When Bethlehem Catholic took the floor on Monday night at Easton High School, the Golden Hawks donned warmup shirts that read, \u201cadversity is fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reigning Eastern Pennsylvania Conference runner-up has faced no shortage this season. Senior guard Kendall Nickisher missed the first nine games. Freshman star Kamryn Gallis has missed 12 games in the same stretch that Bryant University commit Aliyah Brame was sidelined for five games of her own. Throw in a few absences from role players spread throughout the entire season and it becomes reasonable to assume that the season went off the rails weeks ago.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Golden Hawks will enter the EPC tournament as the league\u2019s top-seed following a 43-35 road win against Easton, who entered the night one win away from a perfect 16-0 record in EPC play.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat motto on our shirt definitely speaks for our team,\u201d senior guard Leah Ault said after the win. \u201cBeing strong when the adversity came really helped us when we were at full strength.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ault, joined by freshmen Ayva Radande and Avaughna Gordan, is one of just three players to feature in all 21 games so far for the Golden Hawks and has emerged as a steadying presence for a team that\u2019s relied heavily on younger players with the extended absences from Brame, Nickisher and Gallis.<\/p>\n
But, it never hurts to have a Division I talent with the ability to take over a game like Brame did on Monday night.<\/p>\n
After burying a 3-pointer on the game\u2019s first possession, Brame was held scoreless for the rest of the first half before exploding for 14 points, which was more than the Red Rovers (12) could muster in the second half.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe went for it,\u201d Becahi coach Arnold Alleyne said. \u201cShe\u2019s been putting the work in, you know? Coming early, leaving late, so she was able to show the confidence that \u2018Hey, I can do this for my squad. I was happy to see how she exerted herself and went for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a blessing having a Division I athlete healthy and able to play on your team. Credit to her hard work and all of them putting the time and the work in, and I\u2019m very proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brame\u2019s explosion started with a crucial 3-pointer early in the third quarter after several offensive rebounds kept Becahi\u2019s possession alive and allowed Brame to cut Easton\u2019s lead down to four. Back-to-back buckets in transition tied the game at 26 just moments before Brooklyn Lewis leaked out in transition to give the Golden Hawks their first lead since 15-13 and force a timeout by Easton coach Dave Lutz.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it really left,\u201d Brame said about her confidence coming back in the second half. \u201cIt was just a matter of finding my shot. I know it\u2019s going to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her biggest shot came from beyond the arc once again as her third and final 3-pointer gave her team a 33-31 lead that they wouldn\u2019t relent again in the early stages of the fourth quarter. That lead stuck not just because of Brame\u2019s offensive heroics but because of a collective defensive effort that frustrated the area\u2019s highest scoring offense throughout the second half.<\/p>\n
Alleyne made the switch to zone on the first possession of the half and didn\u2019t look back. Despite a significant size disadvantage, the pesky Golden Hawks defense interrupted passing lanes, communicated effectively and boxed out at a high level to keep a talented Red Rovers offense at bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were really exploiting our man-to-man defense, so we had to make some adjustments. I was happy that we practiced other defenses that we were able to use come second half,\u201d Alleyne said. \u201cCredit to my coaches and the players who were able to adjust and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond helping to flip the result of one regular season game, this defensive versatility could be the difference in making a deep postseason run that the Golden Hawks have been accustomed to for the better part of a decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can play 1-1, we play 2-3, we can play 3-2 and small, scrappy guards \u2026 you wouldn\u2019t expect us to be able to rebound like that against a vertically inclined team like that but we got it done,\u201d Brame said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of communication. That was definitely key to our good defensive stops,\u201d Ault said. \u201cBrame\u2019s on my side, and we communicate really well. We\u2019ve been stressing that a lot and we definitely did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Free throws are another key separator in the postseason and Becahi\u2019s efficiency \u2013 8\/8 in the fourth quarter and 11\/12 overall \u2013 prevented any chance of a comeback from the Red Rovers. Nickisher scored all six of her points in the fourth quarter while Ault (6 points), Gallis (5), Radande (5) and Lewis (4) rounded out the scoring for the Golden Hawks. Ava Muhammad led Easton with 11 points while Elena Brunetti added 10 and Gabby Wismer provided nine.<\/p>\n
Official seeding is still to be finalized, but Monday\u2019s result should flip the seeding at the top of the bracket as Becahi jumps to the top overall seed while Easton falls to No. 2 due to District 11 power ratings favoring the Golden Hawks for having a 5A classification against Easton\u2019s 6A classification.<\/p>\n
It was evident that far more than just playoff seeding was on the line as Ault and Brame relished one more win against their rival to avenge a 49-34 home loss at the beginning of the month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one is really important because they took it to us at our house, and taking it back at their house really means a lot,\u201d Ault said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big rivalry we have with them. They\u2019re a good team, we always go back and forth, but this one is very important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cConfidence and pride,\u201d Brame said about what makes the win so important. \u201cEaston has been our rival since my freshman year, so it feels amazing to come in their home gym and get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek Bast is a freelance reporter who can be found on Twitter\/X at @derek_bast or reached by email at derekbast11@gmail.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Bethlehem Catholic took the floor on Monday night at Easton High School, the Golden Hawks donned warmup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,29375,305,726,432],"class_list":["post-103498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-high-school-basketball","tag-high-school-sports","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}