Gift of Gab: Casey leads the way as Lansdale Catholic hammers Scranton Prep for return trip to Hershey

ALLENTOWN >> The secret, apparently, is egg whites.

Lots and lots of egg whites. At least that’s what Gabby Casey’s grandmom cooked up for the Lansdale Catholic senior’s breakfast Tuesday morning.

“I mean, it was a big plate,” Casey said.

That was a meal worth enjoying. The dish Casey served up to Scranton Prep in Tuesday night’s PIAA 4A semifinal game at William Allen was just as good for her teammates and not so much for the Classics.

Casey dominated from the start, scoring 19 of her 25 points in the first half, adding 10 rebounds, three assists, five steals and a block as the Crusaders rolled over Scranton Prep 60-28, booking a spot in Saturday afternoon’s state title game.

“I wanted to come out strong, come out with intensity and kind of knock them back,” Casey said. “I think that’s what we did as a team. We came out and were hitting our shots and that was really a booster, then creating chaos on defense which led to offense.”

Well, check, check and check on those first three things. Scranton Prep scored the game’s first basket, then Casey scored the next four points giving LC a lead it never relinquished and only extended with each passing minute. The senior wing made her first four shots, the last drawing a foul on the finish and Casey sticking the free throw for a 15-4 lead five minutes into the game.

By the time the first quarter ended, she had 14 points and the Crusaders led 19-8. As strong as she was offensively, rolling to the rim for finishes, hitting turnarounds and sinking 4-of-6 threes, Casey was equally charged up on defense, playing almost like a free safety in LC’s defense looking for chances to go take the ball away from the Classics.

“They had me freelance so I could create chaos and as soon as the girls would catch it on the top of the block, they’d turn their back so I would go poke it away,” Casey said. “They couldn’t see me coming and that just led to a lot of offensive points.”

About the only blemish on Casey’s first half was the second foul she picked up with 23 seconds to play before halftime but a quick glance up at the scoreboard at that point said plenty. Scranton Prep, a very good defensive game coming into the game, focused efforts on not letting Olivia Boccella get going from outside but the junior was happy to play defense and let her teammates take advantage.

Boccella didn’t score, she only took one shot and her team won by 32.

“We were getting our points inside first, then kicking it back out,” Casey said. “Nadia (Yemola) was on fire today, Jaida (Helm) was really key in the win and Sanyiah (Littlejohn) and Liv are always out there doing their job.

“We don’t get this far, going to a state championship, without all five of us being on the same page. You can see that, even if girls aren’t having a good night, we can pick each other up and that’s what’s really special about us.”

Littlejohn was terrific, keeping the ball on a string as she wove her way to six points, adding five rebounds, two steals and stringent defense on Scranton Prep’s top outside threat in Maya Jenkins. Helm kept attacking, adding 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and drew two charges on defense.

Yemola finished with 13 points, the sophomore sliding right into Boccella’s role as kick-out option from behind the arc and added a really nice score inside to open the third, shaking a defender the wrong way before spinning and finishing. In the first half, she knocked down a pair of kick-out threes and had a really nice pass to Helm for a layup in the fourth quarter.

“I just tried to keep moving on offense, get the early exchange and look for my shot,” Yemola said. “I felt pretty good in warm-ups so as I got the ball and got the opportunity, I knew I just had to keep shooting.

“I think it really shows that anybody on our team can do anything, everybody individually is so skilled so when you put all of us together it’s really great.”

So far this postseason, Crusaders coach Eric Gidney had avoided a postgame drenching in the team’s locker room. That was not the case on Tuesday, his players finally allowing themselves a chance to celebrate a little bit and dosing him with water.

After a performance like the one the Crusaders put on, he was glad they did.

“It was the Gabby Casey show with a lot of support,” Gidney said. “Someone’s still got to pass her the ball, someone’s got to force their girl to pick up the ball to force steals in the passing lane but you could definitely tell No. 15 was on a mission tonight.

“She’s got an unfinished business mentality.”

That unfinished business of course is a state title. Last year, Lansdale Catholic came close falling to Archbishop Wood in the 4A title game and it was the team’s mission to get back to Hershey while winning everything else along the way.

So far, the Crusaders have with a PCL and District 12 title. Standing in their way is Blackhawk, the District 7 runner-up fresh off taking down WPIAL champion North Catholic 45-40 in a revenge game in the other semifinal.

While the final score reflected the way the game went, Gidney lauded Scranton Prep on its success this season and noted as a team with three sophomores in its starting five and two more coming off the bench, the Classics aren’t going anywhere in the state picture over the next few years. Tuesday, they just happened to run into a team that’s already been through it all and is locked in one united goal.

“We’ve got a really loaded roster right now that’s clicking on all cylinders, no one is missing a beat at all,” Gidney said. “They’ve really come together, they’re playing well, they’re playing for each other and they’re really fun to watch.”

One of them in particular was extra fun to watch on Tuesday, Casey having a couple staffers at William Allen compliment her efforts as the Crusaders packed up and got ready to head home.

“It’s just Gabby,” Yemola said. “She already plays so hard in every game and she was going crazy with the steals and finishes, everything she was doing was just great to see.”

“I guess I was just feeling it,” Casey said. “Once you see the first couple shots go in, you know, my teammates keep feeding me the ball and I kept taking it to the hoop.”

Lansdale Catholic 60, Scranton Prep 28
Lansdale Catholic 19 16 14 11 – 60
Scranton Prep 8 7 11 2 – 28
LC: Gabby Casey 10 1-1 25, Jaida Helm 6 4-4 16, Sanyiah Littlejohn 3 0-3 6, Nadia Yemola 5 0-0 13. Totals: 24 5-8 60
SP: Rita Collins 4 1-2 9, Maya Jenkins 2 3-4 8, Bella Dennebaum 1 0-0 2, Jayna McIntyre 1 0-0 3, Ashlyn Moore 1 0-0 3. Totals: 9 4-6 28
3-pointers: LC – Casey 4, Yemola 3; SP – Jenkins, McIntyre, Moore.