Easton freshman Eva Jordan stepped to the foul line on Tuesday night at PPL Center in Allentown needing just one free throw to punch Easton’s ticket to the EPC title game.
In that championship game back at PPL Center on Thursday night, she stepped back to the same foul line in a tie game with three seconds left with the weight of a 10-year league title drought resting on her shoulders.
After Jordan missed the first with no timeouts remaining, all Easton coach Dave Lutz could do was watch his players on the court and the bench take matters into their own hands to prepare Jordan for one more attempt.
“You could see after she missed the first one how good her teammates are. And you could hear the bench, too, being very positive,” Lutz said. “Believe it or not, I was really confident she was going to make the second one.”
Tuesday night’s hero did just that and buried the second free throw to give top-seeded Easton a 35-34 win over No. 2 Bethlehem Catholic in Thursday night’s EPC championship game at PPL Center. It marks just the second EPC title for Easton since realignment in 2014 and comes exactly 10 years after the first in 2016.
Easton’s Eva Jordan takes a foul shot against Bethlehem Catholic on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, during the EPC girls basketball championship game at PPL Center in Allentown. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Jordan found herself on the foul line just seconds after Bethlehem Catholic senior Aliyah Brame tied the game with a layup on a baseline out of bounds play, but the Golden Hawks lost track of the score on the ensuing inbound and intentionally fouled with three seconds left.
“I’m going to blame myself,” Bethlehem Catholic coach Arnold Alleyne said. “I’ll grow from it. I’ll be better. I’ll give more reminders, so I’m not going to put it on [a player]. I’ll put it on my chest, and I’ll make sure I’m specific on what’s happening.”
In a moment that could’ve easily overwhelmed the talented freshman, Jordan was unfazed in large part because of the response of her teammates.
“I had to stay relaxed,” Jordan said. “My teammates calmed me down, so that really helped me. I felt confident.”
It wasn’t her only big play of the quarter as she also delivered the first field goal of the quarter with under two minutes remaining to break a 30-30 tie on a great feed from senior center Liana Cole.
“Eva’s a great player. I know she’s a freshman and sometimes nerves may get to her, but I knew that if I got the ball down low to her, she would be able to make that layup,” Cole said.
The Easton defense, which shut out the Golden Hawks for over seven minutes to begin the fourth quarter and held them to just four points in the quarter overall, forced a turnover on the ensuing possession before sophomore standout Melina Cole went to the line to make it 34-30 with less than a minute remaining.
Just over a week removed from Becahi’s furious second-half comeback in the regular-season finale, Lutz trusted his team’s man-to-man defense time and time again to disrupt their talented offense.
“Our girls have improved doing that over the year,” Lutz said. “I think our defense has been pretty solid all year. That’s another thing I like about this team. They play hard, and they really survived a couple Becahi runs, and you have to do that.”
Alleyne tried to get his team into their sets, but he also credited the way Easton defended and prevented any sort of flow for his potent offense that was held to a season-low 34 points for the second time this season by the Red Rovers.
“Both teams were playing really hard, and they got us out of rhythm and out of sorts,” Alleyne said. “We didn’t run anything. We just tried to make a play, and you know what … they made one more play than we did, and that was pretty much the game.”
Lianna Cole and her three senior teammates – Nat Amato, Ava Muhammad and Armoni Dowe – began their high school careers losing 52-49 in overtime against Allentown Central Catholic in the same gym from the same sideline.
Three years later, Cole and her teammates finally had the chance to celebrate with an EPC championship trophy that was the only to truly elude them throughout their successful careers. She’s going to take her time both celebrating and cherishing it.
“Being very close my freshman year, losing in overtime to Central really hit hard, and trying to win it with my older sister Evalyse as a sophomore and losing in the semifinals and not even making it here last year … winning this one means everything,” Cole said. “Being able to bring it home is really fun.”
The win was made even more special when her younger sister, Melina, was announced as the EPC Championship MVP with her 12-point performance to lead all scorers.
“I absolutely love my sister. It’s amazing that she’s able to play,” Cole said. “She’s more of an offensive player – I got the defensive side of the family – but even just seeing her walk up there with the biggest smile on her face makes me happy.”
Lutz has enjoyed several championships, undefeated regular seasons and immense success throughout his many years as the coach for Easton, but it’s clear that he views this group as a truly special one.
Now, they have the trophy to prove it.
“The girls really work hard in practice. They’re an unselfish team, and they stick together,” Lutz said. “You always want, when you have a team like that, you always want them to hopefully win a championship.
“We’ve had a couple district championships in between, but it’s always nice to win a league title.”
Derek Bast is a freelance reporter who can be found on Twitter/X at @derek_bast or reached by email at derekbast11@gmail.com.
Easton 35, Bethlehem Catholic 34
Becahi 10 – 8– 12 – 4— 34
Easton 8 – 12– 8 – 7— 35
BECAHI (34)
Brame 3 2-2 9, Gallis 4 0-0 9, Nickisher 2 0-0 6, Radande 2 0-0 4, Lewis 0 4-5 4, Ault 1 0-0 2, Fagan 0 0-0 0, Gordon 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 6-7 34.
EASTON (35)
M. Cole 4 2-2 12, Amato 3 0-0 7, Jordan 2 1-2 7, Brunetti 2 2-2 6, L. Cole 0 2-4 2, Wismer 0 2-2 2, Muhammad 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 9-12 35.
3-pointers: Becahi (4) Nickisher 2, Brame, Gallis. Easton (4) M. Cole 2, Amato, Jordan. Rebounds: Becahi 26 (Radande 9). Easton 17 (L. Cole 8).
Assists: Becahi 9. Easton 6 (Brunetti 3).
Turnovers: Becahi 14, Easton 19.
Officials: Tim Hurd, Rich Gable, Brent Brugler.