Outside of the players and the coaches in the Emmaus locker room, there probably weren’t too many people inside Bethlehem Catholic High School – or around the Lehigh Valley area for that matter – that thought the Hornets had a chance of pulling off what would be considered a huge upset against the Golden Hawks last Friday night in the opening-round of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playoffs.
Sure, Emmaus had momentum heading into the matchup after winning eight of its last nine games, and qualifying for the tournament on the last day of the regular-season.
And yes, the Hornets, in a similar role a year ago, pulled off an upset as they went on the road as the No.7 seed and knocked off second-seeded PM West, 59-54 in overtime.
But did anyone really think they could do it again?
Not facing the No.1 overall seed on their home floor.
Not against a Becahi team that had won 15 of their 16 league games and 18 of 22 on the season.
And not against a Golden Hawks squad that was one of the favorites to win the EPC championship along with Easton and Parkland.
Add in that Becahi had already beaten the Hornets on their home floor earlier this season, winning by an 18-point margin (58-40).
Factor in all that, and on paper, it seemed like Emmaus had little to no shot of pulling off an upset for the second consecutive season.
It’s a good thing that games aren’t played on paper and instead on the court because none of what happened this season or in recent history really seemed to matter to head coach Kelsey Gallagher’s team.
They just needed to be better than Becahi on this night and they were, pulling off arguably the biggest win in program history and undoubtedly, the biggest in the coach’s seven year tenure at Emmaus.
Behind a balanced scoring attack and one of their best defensive efforts of the season, the Hornets pulled off the shocker heard around the valley as they eliminated the top overall seed from the tournament with a stunning 52-40 victory.
“Our focus coming into the game was that we needed to set the tone early,” said Gallagher in a phone interview on Monday. “We played them earlier this year and they set the tone in the first half going up 36-10 at our place, but in the second half we outscored them 28-22 so we knew we could compete with them.”
“We had to play the game like we practiced and going in knowing that we had nothing to lose,” added the coach. “We just had to go out and play and that’s exactly what we did. Our kids played discipline basketball. It was an all-around team effort and now we’re excited to be headed back to the PPL Center for the second year in a row.”
With the win, Emmaus (14-9) now advances to the Final 4 on Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Allentown – weather permitting – to face Liberty, the No.4 seed, which went on the road and defeated fifth-seeded PM West 50-36. The game will be aired LIVE on The Eastern Pa. Sports Network beginning with pregame coverage at 7:40 p.m.
The other semifinal at 6 p.m. will pit Easton, the No.2 seed, vs Parkland, the No.3 seed. The two winners will play for the league title at 6 p.m. on Thursday back at the PPL Center. Emmaus’ last league title came back in the 2006-07 season.
Senior Taylor Griffith had arguably the best game of her high school career in helping lead the Hornets to the victory draining three 3-pointers and finishing with career-best 16 points.
“She struggled a little all year with consistency and getting into a rhythm but tonight just kept at it and once the first one went down she just kept shooting and she had a great night,” said Gallagher. “She had nine of her points in that third quarter which was huge.”
Another senior, Mya Cooper, was outstanding on both ends of the floor as she added 11 points while defensively, holding Becahi’s top player and one of the league’s best Cici Hernandez to just seven points in the game.
“Our game plan going in was to make everyone else on their team beat us and Mya left it all out on the floor with her incredible effort covering Hernandez” said Gallagher. “She really bought-in and really brought the energy.
“Mya might not score a lot of points consistently for us, but she does a lot of other things really well and she’s our engine. She’s our facilitator out on the court for us and she always give effort.”
Gabby Devita also finished in double figures finishing with 11 points and freshman Kayla Snyder added seven with most of her points coming from the free-throw line where she was 5 of 6. As a team, Emmaus shot a season-best 79 percent (19 of 24) for the second consecutive game.
Emmaus outscored Becahi in all four quarters, jumping out to 13-11 after the first quarter and holding a five-point advantage (23-18) at intermission. After the half, the Hornets outscored the Golden Hawks 29-22.
Becahi, which had won four the last five EPC titles, was led in scoring by sophomore Aliyah Brame who had a team-high 13 points. The 40 points scored by the Golden Hawks was their fourth lowest output of the season.
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Emmaus 52, Becahi 40
Em – Mya Cooper 1 10-11 12, Kayla Snyder 1 5-6 7, Gabby DeVita 4 1-2 11, Taylor Griffith 6 1-1 16, Cassie Doemling 2 1-2 5, Sylvia Sokolofski 0 1-2 1, Sofie Laird 0. Totals: FG 14, FT 19-24, 3s (5) – Griffith 3, DeVita 2
BC – Akasha Santos 2 0-2 5, Aliyah Brame 3 5-5 13, CiCi Hernandez 3 0-0 7, Ella Bincarosky 2 0-0 6, Kendall Nickisher 1 1-2 3, Daviana Jones 1 0-0 2, Mekhyla Britt 2 0-0 4, Jocelyn Bell 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 14, FT 6-9, 3s (6) – Brame 2, Bincarosky 2, Santos, Hernandez
Em – 13-10-15-14 – 52
BC – 11-7-13-9 – 40