RECAP >> Freshman Keziah Brantley scored a career-high 17 points as Emmaus bounced back following a season-opening loss to Boyertown on Friday night by going on the road and defeating Northwestern Lehigh 51-46 in a non-league game on Saturday afternoon in New Tripoli.
The win was the first of the season for head coach Kelsey Gallagher’s team who improved to 1-1 and snapped a 15-game losing streak dating back to the 2018-19 season. The victory also avenged a season-opening 50-34 loss to the Tigers a year ago.
“It was definitely a big win,” said Gallagher following the game on Penn Sports Radio.” We will celebrate the win in the locker room but we also know we have to get back to business.”
Emmaus led from start to finish as they jumped out to an 18-9 lead after the first quarter and still led by a 28-20 margin at the half. Northwestern was able to outscore the Hornets in the second half by a slim 26-23 margin, but the comeback by the Tigers fell short.
“If we can play this style of basketball with our pressure defense we are going to have a lot of games like this,” said Gallagher. “The better we get, the more comfortable we will be.”
“Overall, I’m extremely proud of the girls. They did everything I asked of them and more. We’re 1-1 and we are already off to a better start than we were last year.”
Brantley drained three 3s in the first half and scored a team-high nine points to lead the Hornets. Senior Alyssa Burkhart just missed reaching double figures and finished with nine points for Emmaus, who as a team drained eight 3-pointers for the second consecutive game.
Northwestern Lehigh was paced by freshman Paige Sevrain who led the Tigers with a team-high 16 points. Teammate senior Mackenzie Hess added 10 for head coach Chris Deutsch’s team who dropped to 0-2 on the season.
Emmaus will return to action on Tuesday at home as they open up EPC play hosting rival Parkland. Tip off is 7 p.m.
Like Emmaus girls basketball on facebook, follow @Emmaussports.com on twitter for continued updates on the team throughout the season.
Emmaus – *Keziah Brantley 7 0-1 17, *Bianca Rollins 1 0-1 3, *Alyssa Burkhart 4 0-0 9, *Brooke Wunderler 0 1-2 1, *Gabrielle Martin 2 0-0 4, Paige Inman 1 0-0 2, Marah Sisonick 2 0-0 4, Sarah Hoch 2 0-0 6, Lexi Brader 0 0-0 0, Steph Klemick 0 0-0 0, Megan Petrizzi 1 0-0 3, Ella Quiggle 0 0-0 0, Kam Watkins 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 21, FT 1-5, 3s – 8 (Brantley 3, Hoch 2, Rollins, Burkhart, Petrizzi)
Northwestern – *Alex Lister 2 1-2 5,* Kailyn Jones 2 0-0 6, *Tess Ledeboer 1 3-5 5, *Mackenzie Hess 5 0-0 10, *Paige Sevrain 6 4-9 16, Sydney Sevrain 1 2-2 4, Rachel Dorney 0 0-0 0, Gabrielle Giese 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 17, FT 10-18, 3s – 2 (Jones 2)
*Starters
Emmaus – 18-10-14-9 – 51
Northwestern – 9-11-13-13 – 46