Sports
Lady Spartans Pull Out Victory Over Crusaders
Despite a fourth quarter rally, the girls b-ball team beat Liberty H.S.
Southern Lehigh held on despite a feverish fourth-quarter rally form host Notre Dame as the Spartans picked up the 56-52 victory Thursday night, in this varsity girls basketball matchup.
After pushing out to a 33-17 lead after a dominating first half, Southern Lehigh saw that advantage evaporate nearly into nothing as the Crusaders surged back in the second half, closing to within just two points after a pair of free throws with minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The frustrating part of the victory for Spartans coach Megan Dellegrotti is that this is becoming a usual occurrence for her team.
"This has been a pattern for us, even since last year. We get up, then we lose leads," Dellegrotti said. We stop doing what we did in the first three quarter in the last three minutes of the game.Fortunately tonight, we were able to hold on."
Early in the contest Southern Lehigh exploited their height advantage, throwing the ball into the post to forward Bridgette Dougherty. The junior Dougherty scored 10 of her team high 18 points in the first half.
"We really worked as a team at the beginning of this game ... really executing our plays well," Dougherty said. "We were looking for good shots and making the extra pass."
Notre Dame outscored Southern Lehigh 36-to-24 in the second half, led by Leighann Lively, whose aggressive play in the passing lanes on defense and driving to the basket on offense was central to the Crusaders near rally.
The Crusaders closed to within two points on a pair of foul shots late in the fourth period from Brittany Pierzga, but that was as close as Notre Dame would get. Crusaders coach Josh Kopp pointed to the 17-point deficit his team was in after the first half as just too much to overcome.
"We just have to learn how to execute," Dellegrotti said. "Play as a team and at the end of the game take care of the ball. I think turnovers are one of the things that really hurt our team."
Dougherty's front-court mate Hannah Doell scored 14 points. They were joined in double figures by guard Julia Nemeth, who had 13 points. Lively was the only player in double figures for the Crusaders.