In each of the last two seasons, Bethlehem Catholic saw its pursuit at an EPC championship come to an end at the hands of the Green Hornets. Two years ago, an epic upset saw the top-seeded Golden Hawks lose to No. 8 Emmaus in the opening round of the tournament. Last year, coach Avon Mack\u2019s squad earned the top seed and took care of business, defeating Becahi 59-37 for the school\u2019s first league championship in 18 years.<\/p>\n
A third consecutive defeat felt imminent as Emmaus utilized a 15-0 run in the first quarter and an offensive barrage to open up a lead that climbed to as many as 16 points in a dominant first half.<\/p>\n
Becahi refused to panic.<\/p>\n
Instead, the second-seeded Golden Hawks ended the first half on a 10-2 run and opened the second half on a 13-2 run to storm back and defeat No. 3 Emmaus 63-55 in Tuesday night\u2019s EPC Tournament semifinal at the PPL Center.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll advance to face No. 1 Easton, who defeated Parkland in the nightcap of the doubleheader, on Thursday night back at the PPL Center in a rubber match between the two division rivals with a league championship on the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trusting in all the work that we put in as a team and knowing that we\u2019re capable of coming back,\u201d freshman guard Kamryn Gallis said on how her team was able to fight back. \u201cIt was just knowing that we\u2019ve done this before, really trusting in that and coming out aggressive and intense and just doing what we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freshman center Ayva Radande was the spark plug with eight points, 17 rebounds and a handful of steals and blocks to slow down an Emmaus offense that looked unstoppable in the first 16 minutes.<\/p>\n
Her defensive effort catalyzed a relentless defensive effort that held the Green Hornets without a field goal for over 10 minutes to start the second half, showing that coach Arnold Alleyne\u2019s halftime message clearly resonated with his group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Guys, defensively, we have to take pride in what we\u2019re doing, and we\u2019ll make a run,\u2019\u201d Alleyne said. \u201cThey took pride, and the girls believed, so credit to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Radande\u2019s work as the anchor underneath set the tone as she channeled her inner Michael Jordan in her own version of his infamous flu game in the 1997 NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was sick, and I said, \u2018you\u2019re going to be the key,\u2019\u201d Alleyne said. \u201cShe was tremendous. Her toughness and her resiliency\u2026I\u2019m so proud of that kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI really just had to believe in myself. I know I have it deep inside of me, so yeah, I knew I could do it,\u201d Radande said. \u201cIt\u2019s really like a mindset. Before the game, I just knew that I was going to dominate.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my position, I feel like you just have to be able to see the whole court and the whole play,\u201d Radande said. \u201cI can kind of see what\u2019s going on because I\u2019m kind of under the basket. I can see everything. I can see all the cutters, so it kind of makes it a little easier for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aliyah Brame opened the second half with a corner 3-pointer to pull the Golden Hawks within five, but it was a steal by Radande, an incredible display of body control to keep the ensuing possession alive and also make a running layup, followed by a pair of free throws to get her team within one just minutes of game time after trailing by double digits.<\/p>\n
Kendall Nickisher completed the dramatic comeback with a layup that gave her team its first lead since 2-0 and a lead that they wouldn\u2019t relent for the rest of the night. Freshman star Kamryn Gallis shook off a 1\/8 start from the field with a 3-pointer late in the third quarter that helped cushion that lead and provide all the confidence she needed to continue closing out the biggest game of her young career.<\/p>\n
That triple from the wing and two shots from the charity stripe bookended an 11-2 run that saw the Golden Hawks open up a 10-point lead with just over six minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
Gallis wasn\u2019t done yet.<\/p>\n
A pair of 3-pointers from Olive Whitney and a fast break layup from Gabby DeVita, who combined for 38 points on the night, composed an 8-0 Emmaus run that brought their team within two before a controversial out-of-bounds call put the Golden Hawks back in possession for Gallis to take advantage.<\/p>\n
The young phenom buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key to extend Becahi\u2019s lead back to five just one possession before assisting Brame for another triple that proved to be the dagger.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf my shot\u2019s not on in the beginning, I\u2019m not going to let that get in my head,\u201d Gallis said. \u201cI\u2019m just going to lean on the work that I put in and that our team puts in in the gym and just think the next one\u2019s going in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nickisher delivered clutch shots and free throws down the stretch as part of a team-high 13-point effort that punctuated the dramatic win. Gallis added 11 with Brame and Brooklyn Lewis just behind with 10 points each.<\/p>\n
Radande, who was just two points shy of a double-double, came through in a big way for the upperclassmen she admires, helping them to avoid one more knockout from the Green Hornets and advance to yet another EPC championship game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe seniors are so impactful for us. They really help us grow as a team,\u201d Radande said. \u201cI feel like they\u2019re the reason why [the freshmen] keep getting better over the season. They\u2019re like older sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n
While delivering for her teammates feels great, it\u2019ll also be a tremendous moment for the young freshman who will live out her dreams in the first of potentially many championship games in her promising Bethlehem Catholic career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited,\u201d Radande said. \u201cIt\u2019s my dream to do that, you know?\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
Emmaus 55, Bethlehem Catholic 63<\/p>\n
Emmaus 20 \u2013 15 \u2013 6 \u2013 14 \u2014 55<\/p>\n
Becahi 10 \u2013 17 \u2013 18 \u2013 18 \u2014 63<\/p>\n
EMMAUS (55)<\/p>\n
DeVita 8-17 3-5 22, Whitney 5-8 2-2 16, Ervin 3-8 4-6 10, Haberl 1-3 0-0 3, Stevens 1-2 0-0 2, East 1-4 0-0 2, Glover 0-6 0-0 0, Shutkufski 0-1 0-0 0. Totals\u00a0 Totals 19-49 9-13 55.<\/p>\n
BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC (63)<\/p>\n
Nickisher 3-4 6-7 13, Gallis 3-12 2-2 11, Brame 4-6 0-0 10, Lewis 5-10 0-0 10, Radande 2-5 4-6 8, Ault 3-9 0-0 7, Fagan 2-2 0-0 4, Gordon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-48 12-15 63.<\/p>\n
3-pointers: Emmaus (8-19) Whitney 4, DeVita 3, Haberl. Becahi (7-16) Gallis 3, Brame 2, Ault, Nickisher.<\/p>\n
Rebounds: Emmaus 23 (Ervin 10). Becahi 32 (Radande 17).<\/p>\n
Assists: Emmaus 9. Becahi 13.<\/p>\n
Turnovers: Emmaus 13, Becahi 20.<\/p>\n
Officials: Ron Frazier, Jordan Piazza, Jon Mack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In each of the last two seasons, Bethlehem Catholic saw its pursuit at an EPC championship come to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,29375,305,726,432],"class_list":{"0":"post-111078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-high-school-basketball","12":"tag-high-school-sports","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111078","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=111078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}