Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — A little break seemed to give Nanticoke Area a whole new life.
Feeling fresh and with a renewed vigor, Riley Klepadlo and her Nanticoke Area teammates charged out of halftime with a spirited spree of points that turned their 12-point deficit into a momentum-changing tie in little more than three minutes.
It didn’t last.
Kaitlyn Lewis scored 10 of her game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter Wednesday and North Pocono rode out Nanticoke Area’s wave of emotion for a 52-38 victory in a District 2 Class 3A girls basketball tournament semifinal at Wilkes University’s Marts Center.
“We knew the problem was going to be offensive rebounds,” said Nanticoke Area coach Alan Yendrzeiwski, whose team pulled down just one rebound in the first quarter while North Pocono built a 12-7 lead. “They’re bigger than us. They dominated the glass. And I thought that was a big part of when they regained the lead.”
With the victory, 23-2 North Pocono gained a trip to Saturday’s district championship game against Honesdale, a 41-34 winner over top-seeded Scranton Prep. Both those teams battling for the title will represent District 2 in the PIAA Class 3A playoffs next week, and Nanticoke Area still has a chance to join them.
Despite falling to 21-4 with the loss and having its 14-game winning streak snapped, Nanticoke Area will battle two-time defending District 2 champ Prep in a third-place district game Saturday.
“We have a chance to go to states,” Yendrzeiwski said, “which, with a young team, is really worth playing for.”
Nanticoke Area made a play to join the state fray Wednesday.
For the longest time, Nanticoke Area appeared overmatched by an aggressive North Pocono press and an inside game that left Nanticoke Area on the outside of most rebounds.
North Pocono opened the game by turning Nanticoke Area into a one-shot team, grabbing 12 rebounds to Nanticoke Area’s 1 in the first quarter. Maria Day led North Pocono’s march to an early 12-7 lead. And that advantage grew to 23-11 by halftime when North Pocono’s Brooke Bauman eight of her 13 points in the second quarter.
That’s when Nanticoke Area stopped its retreat and went on an all-out attack.
With a defense that began swarming the ball inside, Nanticoke Area shot out of halftime with a 14-2 run that electrified the team’s fans and evened the score.
Klepadlo’s second layup during the spree chopped North Pocono’s 12-point halftime lead in half. Gianna Roberts hit a bucket to pull Nanticoke Area within two points. And Klepadlo, who had the first seven of her 12 points during the run, knifed inside to tie the game, 25-25 with 4:22 remaining in the third quarter.
North Pocono’s seemingly-commanding 12-point lead was gone in a matter of minutes.
“We got down a little bit, were having a hard time scoring,” Yendrzeiwski said. “To the girls’ credit, they came out with a little more energy in the second half. I thought it showed. Give all the credit to the girls.”
North Pocono deserved plenty of praise, too.
Instead of buckling under Nanticoke Area’s pressure, North Pocono regained its balance – along with the lead.
Thanks to a balanced scoring attack, led by three points apiece from Lewis and Rory Jordan, North Pocono had a 37-29 advantage heading into the final quarter.
The closest Nanticoke Area came after that was five points, when Klepadlo nailed a 3-point shot to trim the team’s deficit to 39-34 with 5:50 to play. But three missed foul shots on a night Nanticoke Area went 4 for 12 from the free throw line kept North Pocono from nail-biting the rest of the way.
“We’ve got to be better at the free throw line,” Yendrzeiwski said. “That’s something we’ve been constantly talking about. But it’s different working on them in practice than it is making them in a district game.”
It’s something Nanticoke Area will have one more chance to make up for in a bid to get to states this season.
“I know we’re disappointed, we squandered some opportunities today,” Yendrzeiwski said. “But if we can play with the intensity and take care of some of those mistakes, we’ll be OK on Saturday.”
North Pocono 52, Nanticoke Area 38
NORTH POCONO (52) — Maria Day 3 2-2 8, Kaitlyn Lewis 5 5-6 15, Brooke Bauman 6 0-1 12, Rory Jordan 3 3-5 9, Alexis Stephens 1 0-0 2, Brianna Maglio 1 0-0 2, Chloe Pehanick 2 0-0 4. Totals 21 10-14 52.
NANTICOKE AREA (38) — Deanna Thomas 5 0-0 11, Riley Klepadlo 5 1-2 12, Kayla Aufiero 0 1-4 1, Amber Grohowski 0 0-0 0, Gianna Roberts 5 2-7 12, Keira Brown 0 0-0 0, Cassie Novakowski 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 4-13 38.
North Pocono`12`11`14`15`—`52
Nanticoke Area`7`4`18`9`—`38
Three-point goals — NAN 2 (Thomas, Klepadlo).