Cumberland Valley wins 4A girls crown
First Posted:
HERSHEY — One year after its runner-up finish, District 3 champion Cumberland Valley settled a score with Spring-Ford at the girls PIAA basketball championships Friday.
Sophomore swing guard Kelly Jekot scored 16 points and guard Taylor Sneidman chipped in 12 as the Eagles upended the defending Class 4A champion Rams 49-30 at Giant Center.
Cumberland Valley (28-5) hauled in the program’s second Class 4A title (2002), taking advantage of Spring-Ford’s uneven offense that produced just three field goals in the final 16 minutes. Lafayette recruit Sammy Stipa, averaging 13.7 points per game, finished with a team-high 11 points for the Rams (27-7), which trailed 23-14 at intermission. Spring-Ford never recovered.
Forward Maddie Torresin added nine points for coach Bill Wolf’s Eagles, a competitive 18 of 37 from the floor. Cumberland Valley shot better than 52-percent in the second half.
Cumberland Valley, more comfortable in open space, rode the 6-1 Jekot’s hot hand early, leaning ahead 20-12 with under two minutes left in the opening half. Just before the horn, Sneidman’s triple made it a nine-point scrap. It helped that Eagles junior Jen Falconer was locked in on Stipa, Spring-Ford’s field general.
The Rams, who outraced Cumberland Valley 60-45 in the 2013 state final, also snapped the Eagles 10-game winning streak earlier this season, winning 52-37 in Royersford. Shelby Mueller added eight points and seven rebounds for coach Mickey McDaniel’s Rams.
CLASS 2A GIRLS
Seton-La Salle 58, Neumann Goretti 50
HERSHEY — For the second time in three seasons, WPIAL champion Seton-La Salle walked away from the sweetest place on earth with the girls’ PIAA Class 2A basketball title.
In the process, the Rebels knocked off the state’s last unbeaten, outracing Philadelphia product Neumann-Goretti.
The Rebels (27-4) were paced by Nicolete Newman (17 points), Cassidy Walsh (11) and Yacine Diop, one of three University of Pittsburgh recruits for Rebels first-year head coach Spencer Stefko. Diop recorded a double-double with 10 points and 23 rebounds.
Emmanuella Awobajo led three double-digit scorers for Neumann-Goretti, denied a perfect 30-0 season. The Saints (29-1) rallied from a 28-17 halftime deficit to take the lead, 46-44, with 5:28 remaining.
Seton-La Salle, however, connected on 10 of 12 from the free-throw line down the stretch, holding off a high-powered Neumann-Goretti side that converted just 16 of 66 shots from the floor. The Saints also shot under 17-percent (5-for-30) from the 3-point arc.
Behind Awobajo and slick guards Ciani Cryor (12 points) and Sianni Martin (10), Letty Santarelli’s Catholic League champions stayed tight despite their shooting woes. Still, after a pair of Martin free throws pushed the Saints ahead for the first time, Neumann-Goretti’s next bucket came on a Kamiah Smalls lay up with under a minute to play.
Newman and Walsh took care of the rest from the line.
CLASS A BOYS
Lincoln Park 70, MCS 66
HERSHEY — Sophomore standout Maverick Rowan scored 37 points and WPIAL champ Lincoln Park capped its 30-1 season with a victory over District 1 champ Math, Civics & Science Charter.
Lincoln Park, which won its 24th game in a row, lost in its previous two trips to PIAA championship games. Against MC&S, the Leopards overcame the Mighty Elephants’ 13-0 third-quarter run and a double-digit deficit, taking the lead for good, 61-59, with 2:37 to go in regulation when Rowan, a 6-7 shooting guard, made both ends of a 1-and-1.
This was a rematch of the 2011 state-championship game, won by MC&S 70-55 in Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center. Lincoln Park also fell to Constitution in the 2012 state final, by a 58-49 score, at Penn State.
Senior 6-7 guard Ryan Skovranko added 10 points for Lincoln Park, which closed the game on a 19-9 run and snapped MC&S’s four-game winning streak. MC&S entered the PIAA playoffs with a losing record, before ripping off victories against Delco Christian, Sullivan County, Church Farm and previously undefeated St. John Neumann in the state semifinals.
MC&S finished its season 15-15 overall; Samir Doughty scored 26 points and Mike Watkins, a junior Penn State commit, had 17 points and 17 rebounds for the Mighty Elephants, who out-rebounded Lincoln Park 47-32, but couldn’t overcome 18 turnovers.
