LOWER POTTSGROVE >> Halftime could have felt like an eternity to Diana Randleman.
The Pottsgrove senior sat four points shy of 1,000 for her career with her Falcons’ girls basketball team leading Upper Merion by five, all leading into the third quarter, which hasn’t been so kind to the Falcons.
“The third quarter was really important. Usually the third quarter is the toughest for us. If we came out slow or flat, that could have changed the whole game,” Randleman said. “But we did pretty good today. I’m glad we came out ready to play.”
‘Pretty good’ might be an understatement.
Randleman came out convincingly after the break and scored her team’s first two baskets, including the 1,000th of her career on a drive and left-handed floater in the lane, and scored 11 of her game-high 22 points in the third to key Pottsgrove to a 49-41 Pioneer Athletic Conference Frontier Division victory over Upper Merion Thursday night.
Pottsgrove senior Diana Randleman, facing, is congratulated by her parents David and Arlisa on court after scoring her 1,000th career point in the third quarter Thursday against Upper Merion. (Austin Hertzog – Digital First Media)
“I knew I needed two more but I wasn’t necessarily looking for it. I was looking for the best shot we had. Then I saw the lane and I just went,” Randleman said of the milestone basket. “I was happy I got off to a good start so I wouldn’t feel pressure. I felt good all the way throughout because my team was up, that made it better.”
Senior Molly Galvin added 10 for Pottsgrove and was a key factor on both ends of the floor while Cori Dickinson scored six on three jumpers that helped slow Upper Merion’s fourth-quarter rally attempt.
The Vikings got 17 points from Jordan Wilson and eight from Amya Anthoney.
Pottsgrove, which fell to UM in their first meeting 42-33 on Dec. 16, draws level in the Frontier Division standings with Upper Merion at 4-2, tops in the division.
Randleman, who finished the game on 1,009 points, became the seventh player in Pottsgrove girls basketball history to reach 1,000 points, and the most recent since Latiana Austin in 2006, according to longtime coach Mike Brendlinger.
The 5-2 point guard with a great handle didn’t set out to join the club early in her career, it just worked out that way.
Pottsgrove’s Diana Randleman drives and scores against Upper Merion Thursday. (Austin Hertzog – Digital First Media)
“Honestly, I didn’t even think about it,” Randleman said. “Earlier this year I found out that I was close. I didn’t look for it from my freshman year but we started checking the stats my junior year and found I was pretty close. After the start of senior year I just started looking toward it.”
The game paused to commemorate the achievement and Randleman received on-court congratulations and a trophy from her parents, David and Arlisa Randleman.
It didn’t slow the Falcons’ flow in the least as they went on a 14-2 run to open the third quarter and built a 39-24 lead. By the end of three, Pottsgrove led 42-26 after Galvin’s driving layup.
Upper Merion’s Yasmin Gant and Pottsgrove’s Autumn Ricci battle for a rebound during the first half Thursday. (Austin Hertzog – Digital First Media)
Upper Merion excelled in transition all night and used it to cut the deficit to 44-34 following a Wilson hoop (11 in fourth quarter). But Pottsgrove’s half-court defense held firm down the stretch for the eight-point win.
UM head coach Leah Shumoski was left wishing her team’s play in the fourth quarter would have been replicated the first three.
“We’re a young team and I think this is the first time they’re realizing they aren’t going to be handed anything, that they need to step up and take it,” she said. “You can’t win a game playing one quarter of basketball. We play the whole game like we did the fourth it’s an entirely different game. A few kids stepped up at the end, but it was too little, too late at the end.
“They knew it from the first game, Randleman’s a good player and you have to give credit where credit’s due.”
On a night where she became a 1,000-point scorer, there’s no denying that.
