The Easton girls basketball team has seen its season end the last two years in opening-round overtime losses in the PIAA Tournament.
That fact added to the tension as the fourth-quarter buzzer sounded with the Red Rovers and Neshaminy still tied at 27.
“No,” Easton coach Dave Lutz said when asked if the two previous overtime defeats were on his mind. “But, it would’ve been at the end if we would’ve lost.”
Senior guard Nat Amato’s late heroics ensured they didn’t as her stepback 3-pointer and game-clinching free throws in the extra period lifted Easton to a 35-32 overtime victory in Friday night’s PIAA Class 6A first-round matchup with Neshaminy (19-7) at Easton Middle School.
In the second game of a PIAA doubleheader, the Bethlehem Christian boys needed no such drama to advance to the next round of the Class 1A tournament as Gabe Transue poured in 36 points in an 86-56 win over Our Lady of Lourdes (12-14).
“It really felt great, especially getting the momentum,” Amato said. “Our team had so much energy, we stayed together as a team and we just didn’t let up. I did not want this to be my last game. I’m so excited. We’re going to have many more games to come and we’re going to play great.”
The next game in line will be a rematch as the Red Rovers (26-3) will take on Red Lion (23-3), who defeated Scranton 49-34 on Friday night. The Lions traveled to Easton and knocked off the eventual District 11 champions 38-28 earlier this season.
“They’re very good, so hopefully we’ve improved,” Lutz said. “Who would’ve thought we’d be facing them again with all the things that can happen in the state playoffs?”
“It’s a big game for us, especially last year having lost to them in that heartbreaking loss,” Transue said. “We were up by 10 at halftime, so we definitely want to come back and beat them. There’s some bad blood between us that we have to handle and get revenge on them.”
Easton erases overtime trouble with another narrow victory
Nothing has come easy for Easton’s girls basketball team in what’s also been a historic postseason for the program.
The Red Rovers needed a pair of second-half comebacks to defeat Nazareth and Emmaus in the district tournament after winning their first EPC championship in a decade behind three hard-fought victories that came down to the final minutes throughout that tournament.
These close contests and a 5-1 record on the season in games decided by single digits prepared Lutz’s team for the nervy moments that dominated a nailbiting second half against Neshaminy.
Senior guard Ava Muhammad beat the third-quarter buzzer with a corner 3-pointer that put an end to a 10-0 Neshaminy run and reestablished Easton’s lead at 22-20 entering the final quarter.
The defenses took over from there with just 12 combined points in the final eight minutes. Ashlynn Duffy hit a pair of 3-pointers to keep the Skins within striking distance while Melina Cole’s triple put her team ahead 27-23 late in the fourth. One of Duffy’s treys narrowed the deficit to one where freshman Nicole Trespalacios tied the score at 27 with 1:03 remaining.
A turnover by the Red Rovers in the final seconds, followed by a dramatic stop on the other end, sent the first round thriller to overtime.
Muhammad opened the scoring with a putback layup before Grace Weyler buried a pair of free throws to knot things up at 29. That’s when Amato’s confident step-back triple, her fourth of the night, established a lead Easton would not relent the rest of the way.
“She’s been doing that all year,” Lutz said. “She works so hard, not just in contested games, but in practices. Her leadership is basically her effort in practice and in games. She doesn’t lose her poise.”
That remained true when she stepped to the line in a four-point game with under a minute remaining as she drilled both to cushion Easton’s lead. The Red Rovers needed it as a three-point play by Weyler at the other end and a subsequent turnover provided the Skins with a chance to tie the game on one final possession.
Mia Raivitch’s attempt bounced off the rim and a scramble for the rebound caused the last few seconds to tick away, securing Easton’s first state tournament win since 2022.
“We’ve had some close games recently, so we just know to stay together as a team, communicate and just play our game,” Amato said.
Bethlehem Christian pounces early
Oddly enough, Bethlehem Christian coach Matthew DeJesus noted that his team often gives up the first basket of the game. That’s not typical for a 25-2 high school basketball team, but, sure enough, his team conceded a transition layup to fall behind 2-0.
Bethlehem Christian’s Gabe Transue, shown here in a file photo, scored 36 points in the Panthers’ first-round state playoff win Friday night at Easton Middle School. (Jonathan Broady/Special to The Morning Call)
A 17-0 run ensued for the Panthers who all but sealed a first-round victory along the way. A flurry of 12 straight points by Transue, which were part of a 16-point opening quarter, put the two-time defending district champions ahead 29-13 after one.
