It was an uphill battle all night for Emmaus playing in its home opener on Friday against a young and very talented and high-tempo Hazleton squad.
The Cougars, who returned all but one player off of last year’s team that finished 24-5 overall, came into ‘The Hive’ and lit up the scoreboard in cruising to an easy 82-44 victory, spoiling the home coaching debut of Emmaus first year head coach Avon Mack.
Both teams entered the game unbeaten in the early part of this season with the Hornets at 3-0 and the Cougars 2-0, but by the end of the night it was Hazleton remaining perfect as they forced 30 turnovers, while scoring the most points against an Emmaus coached girls’ team since an 80-59 loss to Allen in the 2016 season.
Hazleton outscored the hosts in all four quarters, building a 10-point lead at the break (40-30) and then using a 42-14 second half to pull away for the 38-point win.
The Cougars (3-0) were led in scoring by sophomores Kaitlyn Bindas and Sophia Benyo who each shared scoring honors with 22 points apiece. Senior Sophia Shults added 13 for Hazleton, who had 10 different players figure into the scoring column
For Emmaus, junior Gabby DeVita was the only player to reach double figures finishing with 13 points, 10 of which came in the first half. Sophomore Kayla Snyder added eight.
The Hornets will look to bounce back and returning to their winning ways on Tuesday as they host Allen at 7 p.m.
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Hazleton 82, Emmaus 44
HAZ — Mariah Marolo 1 3-3 5, Sophia Benyo 7 8-10 22, Jayla Eberts 1 0-0 2, Kaitlyn Bindas 8 4-8 22, Olivia Williams 1 0-0 2, Evelyn Shults 0 2-2 2, Kayla Lagowy 3 0-0 6, Alexis Reimold 1 2-2 4, Sophia Shults 5 3-4 13, Juliana Silva 2 0-0 4, Sofia Rodgers 0 0-0 0, Miranda Chupela 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 29, FT 22-27, 3s (2 – Bindas 2)
EM — Kayla Snyder 2 1-2 6, Gabby DeVita 5 1-1 13, Sylvia Sokolofski 0 0-2 0, Sofie Laird 1 3-3 5, Cassie Doemling 0 4-4 4, Olive Whitney 3 0-0 8, Emma Naccarato 0 0-0 0, Sierra Stevens 1 1-2 3, Sophia Shutkufksi 1 0-0 2, Olivia Haberl 1 1-1 3, Kaitlyn Grochowski 0 0-0 0, Olivia Quinn 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 14, FT 11-15, 3s (5 – DeVita 2, Whitney 2, Snyder)
Haz – 19-21-25-17 – 82
Em – 11-19-9-5 – 44
JV – Haz 42-37 (OT)