Scranton Prep sails past Lancaster Catholic in first round of PIAA Class 4A girls basketball state playoffs | Girls’ basketball

SCRANTON — And thus ends a topsy-turvy season for Lancaster Catholic’s girls basketball team. 

The Crusaders made the 130-mile trek to Scranton Prep on Saturday to play another storied program; the Classics are District 2 royalty.

They played like it. 

Prep feasted on 25 turnovers, held Catholic scoreless for a dizzying 10-minute stretch, and the Classics cruised past the Crusaders 52-27 in a PIAA Class 4A opener in Prep’s shiny Xavier Center. 

Catholic, which finished fourth in District 3, wrapped up 16-10 overall and won the outright Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 title, went to the league quarterfinals, reached the District 3 semifinals, and went back to the state playoffs. 

But there were some un-Catholic-like bumps along the road.

There were some gut-punch setbacks — to Cedar Crest in OT in the the league quarterfinals, and to Susquehanna Township in the district semifinals, when they led late in both games — too many injuries, a lot of fresh-faced freshmen making their varsity debuts, and a pair of three-game losing streaks, including the last three in a row to end the season. 

“I’d call it a year of learning,” Catholic coach Charlie Detz said. “There was a lot of learning going on with our team. On both sides, and about our expectations. We’re young, so we were on a learning curve. And it’s still a work in progress because even after 26 games, we’re still learning their strengths and some of their weaknesses. There’s still a lot of learning going on, both ways.”

Catholic will lose four seniors off this roster; 17 players between the varsity and junior varsity rosters are due back next season, including multiple varsity starters. So the expectations will be high, as usual. 

But that’s next season. This season didn’t end the way Catholic was hoping. 

Pick a category, and Prep dominated it here Saturday. The Classics (21-5 overall) out-rebounded the Crusaders 29-19. They forced Catholic into 12 first-half turnovers, when Prep built a commanding 25-6 lead. 

The most startling number: Catholic scored zero points in the second quarter, when anything that could go wrong, seemingly did for the Crusaders. 

Catholic’s Charlotte Albertini swished a baseline jumper to cut Prep’s lead to 11-6 with 1:06 to go in the first quarter. The Crusaders didn’t score again until Mia Bonafede’s top-of-the-key 3-pointer with 6:52 to go in the third quarter. 

That’s 10:14 without a point. Prep’s lead ballooned from 11-6 to 27-6 over that clip, and the Classics closed the first half on a 14-0 blitz to seize control for good. 

It didn’t help matters much when Catholic’s leading scorer — and Section 3 MVP — Nevaeh Kennedy hit the deck hard in the second quarter. She didn’t return; Kennedy spent the entire second half on the bench with an ice pack on the top of her head. 

Another Catholic starter, low-post vet Morgan Gaylord, didn’t play because she’s in concussion protocol. 

It was that kind of a day for the Crusaders. 

Bonafede capped her outstanding freshman season with 11 points for Catholic — nine in the third quarter, when the Crusaders overcame nine turnovers to finally get their offense chugging. 

But Prep, the District 2 champ, never trailed and was never really threatened. 

The Classics’ heroes: Eva Kaszuba scored 16 points and pulled down seven rebounds — six on the offensive glass, which kept possessions alive. And Chloe Manera, a nimble 6-foot-1 post with up-and-under and fadeaway moves aplenty, scored 15 points and gathered nine boards. 

Prep gets another blue-blood program, District 11 champ Allentown Central Catholic, in the second round on Wednesday. 

The Crusaders climbed back on the bus and headed home, wondering about what could have been. 

“We’ll go back and look at it and see what we did differently and why some things didn’t work,” Detz said. “We were young and we had injuries. It’s tough to get 11 girls in regularly and get your rotation. We were never on that eight-man rotation. But we’ll rebound, and we have a lot coming back.”

X: @JeffReinhart77

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