Rosenblum shows she’s no soft soph touch for Radnor

RADNOR >> Radnor basketball coach Mark Jordan has three lacrosse players, including two who are Division I bound, in his starting lineup.

Jordan would be the first to admit he appreciates having multi-sport athletes as talented as seniors Allison Lanzone (Brown), Nicole Massimino (Notre Dame) and Alexa Solomon.

Audrey Rosenblum, a sophomore guard, sort of sticks out like a sore thumb. In the spring, she’ll be the starting shortstop on the softball team.

Rosenblum and fellow guard Maura Holst are the lone non-LAX players in the lineup.

“Yeah, I guess that’s probably true,” Rosenblum said. “We’re trying to get Maura Holst to come out on the (softball) team this year, too. We need more of us.”

Jordan’s teams are known for their athleticism. Being good at multiple sports can pay dividends come playoff time.

Tuesday night, the fourth-seeded Raiders showed No. 13 Interboro how tough they are with a 53-28 victory in the first round of the District 1 Class 5A tournament. Radnor (17-6) hosts No. 5 Rustin in the quarterfinal round Friday.

All five starters played a huge part in the win. Rosenblum, a diminutive guard who possesses good speed and ball-handling skills, scored seven of her 11 points in the second quarter. Lanzone led all players in points (18) and rebounds (nine), while Massimino, the team’s leading scorer entering the day, added seven points and a game-high six steals. Solomon had four points, four rebounds and two assists, while Holst contributed two points, two rebounds and two steals.

The Raiders deployed a full-court press early as they rushed out to a 9-1 lead.

“When we play our full-court game, it definitely pushes us. We like moving quickly,” Rosenblum said. “We have the height, but we also have a lot of speed. When we get the game moving faster, that’s usually when we’re able to do our thing.”

Fast-break points. A stifling press. Takeaways. You name it, and the Raiders had the upper hand in all phases Tuesday. It was only when the Raiders took their collective foot off the gas pedal that the Bucs were able to battle their way back. A lingering malaise late in the first quarter and early in the second kept the Raiders off the scoreboard for almost four minutes.

“We really trust our seniors, like Allison and Nicole, to get us going again,” Rosenblum said. “They’re quick, they’re smart and they keep us all humbled and focused.”

Radnor (17-6) scored five straight points to take a 26-15 lead into the locker room. Interboro responded nicely in the third quarter. Amber Seamen hit a 3-pointer and back-to-back baskets by Amanda Floyd and Madison Diehl made it a 29-24 game with 4:30 to go in the third quarter.

“We try and be a high-tempo team and keep the energy going, but we have these lulls during games where we slow down a little bit,” Lanzone said. “Once we realized that this is it, this is our playoff game, you win or go home, that’s when we realized we had to pick it up.”

Radnor extended its lead back to 11 points after three quarters and ended the game on a 24-4 run.

“They are such a well-coached team and you can tell that (Jordan) really has them in the right position,” Interboro coach Jody Boon said. “Their press really wore us down. We cut it to five (points) and I thought we were back in it, but then we had a couple things that didn’t go our way.”

Radnor forced Interboro to commit 25 turnovers. The Bucs attempted just 12 field goal attempts in the first half, a byproduct of the Raiders’ tremendous man defense and ability to strip the ball free.

Seamen led Interboro with 11 points on three 3-pointers. She finished with 53 treys for the season, second among all Delco players. Gina McNamee added five points, seven rebounds and two assists in her final game in the gold and black. Marta Walewska chipped in with six points and six rebounds.

Interboro (12-11) made its first district playoff appearance since 2012.

“It was a good learning experience, especially for our two freshmen Maddie (Diehl) and Riley (Szatny). Amanda Floyd is only a sophomore,” Boon said. “We had two goals this season. One was winning the Del Val, which we got a piece of, and making the playoffs. You would hope this would be a little different, but I’m proud of them.”