the jump-start to their 63-28 win over the Vikettes in a second-round game at Hazleton Area High School<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cWe emphasized throwing the first punch and scoring the first points all week,\u201d said Scranton Prep junior co-captain Ava Fenton, who was one of four Classics with at least nine points. \u201cOnce we got the lead, we wanted to keep building on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That the Classics did.<\/p>\n
Taking advantage of the first 11 of ACC\u2019s 26 turnovers, Scranton Prep scored 15 of the game\u2019s first 17 points on the way to a 26-9 lead after the first quarter. Five Classics contributed in the early outburst, including Eva Kaszuba with eight points, Fenton with five and Chloe Mamera and Kamyl Lynady with four apiece. That kind of offensive balance is par for the course to the man who knows them best.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis group, when you look at our juniors, including (McKenna) Toolan, and (Shannon) Bestrycki and Mamera, who are both sophomores, have waited their turn,\u201d Classics coach Bob Beviglia said. \u201cThey played behind five really good players for the past two years. They have been very much unified, both as JV players and in their moment in the (varsity) spotlight. I\u2019m not surprised at all. Sometimes, they\u2019re a little too unselfish, but I just love watching them play, especially when they play with the energy they played with tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we had them on their heels from pretty much the jump ball,\u201d he added. \u201cOur defense was solid for the most part. We created a lot of turnovers and got some easy baskets off them. But we shot it pretty well from the perimeter, too. When you put the two things together, we\u2019re going to be a tough out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scranton Prep (22-5) kept the District 11 champions backed into the corner in the second quarter, as Kaszuba wrapped a 3-pointer and layup around a short Mamera jumper to stretch the Classics\u2019 lead to 33-11, with still five minutes until halftime.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always seem to get past that first-round game, but then we run into a real doozy (of an) opponent in the second round,\u201d Central Catholic coach Kathy Davidowich said. \u201cThey\u2019re a fantastic team and we knew that coming in. My key \u2026 was handling their pressure, but we just couldn\u2019t do it tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaszuba finished the second quarter with five more of her team-high 15 points, while Fenton and Mamera tacked on another four apiece. Morgan Seageaves topped the Vikettes (15-13) with five of her game-best 16 points.<\/p>\n
Bestrycki\u2019s 3-pointer at the 4:59 mark of the third quarter hiked Scranton Prep\u2019s lead to 48-17 and kicked in the PIAA\u2019s mercy rule, meaning the final 13 minutes were played with a running clock. Once again, five Classics added to their team\u2019s point total, which Beviglia was more than happy to note afterward, especially that not a single Scranton Prep player who saw action was a senior.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unusual,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re in an immediate gratification society. These kids understand that when they come to Prep, they\u2019re going to have to put in the time and the work. I always tell them, \u2018You have to work while you wait,\u2019 and that\u2019s what they did. I\u2019m thrilled that they\u2019re now getting their moment in the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the District 2 champs, that \u201cmoment\u201d will continue against Susquehanna Twp., the District 3 titlist, in Saturday\u2019s quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say they\u2019re a year ahead of schedule,\u201d Beviglia noted of his players. \u201cI always tell them, \u2018We\u2019re overachievers,\u2019 but I would much rather coach or teach overachievers than underachievers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAZLE TWP. \u2014 Scranton Prep came out swinging in its bid to advance in the PIAA Class 4A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,201,433,28,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-136145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-high-school-sports","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-lehigh-county","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136145","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=136145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}