Bethlehem Catholic High School senior Brooklyn Lewis has waited her turn to make an impact on the talented Golden Hawks program.
Lewis has improved over the years and displayed that growth on the court on Monday night in an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference showdown with Emmaus.
The senior forward, who is a first-year starter, scored a career-high 20 points as Bethlehem Catholic controlled the fourth quarter for a 50-35 road victory over the Green Hornets.
“I trusted myself. I trusted my teammates, they helped me. My coach gave me the confidence I needed. He was telling me, I have a mismatch, to trust myself,” Lewis said. “I practice this all the time. I practice my layups. I trust that I will do well, I have confidence in myself. Having my teammates’ backs, I knew I needed them and they knew that they needed me. I just decided to step up and take up that role.”
“This kid responded well and played tremendously. She got more opportunities and she was able to show how great she is,” Bethlehem Catholic coach Arnold Alleyne said of Lewis. “I’m just so happy for her because she’s been in here for four years and now this year she’s able to shine and show them how talented she is. She deserves it.”
The Golden Hawks scored the final 11 points of the game and finished the fourth quarter on a 17-1 run to pull away for the win.
Emmaus capped a 10-0 run and a took a 34-33 lead with 7:21 left in the fourth quarter when junior guard Makayla McGinnis cut to the hoop for a score.
Lewis drove to the basket and scored with 5:56 remaining in the fourth quarter to give Bethlehem Catholic a 35-34 edge. Freshman forward Ayva Radande scored back-to-back baskets 50 seconds apart to increase the Golden Hawks’ lead to five points with 3:53 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Green Hornets sophomore forward Gracie Ervin made one of two free throws with 3:36 left in the fourth quarter to trim the Bethlehem Catholic advantage to 39-35. But Emmaus wouldn’t score the rest of the game as the Golden Hawks took over.
After a pair of great passes, Lewis converted a three-point play to push the lead to 43-35 with 2:54 left in the fourth quarter.
A putback by Ridande increased the lead to 10 points with 1:37 on the clock. The Golden Hawks closed out the night with a pair of free throws from senior guard Kendall Nickischer and a three-point play by senior guard Leah Ault.
“It was just fundamentals,” Ridande said. “Just doing what we know, repetition from practice. That really helped us win.”
“We all stepped up, decided to really show who we are,” the Golden Hawks freshman forward added about the team’s fourth quarter.
Bethlehem Catholic, which was playing without injured starters senior Aliyah Brame and freshman Kamryn Gallis, went up 18-11 with 2:54 remaining in the second quarter on a bucket by Ault. Emmaus senior guard Olive Whitney connected on a back-to-back 3-pointers to trim the Golden Hawks’ lead to one point with 1:49 on the clock. Lewis scored 15 seconds later to make it a 20-17 advantage for the Golden Hawks heading into halftime.
Lewis had back-to-back baskets in the third quarter to make it a 31-24 lead for Bethlehem Catholic with 2:09 on the clock. Following a Nickischer bucket with 1:52 remaining in the third quarter to increase the Golden Hawks’ lead to nine points, Emmaus embarked on a 10-0 run to take the advantage.
Lewis went 5-for-5 from the free throw line and finished with 20 points for Bethlehem Catholic, which improved to 10-2 overall and 9-1 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.
Radande scored nine of her 11 points in the second half and added nine rebounds in the game for the Golden Hawks, who will host Pleasant Valley on Thursday night.
Ault tallied nine points and Nickischer finished with eight for Bethlehem Catholic.
Whitney tallied five 3-pointers to finish with 15 points for the Green Hornets, who fell to 11-3 overall and 9-1 in EPC play.
DeVita scored 13 points for Emmaus, which plays at Whitehall on Thursday night.
“We needed that one bucket to get us over the hump,” Green Hornets coach Avon Mack said. “We thought we were playing well. We came back, we had our run, we just didn’t sustain it. They capped it off and went on a big run that kind of killed us. I just have to find a way to inspire our girls to just play through it. We just need one basket and a stop and we should be fine. But outside of that, we can’t put too much on it or it’s going to overwhelm our season. We just got to take this one as it is, learn from it and go from it.”
For Bethlehem Catholic, it was a nice way to bounce back after falling 49-34 to Easton on Friday night.
“I give them a lot of credit. The girls showed tremendous discipline, poise and toughness,” Alleyne said. “They were so tough on the offensive rebound glass. They were so tough on the defensive rebound glass. They were so tough to get to the loose balls. I was so proud of them. I can’t see enough about my girls toughness and discipline tonight. That was tremendous.”
The Golden Hawks picked up a big win on Monday night despite key starters Brame and Gallis out of the lineup due to injuries.
“We watch film all together. We practice really hard. We go to the gym even on our days off,” Lewis said. “We just trust each other, we work with each other. We have Brame and Gallis help us during practices. We always push each other. We never go easy on each other. We always push and our coach always gets on us and makes us work hard. If they’re not here, we have to step up and win it for them until they come back.”