Owen J. Roberts gets going early, handles Boyertown 40-27

BUCKTOWN >> The Owen J. Roberts girls basketball team provided a glimpse of what it can be when it’s back to full health in the first half of Friday night’s contest against visiting Boyertown. The Wildcats jumped out to a 13-point lead by early in the second quarter, and that was enough to lead comfortably the rest of the way in a 40-27 Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division win.

Asya Price scored 14 of her 15 points in the first half and Gabbi Koury was steady throughout the night with 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds for OJR (1-1 PAC Liberty, 2-2 overall). Carlie Schweizer led the Bears (0-1, 1-5) with eight points and Hannah Adamski scored six.

“We’re so banged up,” said Roberts coach Jeremy Mellon. “We’re trying to figure out who we are. We know we’re athletic and we can defend.”

Price, who is back after missing most of last season with an ACL injury, knocked down a pair of 3-pointers from the left wing and a short jumper as OJR bolted to an 11-2 lead through one quarter.

“She definitely helped our momentum in the beginning,” said senior three-sport standout Koury. “How we play at the beginning of the game is crucial to how it plays out.”

Koury scored the first four points of the second quarter on a jumper and a drive to make it 11 straight points for the hosts and give them a 15-2 advantage. Price stole the ball and went coast-to-coast in the final seconds of the first half to make it 28-11.

The Wildcats struggled on offense in the second half while the Bears picked things up, but the early deficit was too much for Boyertown to overcome.

“We played together better in the second half,” said first-year Bear head coach Troy Sweisfort, who took over the helm after a long stint as an assistant. “The first half we were not as aggressive as in the second half. Once we figure out how to play off the two feet in traffic, we’ll be more successful.”

Koury scored five of her team’s six points in the third quarter and the Wildcats held a 34-19 lead heading into the fourth. Then they broke it open on another basket off a drive by Koury and a free throw and a layup by Ava Clemson.

“We were trying to do too many things and we had to salt it away,” said Mellon. “We’re young and we’ve got good leadership.”

“Me and the seniors, we all have a big leadership roles,” said Koury. “There’s only three of us.”

Last season, the Wildcats went 14-10 and made it to the PAC and District 1 playoffs.

“Asya coming back is a great addition and Ashly (White),” Koury added.

Roberts had a 17-9 rebounding advantage in the first half and wound up with a 33-27 edge, including six boards by Abby Smith and four each by White and Sam Martins.

“Before the game, we talked about it,” said Koury. “We have to win in rebounding and put a body on somebody. We’ve got to get the ball as often as we can.”

Koury thought her team had shown improvement in the game.

“But there’s always room for more effort,” she said.

Sweisfort was happy with his team’s effort throughout the contest as they try to improve on last year’s four-win season.

“If we can give up 40 points or less, we can win some games,” he said. “We wanted to keep No. 22 (Koury) out of the paint and we did that most of the time. We’re struggling on offense. We’re learning as we go and I see a lot of that. They competed all four quarters. They kept fighting. I love these girls. I’ll coach them any day.”