The win sets up another rematch with Sankofa Freedom Academy (19-8), which defeated the Panthers 75-66 in last year’s PIAA second-round matchup on its way to a runner-up finish in 2025.
Transue was joined by senior teammate Myles Harris in a dominant performance against the Red Raiders with the pair combining for 64 points, outscoring their first round opponent all on their own.
“I’ve been playing with Myles since sixth grade,” Transue said. “We’re like best friends, so it’s great to just play at such a high level with him. Especially in our senior year.”
The Panthers led by no fewer than 13 points in the final three-and-a-half quarters, but a second-half rally by the Red Raiders made the coaching staff and players at least feel a bit of pressure down the stretch. After Trebor Moore and Gaven Renn’s perimeter shooting kept Lourdes close, Brighton Scicchitano had a pair of highlight plays to bring his team within 67-54 and force a Bethlehem Christian timeout.
Two technical foul free throws were all the Red Raiders could muster the rest of the way as the Panthers left no doubt with a 19-2 run to end the game as they started it – on a 17-point run.
“We talk about it often where we’re up in a game, they get a little lackadaisical, and we can’t do that,” DeJesus said. “I’m happy they responded toward the late part of it, but we’ve got to play consistent for four quarters, especially because I think we play Sankofa again next.
“When we played them last year, it was the same thing,” DeJesus said. “In the third quarter, we fell apart and that cost us the game. We can’t take a quarter off, we really can’t take a possession off, but they have to stay together and keep defending.”
It’s clear what DeJesus believes it will take to flip the script from last year’s defeat, which is something he and the team have been thinking about ever since the game ended almost exactly a year ago.
“I think we’ve been thinking about it since we lost to them, honestly,” DeJesus said. “I think we just thought we could’ve went farther and to see [Sankofa] get to the championship game was nice because we lost to them, but we thought it could’ve been us.
“So, we don’t want to leave it to chance with that,” DeJesus said. “I think we respond better in those tougher games, so I’m looking forward to it.”
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, NESHAMINY 32, OT
Neshaminy 4 – 6 – 10 – 7 – 5 — 32
Easton 6 – 10 – 6 – 5 – 8 — 35
NESHAMINY (32)
Kolk 5-15 0-0 13, Duffy 3-8 0-0 9, Weyler 1-5 3-3 5, Trespalacios 1-8 1-4 3, Rodriguez 0-0 2-2 2, Raivitch 0-3 0-0 0, Klukososki 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 10-40 6-9 32.
EASTON (35)
Amato 4-9 2-2 14, M. Cole 4-12 1-2 11, Muhammad 2-5 0-0 5, Wismer 0-2 3-6 3, Brunetti 1-2 0-2 2, L. Cole 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 11-32 6-12 35.
3-pointers: Neshaminy (6) Duffy 3, Kolk 3. Easton (7) Amato 4, M. Cole 2, Muhammad.
Rebounds: Neshaminy 18. Easton 27 (L. Cole 8).
Assists: Neshaminy 5. Easton 9 (L. Cole 4)
Turnovers: Neshaminy 15. Easton 23.
Officials: Tim Wood, Mike Scimkus, Jessica Dean.
BETHLEHEM CHRISTIAN 86, OUR LADY OF LOURDES 56
Our Lady of Lourdes 13 – 12 – 22 – 9 — 56
Bethlehem Christian 29 – 20 – 16 – 21— 86
OUR LADY OF LOURDES (56)
G. Renn 4 2-2 13, Moore 4 0-0 12, B. Rishel 5 0-0 10, Scicchitano 4 1-3 10, J. Rishel 3 2-3 8, B. Renn 1 0-0 3, Williams 0 0-0 0, Cicchiello 0 0-0 0, Shegonoski 0 0-0 0, Madden 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 5-8 56.
BETHLEHEM CHRISTIAN (86)
Transue 14 2-6 36, Harris 10 5-6 28, Swift 6 1-3 14, Kasper 3 0-0 8, Brown 0 0-0 0, Fraser 0 0-0 0, Jeffers 0 0-0 0, Rex 0 0-0 0, Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, Primrose 0 0-0 0. Totals 33 8-15 86.
3-pointers: Lourdes (9) Moore 4, G. Renn 3, B. Renn, Scicchitano. Bethlehem Christian (12) Transue 6, Harris 3, Kasper 2, Swift.
Officials: Jack Kieter, Jordain Piazza, Nathan Branosky.