Throughout this season, the Emmaus girls basketball team has been able to exercise some of their demons from the past.
Defeating rival Parkland for the first time in more than a decade.
Snapping a 15-game losing skid against Northampton.
The one streak, however, that the Hornets have not been able to solve is beating Nazareth and that trend continued on Friday night in the opening-round of the District XI Class 6A quarterfinals.
The Blue Eagles ended Emmaus’ season for the third straight year and ran their win streak to 15 straight against the Hornets as they withstood a late comeback with some clutch free-throw shooting in the final minutes to pull out a 41-34 victory at Catasauqua High School.
With the victory, Nazareth (12-11) advances to the semifinals on Tuesday to take on top-seeded Easton, which pounded eighth-seeded Stroudsburg 58-18. The other semifinal will feature a match-up of lower seeds as No.6 Northampton will face No.7 Liberty. Both games will be played at Allen High School.
For Emmaus, which was hurt by 27 turnovers in the game, the season ends at 14-11. The 14 wins is the most since 2011-12 (15-8).
Nazareth outscored the Hornets in three of the four quarters, leading 10-9 after one, 18-16 at the half and 28-21 after three quarters. Both teams scored 13 points in the final eight minutes and Emmaus able to cut a double-digit deficit to a one-score game late, but the Blue Eagles converted 9 of 10 free-throws in the final quarter to pull out the victory.
In the win, Nazareth had three players reach double figures. Senior Addison Kea scored a game-high 12 points, including going 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. Junior Sam Baker and sophomore Renee Wells each added 10 points.
No Emmaus player reached double figures in the loss. Senior Paige Inman and junior Mya Cooper each scored eight points, while freshman Olive Whitney came off the bench and added seven. The Hornets struggled from the free-throw line where they shot just 42 percent (5 of 12).
The game marked the final one in the careers of team’s three seniors – Inman, Kaitlyn Dill and Casey Bender.
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Nazareth 41, Emmaus 34
Naz – 10-8-10-13 – 41
Em – 9-7-5-13 – 34
Naz – Julia Novak 0 0-0 0, Addison Kea 2 7-8 12, Sam Baker 3 4-5 10, Renee Wells 4 1-2 10, Peyton Long 3 1-2 7, Isabella Novak 0 0-0 0, Breelyn Bender 0 0-0 0, Jenna Martucci 1 0-0 2, Sophie Cole 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 13, FT 13-17, 3s – 2 (Kea, Wells)
Em – Paige Inman 4 0-4 8, Gabby De Vita 1 0-0 2, Taylor Griffith 2 0-0 6, Mya Cooper 2 4-6 8, Emma Naccarato 0 0-0 0, Olive Whitney 2 1-2 7, Sofie Laird 0 0-0 0, Cassandra Doemling 0 0-0 0, Sierra Stevens 1 0-0 3, Sylvia Sokolofski 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 12, FT 5-12, 3s – 5 (Whitney 2, Griffith 2, Stevens)
PHOTO GALLERY (Courtesy Nathan Lewis)
