level, the James Madison-bound senior recorded a double-double against the Lady Hawks by banking 24 points and snaring 17 rebounds.
Merritt’s days in the rodeo are quickly drawing to a close and she’s playing like it, as if determined to etch an unmatched legacy.
“We’re leaving it all on the court right now, and we’re working really hard in practice,” Merritt said, deflecting individual accolades. “We’ve worked hard to get where we are, two years in a row. We’re taking it as far as we can.”
What Merritt has this time around that the Saints lacked a year ago is a tag-team partner. Reading sophomore transfer Dejah Terrell has been a godsend for Merritt and the Saints by supplying a second, springy interior presence, a combo that has been hard for opponents to defend. Terrell chipped in 16 against the Hawks and corralled several caroms.
In fact, Merritt and Terrell were so good Saturday that the Saints didn’t even need a perimeter game. Literally. Merritt drained a couple of mid-range jumpers, but none of BC’s 17 field goals were from beyond the arc. Few were attempted.
“With Dejah and me being over 6-foot, not a lot of teams face that,” Merritt said. “So we really focused on getting it down low to me and Dejah and being able to finish inside. We push each other in practice and that helps us prepare for these big games.”
Conversely, Bethlehem Catholic’s best stretch of ball came when it was able to stretch BC a bit in the first half by nailing four 3-pointers. The smaller Hawks hit on two inside a minute to play in the first quarter to take an 8-7 lead, then continued to shoot well enough to take a 16-13 lead midway through the second quarter.
But the Saints closed the half on a 7-0 run to lead 20-16, then turned on the jets after the break.
“Defensively, we weren’t happy giving up four threes in the first half, and we worked on cleaning that up,” Birmingham said. “Second half, I thought we played much better. I mean, we only gave up 27 points. We moved better, we boxed out better, we didn’t give them many second chance opportunities.”
Leading 28-20 late in the third quarter, Birmingham received a technical foul — “I think my third T in 26 years,” the coach said — when Merritt was called for an offensive foul.
It could have breathed life into the Hawks’ bench — but after the two tech freebies were converted to close it to 28-22, the opposite happened. BC decisively closed it out with a 24-5 sledgehammer over the final 10-plus minutes.
“I lost my composure there and I told the kids that,” Birmingham said. “That’s what I said to them at end of the third quarter. … They can’t afford to lose theirs. We settled down and played the way we were capable of playing.”
The Hawks (18-12) hung around for a half in large part due to that brief but effective 3-pointer splurge, but head coach Jose Medina lamented the number of missed shots when the game was still in play.
“It was an opportunity that we had,” Medina said. “When we look at the film we’ll see there were some girls in the right spots and they were open, but we just didn’t make the plays.”
PIAA quarterfinal
at Hamburg HS
Berks Catholic 52, Bethlehem Catholic 27
Berks Catholic – 7 13 12 20 — 52
Bethl. Catholic – 8 8 6 5 — 27
Berks Catholic
Dimmerling 0 0-0 0, Duncan 0 0-0 0, Baney 0 0-0 0, Gaffney 0 2-3 2, Keys 3 2-2 8, Cabrera 0 0-0 0, Dejah Terrell 4 8-11 16, Doyle 1 0-0 2, Zdradzinski 0 0-0 0, Leininger 0 0-0 0, Lockhart 0 0-0 0, Devon Merritt 9 6-7 24. Totals: 17 18-23 52.
3-pointers: none
Bethlehem Catholic
Rhine 3 0-2 8, Hontz 0 0-0 0, Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, Orloski 1 2-2 5, Zamolyi 2 1-2 6, Jones 3 1-3 8, Barnard 0 0-0 0, Bauman 0 0-0 0, Zambo 0 0-0 0, Fuehrer 0 0-0 0, Manzo 0 0-0 0. Totals: 9 4-7 27.
3-pointers: 5 (Rhine 2, Orloski, Zamolyi, Jones)
