Scranton Prep’s Shannon Bestrycki gains possession of the ball against Neumann-Goretti during the girls basketball Class 4A semifinal game at Liberty High School in Bethlehem on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Scranton Prep’s Chloe Mamera embraces teammate Ava Fenton after losing to Neumann-Goretti in the girls basketball Class 4A semifinal game at Liberty High School in Bethlehem on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Scranton Prep’s Eva Kaszuba controls the ball during the girls basketball Class 4A semifinal game against Neumann-Goretti at Liberty High School in Bethlehem on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Scranton Prep’s Ava Fenton takes a shot against Neumann-Goretti during the girls basketball Class 4A semifinal game at Liberty High School in Bethlehem on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Scranton Prep’s Bob Beviglia talks to his players during the girls basketball Class 4A semifinal game against Neumann-Goretti at Liberty High School in Bethlehem on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Scranton Prep’s Shannon Bestrycki gains possession of the ball against Neumann-Goretti during the girls basketball Class 4A semifinal game at Liberty High School in Bethlehem on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
BETHLEHEM — Scranton Prep fell behind in the first half, then put forth a strong effort in the second half to try to come back.
But Neumann-Goretti always found a way to stay a step ahead and the District 12 champion Saints were able to fend off the Classics, 59-51, in the PIAA Class 4A girls basketball semifinals Tuesday night at Liberty High School’s Memorial Gymnasium.
Reginna Baker scored a game-high 23 points, including 10 for 10 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, to send Neumann-Goretti (19-10) back to Hershey for the Class 4A final. The Saints will defend their state title Saturday at noon at the Giant Center against District 7 champion Oakland Catholic, a 45-44 winner over District 7 runner-up Blackhawk.
Chrisette King added 12 points for Neumann-Goretti, which Zion Coston totaled nine points, 12 rebounds, two assists and five steals.
“That’s a good basketball team,” Scranton Prep coach Bob Beviglia said. “You don’t have the success they’ve had for an extended period of time without being well-coached, doing the right things and making good decisions. I thought we did not play well in the first half and dug ourselves a little bit of a hole. We needed to get back better in transition.
“But just as they have all year, this group showed a ton of heart.”
Eva Kaszuba led Scranton Prep with 17 points. Chole Mamera followed with 15 and Ava Fenton chipped in 11 for the District 2 champion Classics (23-7), who had their season ended for the second year in a row by the Saints. Last year, they lost in the quarterfinals.
“We definitely played our guts out,” Kaszuba said. “We showed heart and grit, but we came up short. We definitely tried our hardest. We got behind in that first quarter. Those first four minutes, we didn’t come out hard enough and it showed in the last quarter.”
Off the opening tap, Baker scored four seconds in and Neumann-Goretti never trailed the rest of the night.
Forced to play catchup all game, Scranton Prep shot 7 for 22 in the first half, including 1 of 6 from 3-point range, with six turnovers. It trailed at halftime, 28-20, and that was only because Kaszuba completed a traditional three-point play with 49.3 seconds left.
But the Classics began the third quarter by hitting their first six shots to make it a game.
Shannon Bestrycki started it with a 3-pointer. Mamera scored on three consecutive possessions. Fenton hit a foul-line jumper then scored off a steal-and-assist by Bestrycki to cut the Neumann-Goretti lead to 35-33 with 4:17 left in the third quarter and force the Saints to call timeout.
“We came out with a slow start in the beginning,” Mamera said. “We got down and that put us in a hole. It was tough to battle back, they’re a great team. It’s hard when they have quick players on the floor and just keep building the lead.
“But we kept battling to come out of the hole. We’ve been down before and came back, so we were confident we could come back. We came out hot and started hitting shots and cut the lead. We really wanted it and came back.”
Coming out of that timeout, Mamera had a steal. However, Scranton Prep missed a shot with a chance to tie.
That would be the the theme for the rest of the game. The Classics never could hit that one shot to further the comeback. And they had opportunities.
“I was surprised by kind of the damage we did with the pressure. We turned them over,” Beviglia said. “The problem was when we needed a bucket, when we needed a big one to get it from five to three or four to two, that was the one we couldn’t get.”
Neumann-Goretti responded by closing the third quarter with a 9-4 run. Coston sandwiched a rebound-and-basket and a steal-and-layup around a score by Baker to offset a layup by Fenton. After McKenna Toolan converted a feed from Kaszuba, Baker hit a free throw and Azzure O’Connor scored off a drive to give the Saints a 44-37 lead heading to the fourth.
Consecutive baskets by King and Baker extended the advantage to 48-37 with 6:55 left. Those would be the final field goals for Neumann-Goretti.
Two baskets by Kaszuba and one free throw each by Mamera and Fenton brought Scranton Prep within 48-43 with 2:10 to play. The Classics were forced to foul and the Saints scored their final 11 points from the line, led by Baker, to seal the victory.
“The fact they go to the free throw line at the end and knock ’em in makes it impossible for you, no matter what you’re doing at the other end, to narrow the margin,” Beviglia said. “Credit to them, absolutely. They showed their mettle tonight.”
After losing last year to Neumann-Goretti in the semifinals, Scranton Prep graduated its five senior starters. For a new, younger group of starters to get to the state semifinals, Beviglia was exceedingly proud of their effort.
“Not a single start in this group last year and they got themselves to the last week of the season, which is no small achievement,” he said.